[tccrockets] Re: Sat Phone and Blackrock Launches
- From: James Dougherty <jafrado@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TCC chat <tccrockets@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2015 14:42:11 -0800
Awesome! Thanks Mike!
-James
On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 2:33 PM, Michael Gentile <smmike@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> In keep with the small fortune adage, I'm happy to help.
>
> Mike @ BAR
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 3, 2015, at 12:11 PM, James Dougherty <jafrado@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Thanks Mike,
>
> Really appreciate that, but we couldn't use it for credit-card sales :(
>
> Let me know if you're still in...
>
> -James
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 11:29 PM, Michael Gentile <smmike@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> James,
>>
>> I was planning on a SAT set up myself. This would be more economical.
>> BAR is in for a share. It would solve my connection issues at Black Rock
>> for credit card sales.
>>
>> Mike @ BAR
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Mar 2, 2015, at 11:09 PM, James Dougherty <jafrado@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi Folks,
>> >
>> > In order to file the Waiver for Blackrock, we need to be able to
>> > contact the FAA with 100% certainty at all times. The problem is that
>> > cell service still is not 100% guaranteed on the playa (yes, there are
>> > lingering base-stations and service on the playa for Burning man but
>> > that is not guaranteed).
>> >
>> > I'm looking for nine (9) volunteers who will donate $120 to the club
>> > with me so that we may invest in proper satellite gear so and we may
>> > do our own Blackrock launches.
>> >
>> > The plan is to get an Iridium Extreme 9575 Satellite phone and
>> > AxcessPoint Wi-Fi Accessory so that we can conduct operations with the
>> > FAA (and have email/Internet access) on the playa (independent of any
>> > basestations that may be in a transient operational state as leftovers
>> > from Burning man).
>> >
>> > I've researched this heavily on price/performance and talked to some
>> > experts (including one of the original Motorola comms guys who did
>> > Iridium early architecture and deployment). This is probably a good
>> > post you may want to share with friends, but here's the current state
>> > of the art for consumers under $2K (not geek gear).
>> >
>> > Satphone - two competing real services for consumers
>> > - Inmarsat
>> > - Iridium
>> >
>> > Inmarsat - Current issue is the high satellite orbit and only 3 active
>> > satellites. plus side is that they are low cost, minus side is that
>> > you need to be stationary to use it. Good service if you're not moving
>> > - but what if you are in a car? Or an Airplane? what's the point of
>> > having a sat-phone if you can't use it as intended? If you're sitting
>> > and not at the nnorth/south poles - it will work and entry cost ~ $700
>> > for the phone.
>> >
>> >
>> > Iridium - their service and history has been rocky, but from a
>> > technical perspective, their solutions are the best and will scale for
>> > the long run. 11 satellites are in geosynchonous (and lower) orbit.
>> > Will work at any location and any time and service will even work at
>> > the poles (truly global coverage). Guaranteed (by design) to work
>> > almost anytime. Entry cost higher - $1000 for the basic phone.
>> >
>> >
>> > Wi-Fi and Internet
>> >
>> > The other aspect is Internet usage, we would like to have a system
>> > that supports reasonable (e.g. circa 90's 56k dial-up) so we can surf
>> > and/or read email or send important updates out to the chat as the
>> > launch progresses.
>> >
>> > Pricing
>> >
>> > All of the units use SIM cards (like an existing smartphone). The SIM
>> > card comes with a number, and you can keep that number and recharge as
>> > you go (or change the plan to be a fixed price servcie contract). For
>> > example, and this is what TCC would do - you can buy 100 minutes for
>> > $100 so it's about $1/minute. For a big event like our own Blackrock
>> > event, we could load it up with $200 and have a solid 3+hrs of usage.
>> >
>> >
>> > The Plan
>> >
>> > The plan is simple - we get 10 people - well make that nine (i'm in of
>> > course) who can donate $120 to the club for the Satphone gear - this
>> > would be the high end extreme edition with the Wi-Fi accespoint - it's
>> > a special pricing and deal so we have to act fast (within 1 month).
>> >
>> > Notes
>> >
>> > - If you're worried about the cost - look at it this way - you're
>> > not going to fly a motor for one launch :-)
>> >
>> > - Club will own the phone
>> >
>> > - added benefit for the first lucky 9 - off-season we'll let you use
>> > the phone for some number of minutes that you can re-imburse :-)
>> >
>> > - We can add minutes as we go
>> >
>> > - No charge for inbound calls first minute
>> >
>> > - GUARANTEED ACCESS
>> >
>> > Actions
>> >
>> > Anyhow, who's in with me? This is everyone's chance to step up on the
>> club
>> > in a big way - we can run our own serious EX launches at Blackrock and
>> have
>> > a really great and fun time. Most importantly (and this is the real
>> goal),
>> > we can have a dedicated 100% guaranteed way to contact the FAA and
>> conduct
>> > flight operations.
>> >
>> > Send email and ACK this message, more importantly send check to
>> > Richard or bring $120 to the next launch.
>> >
>> > Based on the response, we'll plan for the Blackrock launches.
>> >
>> > Thank you
>> > -James
>> >
>>
>>
>
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