[tccrockets] Re: Sat Phone and Blackrock Launches
- From: Michael Gentile <smmike@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tccrockets@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tccrockets@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2015 11:00:19 -0800
Great job James!
Mike @ BAR
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 3, 2015, at 4:01 PM, James Dougherty <jafrado@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Wooohoo! We're funded!
>
>
> James D
> Mike Silva
> Mike Gentile
> Ron Swenson
> Keith Bawcum
> Robert Zylstra
> Cliff Sojourner
> Rob Diehl
> Peter Hackett
> Bill Riley
>
> I'll send details later.
>
> Thank you everyone, you'll be very happy with this great development!
>
>
> -James
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 12:15 PM, James Dougherty <jafrado@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Awesome! Thanks Rob
>>
>>
>> So we have:
>>
>>
>> James D
>> Mike Silva
>> Mike Gentile
>> Ron Swenson
>> Keith Bawcum
>> Robert Zylstra
>> Cliff Sojourner
>> Rob Diehl
>>
>>
>> We just need 2 more people!!!
>>
>> Come on guys - step up - $120 is a steal!
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 10:40 AM, Rob Diehl <rwdiehl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> I'm in.
>>>
>>> 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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