Awesome! On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 5:47 AM, Ron Swenson <swensonron@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Count me in! > > > > *From:* tccrockets-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto: > tccrockets-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *James Dougherty > *Sent:* Monday, March 2, 2015 11:10 PM > *To:* TCC chat > *Subject:* [tccrockets] Sat Phone and Blackrock Launches > > > > 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 > > >