Mr A, thanks for the comments. Readware was saying that it was important that Globalstar satellites could reduce power output = decibels. He said that was good. That is obviously good because there is not a surplus of power. In fact, the only reason to be pleased to limit the power output by cunning cmdaOne technology is because otherwise there isn't quite enough. Right so far? Otherwise, why muck about with decibel reduction - simply blast away with the power and don't worry about conserving it.
Okay, so if there is a power shortage, and saving it is significant, then that is because power supply is a limiting factor in making calls available to customers. If calls are not available to customers, then they don't pay money. That is bad for the shareholders.
Why have a small marching army of people to watch something which is in big supply? Suppose they have to fiddle with it just to make sure there remains a big surplus, then that would be understandable.
This is my problem. There either is, or is not, enough power to run all the phone circuits flat out all the time. If there is not enough power to run them flat out all the time, including the worst orbit when they are eclipsed for nearly half the time, then it means some of the phone circuits will be dead during the power out period. If there is enough power to always keep them running, then there is no worry about the odd decibel here and there as there is a perpetual surplus.
So now we seem to be heading for the idea that there IS enough power for the circuits to be fully loaded, chirping away day and night, no let up. Right? Okay, this brings me right back to my original query two years ago to the guy who was one of those in charge of designing the things, in person. Which was: If the satellites are flying over New Zealand with nothing much to do, because it is very wet down here with few people who don't have big stacks of cash, then it would be worth discounting the call price to bring in some more business and keep the circuits busy at zero marginal cost, which is the cost of a marginal call. There is a certain price elasticity in phone calls = cheaper prices = more calls. You can draw graphs and maximize revenue by working out the optimum price to charge.
So when you fly over Japan, China, Korea and other rich crowded places, you are going to have huge demand on the circuits. So you can charge a lot of money per minute. When you fly over New Zealand, you will have very little demand. So you charge less to boost calls and make more money. I'm sorry to labour [labor speling in USA] this point, but it seems to be a difficult thing for people to grasp.
But the guy I spoke to, in person, face to face, who did the design work, said nope! Nope was because there is limited supply and discounting would mean battery drain which would mean not enough juice [technical term Mike D meaning electron-volts, watts, joules, electricity or power] to supply the circuitry when over the valuable place. They don't want to undersell the power supply.
Easy peasy. So either he was wrong, or you or Readware are wrong.
So, which is it? Discounts for us here in Oceania, or no discount because they don't want flat batteries over China/Japan? It has to be one or the other.
If it is the case that there is a surplus of electricity, then a senior guy in the Globalstar design team in Qualcomm doesn't have credibility. That isn't good. Photovoltaic panels are cheap enough and light enough that I can't see any good reason for them to be in short supply on a satellite. Fuel-cell batteries might be a different story. You seem to be saying that they also are so cheap that you don't worry about them and just stack enough of them up on the satellite to supply the worst case power supply demand. Which also makes sense to me.
In which case, discounts for Oceania. Right?
In which case why is Readware going on about decibel reduction for power saving as though it is worth writing home about? It is sounding as though there might not always be enough power. Or only just enough. Most of the time anyway. I hope they don't go flat just when the yacht is sinking and they call "Mayday" "Mayday" "Mayday".
I'm not wanting to be rude, but the person I spoke to has serious credibility because I know his name, rank and serial number and met him face to face on business here in NZ. We can establish credibility by answers and reasoning. I've pointed out some inconsistencies and gaps. If your story, which is internally consistent, is true, then there should be discounts in empty areas. Which was my original question. And high prices in busy ones. Very high prices if demand is as high as is now being suggested.
Thanks again for the comments,
Maurice |
