There is a difference when you are standing on land at 14K, that has oxygen producing plant life close by and atmosphere in general.

Elevation and altitude are two completely differnt things.

we all made this connection many months ago. There was speculation on this board that Raytheon may work with GTE. So now there is an actual connection, yet still no contract.

Axel, don't need support, but thank you, getting it from other Gov't agencies. Just another lesson in how much technology costs you know. I don't think many investors understand how much successful proprietary technology costs, to develop and acquire.

In a recent dealing of mine with a German technology firm, they are fairly greedy, although with the exchange rate I guess I can't blame them :) You wouldn't believe how much they wanted for intelectual property license, even though we were going to be manufacturing their products.

So who here has seen some kind of advertisement baloon fly around unmanned, untethered, keeping itself in place and transmitting broadband internet?

Just because similar technology has existed for many years doesn't mean we aren't making improvements. Look at space launch vehicles, they have been around forever, its not like rocket propulsion theories all of a sudden changed, yet we are making them better. Combustion engines, still getting more power and efficiency out of them.

Now that these tests are out of the way we should expect much quicker progress.

There is the fast way to do things and then there is the right way to do something.

Defense contractors waste Gov't money all the time with stuff that ultimately doesn't work, or actually doesn't meet the requirements but the Gov't still accepts it. Its like welfare for really smart people.

I don't udnerstand why people on here speculate as to what is a real test. who are you to say that? 10K ft and so many days, well that may what you need to feel good, but no reason to be critical.

I for one am excited just to hear testing is still going on. These things take time, and with every new test comes new feedback data to improve the navigation software algorithms, or spectrum use.

Good news is always good, no matter how small of a victory it is. Hopefully we get positive results tomorrow, no reason to be so critical until you understand the results that we get back.

Why are any of you/us so passionate about arguing this stuff?

A project like this on the budget they have is small next to some of the small projects I manage on a daily basis.

Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't and most times they are late and overbudget. Anyone in the business like me and probably some other here are probably just desensitized to this, which gives us less concern.

And then there are all of those business majors out there that never got a real job, and expect everything to happen fast and fall into place like is necessary in the retail business. That does happen sometimes, but most of the time not. When was the last Windows version released?

In the office I work, some programs are 6 years behind schedule and a billion dollars over budget. Thus is the Aerospace development industry. And then we think, if only GTE had a slightly larger fraction of the tax dollars I spent this year :)

Take the holiday off and maybe when we come back after the new year GTE will have good news, their resolution. Merry Christmas

Wow, some people just have an incredible capacity for criticism. I can't believe anyone would say that this first test of all of the systems integrated into one platform is no progress. You obviously have never been involved in any type of technology development.

This is part of a test plan, it only gets harder from here, you have to start somewhere.

It takes a lot of effort to get everything to work together. It could be millions of lines of software code. You don't just strap on a router and a car battery and expect it to work. There is a lot of propulsion and guidance equipment to keep it floating in one place and it all has to be ruggedized for the elements.

I know this company seems shady, but are you for real?

Why even bother investing in the company or posting messages if you are just going to be this way, unless you have some reason to see the stock price go down?

Its easy to predict the simple outcome. The default is always bad, because it takes a lot of work to make the good outcome. The odds are always in your favor when you doubt a technological development and implementation in its early stages.

in this fool article, the fool praises WiMax venturers, so maybe we should get this lady reporting on GTE

http://yahoo.smartmoney.com/Techsmart/index.cfm?story=20060816&afl=yahoo

What motivation does a person like Seth have? Why stick with the bashing, everyone can read all his old bashing. Does he believe he is doing the citizens a service? What is his reputation, has he always been this way with any other company? Why doesn't someone analyze him, and find the deep rooted pain in his life that makes him so grouchy.

Anyone can look at the numbers and say they are increasing their own salaries and eating caviar with lots of paid companiosnhip or whatever, or you can look at all their announcements and figure out why the costs go up. They hired several "big names" which means higher officer expenditures and they are telling us they are travelling a lot for demos and deals and things, so if the costs didn't go up then that would be suspicious.

If we stick to the facts, the numbers should be out on the 15th.

If like usual, everyone relies and makes decisions based on hearsay and gossip, then obviously the numbers have been delayed because they are all bad.

it would be more factual if you understood, if you were in the business or knew anything about air or space flight

I think you think too much, stuff from DARPA is a bunch of hopes and dreams, which a majority of the time doesn't even get funded for a study. Anything that does get a DARPA study would take several years to develop and then more to productionize.

Something tells me no one is going to go to 50,000 feet in a gondola :)

And besides, it would not be real testing if there were stuff added to support a person. They do the tethered tests to build up confidence to the untethered.

Another thing, not in response to itsjustme, just because Lockheed or Boeing or Northrop or Raytheon is mentioned in articles does not mean GTE cannot get contracts for border patrol or military surveilance. These contracts are competed in free and open competition, its the law. Anyone can submit a proposal, and the one with the most merit and value wins. An operational platform would be a huge plus over the competition.

A few month delay is nothing to worry about. Technology development programs rebaseline on a weekly basis in this country, with design changes, parts obsolescence issues, software bugs, so on and so forth...

One thing we have on our side is that almost all of the technology in the Strat is proven, and has been for many years. Advances in lightweight composites, nanotechnology, batteries and such just made the whole idea simpler.

As long as they fly this year, they are still miles ahead of the competition.

They are probably struggling with how to produce enough bandwidth at 65K ft, And the reason it has to be the size of a football field is probably to have enough power to last for any good length of time.

I would not be worried about a couple month delay in the Strat flight, but I do not know how short investors would react.

Unfortunately, I am too aware that delivering on schedule is the exception for technology devleopments in this country. Fortuantely the Strat concept uses a lot of proven technology, and this stuff doesn't have to be space rated.

Sanswire has a sizeable lead on the competition, so hopefully everyone realizes this.

Teaming with the Air Force was genius to avoid the FAA roadblocks. The FAA guys I work with can be a real pain. I would expect future issues to arise from them or the FCC, but it all just takes time to work out.

For the record.. I did not bash anyone... and I didn't say the company was going down the tubes either, so please quit telling me I did something that I didn't.

I complimented Sanswire, saying its the best thing since sliced bread and I have personally put them in proposals of mine.

I then merely pointed out that GTE has had questionable business practices and is less than forthcoming with facts and details.

I could start bashing each of you that took it upon themselves to reply with hostility, to my simple request for an address to the company you have all invested in, but that would just be silly.

PIT, you didnt even read my post obviously, so go ahead and read it again and feel free to apologize, dont be so paranoid

Simmer down now, sirius.....Why are you so quick to jump to conclusions?

I'm not doubitng that Sanswire exists or that stratellites exist, it is Globetel I find strange. Nothing they write is ever informitive, it is all vague, ambiguous, no facts, no details, no names, except for Sanswire. People have cause to complain, but I'm not one of them.

I write requests for proposals, specifications, statements of work, so on and so forth for the military and I review proposals, specifications and such all the time and I can spot intentional ambiguity pretty quick. A lot of fancy sounding words strung together in sentences doesn't really satisfy my need for data. And with all bad news, they string people along with unsupported words of encourangement or hope.

I only invested in this company because of the stratellites, because I personally think its the best thing since sliced bread, and one of my study proposals at AFRL and DARPA is being considered, in which I identify this stratellite as the platform. I have friends (industry engineers) looking into using the Sanswire platform for other proposals.

The rest of GTE's business I don't have much interest in, but it would be a shame if they went bankrupt before they finish the stratellite project.

If I could ever find the LA address I could go visit GTE, and tell you if they are legit.

And I can probably ask my friends at Edwards AFB about Sanswire, or just go visit them too. Maybe I can get a tour since I am in the Air Force.

Has anyone visited or know the address to the LA and Palmdale facilities? I emailed Globetel but no response.

Thanks