The first Amateur Radio satellite, OSCAR-1, was launched from Vandenberg AFB, piggy backed with Discoverer-XXXVI, a "scientific" satellite.
OSCAR 1 only lasted a couple of weeks, and reentered at the end of January, but it was a stunning achievement considering it was built by a bunch of "Hams", in somebody's garage.
Space Today Online has a fairly current History of Amateur Radio Satellites.
And for more info and the current status of all the Amateur Radio satellites, please go to the AMSAT webpage.
I can remember listening to the "HI" beacon with my old Gonset Communicator II. There was no BFO on the little AM rig, but i could see the cat's eye SS indicator flickering and the hear the signal lowering the background noise as the satellite passed. Quite a thrill for a kid barely out of high school.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was too young at the time to be able to do anything about it. I had just barely discovered Short Wave, and was barely aware of Amateur Radio.
ReplyDeleteThat would happen a few years later.....:-)