Greetings from Project OSCAR.<br /><br />Today, December 12th, marks the 43rd anniversary of the Launch of OSCAR-1. This also marks the 43rd anniversary of amateur radio in space.<br /><br />OSCAR was built by the Project OSCAR Amateur Radio Club which remains the oldest amateur radio club devoted entirely to amateur satellites. OSCAR was successfully launched from Vandenberg AFB in California. The satellite carried a 140 mW VHF transmitter that transmitted a beacon in the 2 meter band at 144.983 MHz. OSCAR transmitted a simple "HI-HI" Morse Code stream, the speed of which was controlled by a temperature sensor inside the spacecraft. It was too fast to copy at times.<br /><br />OSCAR was battery powered as solar cells and battery chargers were not really within the reach of amateurs at that time. It discharged its batteries three weeks later on January 1 1962.<br /><br />570 Amateurs in 28 countries reported receiving the OSCAR beacon and sent contact reports to the Project OSCAR team, who used a mainframe computer to compile data on radio propagation, orbit and thermal design. This data later led to design improvements when OSCAR II and III were launched.<br /><br />OSCAR re-entered the atmosphere January 31, 1962 after 312 revolutions.<br /><br />To learn more about OSCAR I and the Project OSCAR please visit:<br />http://www.projectoscar.net<br /><br />73,<br /><br />Emily Clarke,<br />VP, Project OSCAR<br /> <br /> <small>[ 13. December 2004, 03:53 AM: Message edited by: David Bate ]</small>