3 October 2007

Tomorrow (tonight) is the 50th Anniversary of the Space Age.

On 4Oct1957 the USSR launched the first earth Satellite, Sputnik I. There is a nice history of the event on CNN.

To commemorate the event AMSAT, the Amateur Radio Satellite Corporation, will be rebroadcasting recordings of the original Sputnik transmissions (in Morse code) as the amateur Oscar satellite AO-51 passes over North America. Here is their press release about the event:

AMSAT-NA will mark the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik with a special event on AO-51. AO-51 will rebroadcast original Sputnik telemetry and a congratulatory message to mark the event during passes over North America on the evening of Wednesday, October 3rd in North America, which is early October 4th UTC. At this time, only the passes over North America will be able to carry the special event. Please watch ANS and the amsat-bb mailing list for further information as the date approaches.

Robert, G8ATE and John, G7HIA will be using the special call sign GB50SO starting on the 4th October for one month to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the first earth orbiting satellite SPUTNIK ONE on that date in 1957. All of the available analogue satellites will be used as time permits. A special QSL card will be available after the event.

CalSky lists these TotL passes:

Amsat-Echo
(28375 2004-025-K)

18h21m02s Easy Receive/Transmit in FM Daylight pass Ascending Orbit. Earth revolutions since launch: 17135.2 Appears 18h16m04s 1.9mag az: 96.5° E horizon Culmination 18h21m02s 11.4 mag az: 55.3° NE h:7.5° distance: 2621.9km height above Earth: 820.9km Disappears 18h25m59s 12.3 mag az: 14.2° NNE horizon

19h58m45s Easy Receive/Transmit in FM Ascending Orbit. Earth revolutions since launch: 17136.1 Rise(invis.) 19h51m10s --.- mag az:153.5° SSE Appears 19h52m59s 11.6 mag az:150.9° SSE h:7.4° Culmination 19h58m45s 9.3 mag az: 72.6° ENE h:56.9°distance: 957.8km height above Earth: 821.0km Disappears 20h06m19s 13.0 mag az:352.2° N horizon 21h37m54s Easy Receive/Transmit in FM Ascending Orbit. Earth revolutions since launch: 17137.1 Rise(invis.) 21h31m14s --.- mag az:207.4° SSW Appears 21h33m01s 12.3 mag az:216.5° SW h:5.8° Culmination 21h37m54s 12.1 mag az:268.6° W h:18.3° distance: 1895.1km height above Earth: 820.8km Disappears 21h44m37s 13.9 mag az:330.2° NNW horizon

I think you will need a serious directional antenna to receive these transmissions, and they will be in Morse code.

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NSAS graphic Sputnik I telemetry (.wav file)

Observing Location	PSC
Observational Period	1800-1830 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Broken Clouds Temperature 73&def;F Wind Calm Humidity High Feels Like Very moist There are clouds moving through but they are generally thin. They wouldn’t be good for oprical observing but this is a radio event so will not be a problem. Transparency Seeing
Instruments	Kenwood TH-D7A(G) amateur radio Diamond SRH77CA Dual Band (70cm/2m) Antenna
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target AO-51 Radio Pass Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20071003-1816 EDT Comments Nothing Heard The pass was for 1816-1825 EDT, 9 minutes. The next pass begins in 1h35m.

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Observing Location	MetOval
Observational Period	1945-2015 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Overcast Temperature 69°F Wind Calm Humidity High Feels Like Feels like it wants to rain It is feeling a little chilly because of all the atmosphere in the air. The pages of my library book are starting to wilt. Transparency Nil Seeing
Instruments	Kenwood TH-D7A(G) amateur radio Diamond SRH77CA Dual Band (70cm/2m) Antenna
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target AO-51 Radio Pass Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20071003.1951 EDT Comments Nothing Heard This pass was 1951-2006 EDT, 15 minutes. The next (and last) pass is in 1h40m.

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Observing Location	Home
Observational Period	1930-1945 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Temperature Wind Humidity Feels Like It was getting uncomfortable out and my book was taking up too much moisture so I moved back to the house where I could plug into a different, and supposedly higher gain, antenna to see if that made any difference. Transparency Seeing
Instruments	Kenwood TH-D7A(G) amateur radio Diamond MR77 Dual Band (70cm/2m) magnetic mount antenna
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target AO-51 Radio Pass Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20071003.2130 EDT Comments Nothing Heard This was the last pass of the night over this area and was for 2131-2144 EDT. I was involved in an amateur radio net at the time and kept switching frequencies between the downlink and the net, spending most of that time period on the downlink since they passed me up on that round of talking.

I really hadn’t expected to hear anything since these satellites have low power radios and it takes a high gain directional antenna that can track the satellite as it passes overhead to hear anything. If I had heard anything I was expecting Morse code, at which I am not proficient so I was ready with pen and paper to transcribe the dots and dashes. Listening to the NSAS recording (link at the top of the page) it doesn’t sound like they were sending anything that I would be able to decode anyway. It was just strings of dots and dashes.

. _   . . . . . . . . .  . . _   . . . . . 

I have no idea how much of a fragment of the repeating string that is.

I found this other fragment of the transmission archived on the AMSAT web site. The original, recorded in Australia was a 1 minute recording and this is only a 10 second excerpt that doesn’t make any more sense than the NASA recording.

NASA Sputnik Anniversary page