Alan,
Yes, there were hams talking through OSCARs 6 and 7 in the 1970s. I read about that in preparing for a 2015 presentation I gave to a non-ham crowd, talking about how hams have had a part in the Space Age. There was also PCSAT-2 on the ISS being retransmitted by PCSAT (NO-44) in 2005 and 2006 and then copied by ground stations, as documented by WB4APR at:
http://www.aprs.org/pec/pc2ops.html
I couldn't tell from that page how many times ground stations were retransmitted by both of those satellites, but that page shows how one satellite was heard by the other, and then the retransmission was heard on the ground.
Seeing Zach's explanation on how the calculations for Doppler were made, dealing with two different satellites, was impressive! Congratulations to Zach and his class, and also to Paul N8HM for also copying the AO-73 telemetry through FO-29.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK
On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 11:17 PM, Alan wa4sca@gmail.com wrote:
Zach,
Probably the first telemetry relay, but not quite the first relay. I recall literally decades ago there was a relay, probably but not definitely from 70 cm to 2 m to 10 m. It might have included AO-7 in its first incarnation. Perhaps some of the really OTs might recall the details. Still, a great achievement. Especially calculating the hop to hop Doppler!
73s,
Alan WA4SCA