Today’s mail brought me a vintage cardboard “OSCAR-Locator” purchased on QRZ.com. Also included was a back issue of the Amateur Satellite Report newsletter, Number 154 from July 27, 1987.
I love collecting items related to the history of amateur satellites. The OSCAR-Locator is really neat—I’m digging through back issues of QST now trying to learn how to actually use it. Don’t think I’ll be giving up SatPC32 anytime soon however.
Remember back even further when hams plotted satellite passes using a string and a globe? Remember watching my elmer, Ron Murray WA4IWN (SK) do that back in the day.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Hi Les,
I have my Oscar Locator tucked away in a box from a move -- will need to dig it out. I remember being maybe a half hour away from a pass and fumbling with the locator to get a better estimate of the time. I finished with the locator right about when the pass began, so I wasn't the fastest with it. If I recall, it required a list of equatorial crossing times (one per day per satellite) that was published in QST. Don't recall if they sent them via bulletin. But after you saw a list of values, you could predict future ones fairly well.
Can't imagine using that for 16+ different birds today, but it is fun to look back when there was only one (or a few). I think mine was for OSCAR 6, and there were later versions that did additional birds.
I only found one reference to using it: http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2016-May/058803.html
If you ever come up with instructions, please share!
73, Bob, WB4SON
On Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 6:44 PM Les Rayburn [email protected] wrote:
Today’s mail brought me a vintage cardboard “OSCAR-Locator” purchased on QRZ.com. Also included was a back issue of the Amateur Satellite Report newsletter, Number 154 from July 27, 1987.
I love collecting items related to the history of amateur satellites. The OSCAR-Locator is really neat—I’m digging through back issues of QST now trying to learn how to actually use it. Don’t think I’ll be giving up SatPC32 anytime soon however.
Remember back even further when hams plotted satellite passes using a string and a globe? Remember watching my elmer, Ron Murray WA4IWN (SK) do that back in the day.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Sent via [email protected] AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Les,
The Oscar locator and how it works was described in much detail in "The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook". This was published by ARRL. You may be able to find a copy around some where. It still has a lot of useful information in it even if the satellites referred to are long gone. I made up several Oscar-Locators in the early 80s and used them a lot. I found them the other day when I was having a shack clean out.
To use them you require an "Equatorial Crossing time and longitude" (EQX). Bob McGwier's (N4HY) Quiktrak program gives these but I haven't checked any modern programs.
I have a set of instructions but they are based on my Southern Hemisphere version so would need to be adapted for use in the Northern Hemisphere.
It would be an interesting exercise to make one for the ISS as an educational tool versus looking up an app on a smart phone.
73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC
-----Original Message----- From: Les Rayburn Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2019 12:42 PM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] OSCAR-Locator & Amateur Satellite Report Number 154
Today’s mail brought me a vintage cardboard “OSCAR-Locator” purchased on QRZ.com. Also included was a back issue of the Amateur Satellite Report newsletter, Number 154 from July 27, 1987.
I love collecting items related to the history of amateur satellites. The OSCAR-Locator is really neat—I’m digging through back issues of QST now trying to learn how to actually use it. Don’t think I’ll be giving up SatPC32 anytime soon however.
Remember back even further when hams plotted satellite passes using a string and a globe? Remember watching my elmer, Ron Murray WA4IWN (SK) do that back in the day.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected] AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
I just was digging through my ham shack and there was my original Oscarlocator, first revision, 12-76. I also found a publication from the ARRL, "Getting to know Oscar from the ground up" published in 1977. It describes how to use the Oscarlocator. All you needed was the EQX, equator-crossing information that was provided by the W1AW bulletins and you could predict AOS and LOS for Oscar 6 or 7. Pretty neat stuff at the time.
Bob WA8FXQ
On Feb 24, 2019, at 7:24 PM, Wendy and Terry Osborne [email protected] wrote:
Hi Les,
The Oscar locator and how it works was described in much detail in "The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook". This was published by ARRL. You may be able to find a copy around some where. It still has a lot of useful information in it even if the satellites referred to are long gone. I made up several Oscar-Locators in the early 80s and used them a lot. I found them the other day when I was having a shack clean out.
To use them you require an "Equatorial Crossing time and longitude" (EQX). Bob McGwier's (N4HY) Quiktrak program gives these but I haven't checked any modern programs.
I have a set of instructions but they are based on my Southern Hemisphere version so would need to be adapted for use in the Northern Hemisphere.
It would be an interesting exercise to make one for the ISS as an educational tool versus looking up an app on a smart phone.
73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC
-----Original Message----- From: Les Rayburn Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2019 12:42 PM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] OSCAR-Locator & Amateur Satellite Report Number 154
Today’s mail brought me a vintage cardboard “OSCAR-Locator” purchased on QRZ.com. Also included was a back issue of the Amateur Satellite Report newsletter, Number 154 from July 27, 1987.
I love collecting items related to the history of amateur satellites. The OSCAR-Locator is really neat—I’m digging through back issues of QST now trying to learn how to actually use it. Don’t think I’ll be giving up SatPC32 anytime soon however.
Remember back even further when hams plotted satellite passes using a string and a globe? Remember watching my elmer, Ron Murray WA4IWN (SK) do that back in the day.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Sent via [email protected] AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected] AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Bob,
What a wonderful re-discovery. Any chance you could scan that ARRL publication? I’ve searched Amazon and Ebay since getting your e-mail, but no joy. I’d love to add it to my collection of vintage amateur satellite items.
Neat stuff indeed!
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
On Feb 24, 2019, at 8:47 PM, Bob Meyers [email protected] wrote:
I just was digging through my ham shack and there was my original Oscarlocator, first revision, 12-76. I also found a publication from the ARRL, "Getting to know Oscar from the ground up" published in 1977. It describes how to use the Oscarlocator. All you needed was the EQX, equator-crossing information that was provided by the W1AW bulletins and you could predict AOS and LOS for Oscar 6 or 7. Pretty neat stuff at the time.
Bob WA8FXQ
On Feb 24, 2019, at 7:24 PM, Wendy and Terry Osborne <[email protected] mailto:[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Les,
The Oscar locator and how it works was described in much detail in "The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook". This was published by ARRL. You may be able to find a copy around some where. It still has a lot of useful information in it even if the satellites referred to are long gone. I made up several Oscar-Locators in the early 80s and used them a lot. I found them the other day when I was having a shack clean out.
To use them you require an "Equatorial Crossing time and longitude" (EQX). Bob McGwier's (N4HY) Quiktrak program gives these but I haven't checked any modern programs.
I have a set of instructions but they are based on my Southern Hemisphere version so would need to be adapted for use in the Northern Hemisphere.
It would be an interesting exercise to make one for the ISS as an educational tool versus looking up an app on a smart phone.
73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC
-----Original Message----- From: Les Rayburn Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2019 12:42 PM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] OSCAR-Locator & Amateur Satellite Report Number 154
Today’s mail brought me a vintage cardboard “OSCAR-Locator” purchased on QRZ.com http://qrz.com/. Also included was a back issue of the Amateur Satellite Report newsletter, Number 154 from July 27, 1987.
I love collecting items related to the history of amateur satellites. The OSCAR-Locator is really neat—I’m digging through back issues of QST now trying to learn how to actually use it. Don’t think I’ll be giving up SatPC32 anytime soon however.
Remember back even further when hams plotted satellite passes using a string and a globe? Remember watching my elmer, Ron Murray WA4IWN (SK) do that back in the day.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Sent via [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Les and Bob,
I found my copy of “The Satellite Experimenter’s Handbook” and I’ve scanned the relevant pages. You can find them here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3h4a7o1yebx8omw/AADtG27IZBVy-iQ2ly87sY2qa?dl=0 Yes I couldn’t get my pages all aligned the same way.
You can also find a computer simulation here: http://www.tomdoyle.org/OscarLocator/OscarLocator.html
73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC
From: Les Rayburn Sent: Monday, February 25, 2019 7:15 PM To: Bob Meyers Cc: Wendy and Terry Osborne ; [email protected] Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] OSCAR-Locator & Amateur Satellite Report Number 154
Bob,
What a wonderful re-discovery. Any chance you could scan that ARRL publication? I’ve searched Amazon and Ebay since getting your e-mail, but no joy. I’d love to add it to my collection of vintage amateur satellite items.
Neat stuff indeed!
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
On Feb 24, 2019, at 8:47 PM, Bob Meyers [email protected] wrote:
I just was digging through my ham shack and there was my original Oscarlocator, first revision, 12-76. I also found a publication from the ARRL, "Getting to know Oscar from the ground up" published in 1977. It describes how to use the Oscarlocator. All you needed was the EQX, equator-crossing information that was provided by the W1AW bulletins and you could predict AOS and LOS for Oscar 6 or 7. Pretty neat stuff at the time.
Bob WA8FXQ
On Feb 24, 2019, at 7:24 PM, Wendy and Terry Osborne [email protected] wrote:
Hi Les,
The Oscar locator and how it works was described in much detail in "The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook". This was published by ARRL. You may be able to find a copy around some where. It still has a lot of useful information in it even if the satellites referred to are long gone. I made up several Oscar-Locators in the early 80s and used them a lot. I found them the other day when I was having a shack clean out.
To use them you require an "Equatorial Crossing time and longitude" (EQX). Bob McGwier's (N4HY) Quiktrak program gives these but I haven't checked any modern programs.
I have a set of instructions but they are based on my Southern Hemisphere version so would need to be adapted for use in the Northern Hemisphere.
It would be an interesting exercise to make one for the ISS as an educational tool versus looking up an app on a smart phone.
73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC
-----Original Message----- From: Les Rayburn Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2019 12:42 PM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] OSCAR-Locator & Amateur Satellite Report Number 154
Today’s mail brought me a vintage cardboard “OSCAR-Locator” purchased on QRZ.com. Also included was a back issue of the Amateur Satellite Report newsletter, Number 154 from July 27, 1987.
I love collecting items related to the history of amateur satellites. The OSCAR-Locator is really neat—I’m digging through back issues of QST now trying to learn how to actually use it. Don’t think I’ll be giving up SatPC32 anytime soon however.
Remember back even further when hams plotted satellite passes using a string and a globe? Remember watching my elmer, Ron Murray WA4IWN (SK) do that back in the day.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected] AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected] AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Tremendous, thank you so much. I’m out of town on a film shoot, but when I return I’ll download them right away. The computer simulation is kinda cool too!
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
On Feb 27, 2019, at 7:25 PM, Wendy and Terry Osborne [email protected] wrote:
Hi Les and Bob,
I found my copy of “The Satellite Experimenter’s Handbook” and I’ve scanned the relevant pages. You can find them here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3h4a7o1yebx8omw/AADtG27IZBVy-iQ2ly87sY2qa?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3h4a7o1yebx8omw/AADtG27IZBVy-iQ2ly87sY2qa?dl=0 Yes I couldn’t get my pages all aligned the same way.
You can also find a computer simulation here: http://www.tomdoyle.org/OscarLocator/OscarLocator.html http://www.tomdoyle.org/OscarLocator/OscarLocator.html
73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC
From: Les Rayburn mailto:[email protected] Sent: Monday, February 25, 2019 7:15 PM To: Bob Meyers mailto:[email protected] Cc: Wendy and Terry Osborne mailto:[email protected] ; [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] OSCAR-Locator & Amateur Satellite Report Number 154
Bob,
What a wonderful re-discovery. Any chance you could scan that ARRL publication? I’ve searched Amazon and Ebay since getting your e-mail, but no joy. I’d love to add it to my collection of vintage amateur satellite items.
Neat stuff indeed!
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
On Feb 24, 2019, at 8:47 PM, Bob Meyers <[email protected] mailto:[email protected]> wrote:
I just was digging through my ham shack and there was my original Oscarlocator, first revision, 12-76. I also found a publication from the ARRL, "Getting to know Oscar from the ground up" published in 1977. It describes how to use the Oscarlocator. All you needed was the EQX, equator-crossing information that was provided by the W1AW bulletins and you could predict AOS and LOS for Oscar 6 or 7. Pretty neat stuff at the time.
Bob WA8FXQ
On Feb 24, 2019, at 7:24 PM, Wendy and Terry Osborne <[email protected] mailto:[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Les,
The Oscar locator and how it works was described in much detail in "The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook". This was published by ARRL. You may be able to find a copy around some where. It still has a lot of useful information in it even if the satellites referred to are long gone. I made up several Oscar-Locators in the early 80s and used them a lot. I found them the other day when I was having a shack clean out.
To use them you require an "Equatorial Crossing time and longitude" (EQX). Bob McGwier's (N4HY) Quiktrak program gives these but I haven't checked any modern programs.
I have a set of instructions but they are based on my Southern Hemisphere version so would need to be adapted for use in the Northern Hemisphere.
It would be an interesting exercise to make one for the ISS as an educational tool versus looking up an app on a smart phone.
73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC
-----Original Message----- From: Les Rayburn Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2019 12:42 PM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] OSCAR-Locator & Amateur Satellite Report Number 154
Today’s mail brought me a vintage cardboard “OSCAR-Locator” purchased on QRZ.com http://qrz.com/. Also included was a back issue of the Amateur Satellite Report newsletter, Number 154 from July 27, 1987.
I love collecting items related to the history of amateur satellites. The OSCAR-Locator is really neat—I’m digging through back issues of QST now trying to learn how to actually use it. Don’t think I’ll be giving up SatPC32 anytime soon however.
Remember back even further when hams plotted satellite passes using a string and a globe? Remember watching my elmer, Ron Murray WA4IWN (SK) do that back in the day.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Sent via [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
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Bob -
Bob Meyers -
Les Rayburn -
Wendy and Terry Osborne