[amsat-bb] Re: Explorer I - recordings

[Phil Karn]

Roy wrote:
> I have been asked if any of the Explorer I recordings were still 
> available in WAV, etc format.  There is one posted at 
> http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php.  Select the "Select a Topic" 
> drop down menu and scroll down to "Sounds from the first satellites." 
> There are a few recordings there with the info about the recordings. 
> One of them is the Explorer I telemetry.  You will hear several constant 
> audio tones with one of them shifting between two tones.  There was a 
> geiger counter on board that counted cosmic ray particles according to 
> the info I have read.  After a certain number had been counted the tone 
> shifted and after another quantity had been counted it shifted back again.

Explorer 1 may not have been the first satellite in space, but it was the first
to make a significant scientific discovery -- the Van Allen belts. That particle
detector stopped reading above about 2,000 miles because it was saturated by the
extremely high count.

I wonder if any of these recordings show that happening.