[amsat-bb] OSCAR-Locator & Amateur Satellite Report Number 154

[Wendy and Terry Osborne]

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 AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. 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