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

[Wendy and Terry Osborne]

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 ; amsat-bb at amsat.org 
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 <meyersb at uplogon.com> 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 <wandtosborne at gmail.com> 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




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