The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast November 12, 1988

OSCAR Amateur Radio Satellite

     I am going to talk about OSCARS.  No, this is not about the movies and the Oscars they award in Hollywood each year.  This talk is about amateur radio OSCARS.  These OSCARS have to do with amateur radio satellites.  OSCAR is the acronym for Orbiting Satellite Containing Amateur Radio.  First I'll take you back many years to December 12, 1901 when Marconi, a self-proclaimed radio amateur, sent the first wireless signal from North America in Newfoundland to Europe and this became a big milestone in radio communications or wireless communication as it was called in those days.  Sixty years later, on December 12th 1961, the first amateur radio satellite designed and built by radio amateurs was placed into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force base in California.
     This satellite weighed only 10 pounds and was operated at extremely low power.  It lasted for 22 days.  It was heard by 570 radio amateurs in 28 countries around the world before its batteries died.  This event sparked the beginning of a whole new frontier in amateur radio communications.  It's now 25 amateur radio satellites and 27 years later that radio amateurs are now designing and building very sophisticated communications in these satellites.  These amateur radio satellites provide several hundred channels of communications capability that was not dreamed of being possible only ten years ago.
     These amateur radio satellite channels of frequencies use various modes of communication such as voice, Morse code, teletype and computer digital communications and communicate all over the world.
     I am one of those radio amateurs who have seen the growth in amateur radio satellites and use this form of radio communication.  I have had many days and nights of communication with many countries on five continents.  When I think about what Marconi accomplished on December the 12th in 1901 and the gigantic steps that were made on December 12th in 1961, I believe that the development of amateur radio, especially in the last decade, makes anything possible for the future of greater communications in radio.

November 12, 1988

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

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