OSCAR 1

[1] The satellite had a battery-powered 140 mW transmitter operating in the 2-meter band (144.983 MHz), employed a monopole transmitting antenna 60 cm long extended from the center of the convex surface, but had no attitude control system.

[6] Thinking similarly, several employees at Lockheed, an aerospace-defense company, founded Project OSCAR in 1960 with the aim of putting a small, amateur-built satellite into orbit.

The founding board of directors of Project OSCAR LLC were Mirabeau Towns, jr. (K6LFI), Stanley Benson (K6CBK), Harley Gabrielson (W6HEK), Fred Hicks (W6EJU), William Orr (W6SAI), Nicholas Marshall (W6OLO), Harry Engwicht (W6HC), Thomas Lott (VE2AGF), Jerre Crosier (W6IGE), Harry Workman (K6JTC), Richard Esneault (W4IJC/6) and Donald Stoner.

Stations made audio tape recordings of OSCAR 1 passes and forwarded data to Sunnyvale, CA for processing.

[9] The design, construction and testing of OSCAR 1 involved many individuals, many of whom were Lockheed employees: Clarence A Andrews, jr. (W0LIIV), Douglas K. Beck (WA6QQI), Albert R. Die (W3LSZ/6), Albert F. Gaetano (W6VZT), Russell Garner (K5VPN/6), Gail Gangwish, H. Hughes, Howard Linnenkohl (K0SDD), H. E. Poole, Charles S. Smallhouse (WA6MGZ) and Lance Ginner (K6GSJ).

The continuous radio Morse message "hi hi hi ..." by the first private satellites called OSCAR, beginning with OSCAR 1 in 1961 (recording from OSCAR 2 , 1962)