RE: [amsat-bb] SPUTNIK LAUNCHED, Oct. 4, 1957

["Tom Clark, W3IWI" <w3iwi@xxxxxxxx>]

> SPUTNIK LAUNCHED,  Oct. 4, 1957
>
> What frequency did the satellite transmit the beeps?

The frequencies used by the early Sputniks were 20.005 and 40.010. Since
there were no Space Research frequencies allocated at the time, the Soviets
chose to use the very top end of the "science" frequency at 20.000 -- which
was in use by WWV and other international time services.

The 20 MHz frequency and linear polarized transmitted gave tremendous
Faraday rotation which gave the first "thru the ionosphere" sounding. The
fact that the index of refraction of a plasma changes with frequency meant
that the combination of 20 & 40 MHz was an even more powerful tool. And the
close proximity of Sputnik to WWV-20 meant that accurate Doppler tracking
could done.


Tom

----
Via the amsat-bb mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe amsat-bb" to Majordomo@amsat.org