VLF Transmitter “SAQ” to Transmit CW for 100th Anniversary

November 12, 2024To celebrate the 100th anniversary of its original transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, Grimeton Radio Station will activate its original call sign (SAQ) and transmit a CW message on December 1st. The CW message will transmit on 17.2 kHz at 10:00 UTC using an alternating current generator.

On December 1st, 1924, the VLF transmitter, with call sign “SAQ” at Grimeton Radio Station, was put into commercial operation, with transmissions across the Atlantic ocean, to the receiving station at Riverhead and the replying transmitter station at Rocky Point, both on Long Island, NY, USA.

Program & transmission schedule:

• 09:00 UTC The doors to the transmitter hall will open.
• 09:20 UTC Live YouTube broadcast begins.
• 09:30 UTC Start-up of the Alternator.
• 10:00 UTC Transmission of a message

Test transmissions are scheduled for November 29th between 13:00 – 16:00 CET.

Tickets for attending the event in person are available.

SAQ QSL cards will be available through an online form.

An amateur radio station will also be commemorating the event with call sign SK6SAQ on the following frequencies:

• 3 517.2 kHz CW
• 7 017.2 kHz CW
• 14 017.2 KHz CW
• 3 755 kHz SSB
• 7 140 kHz SSB

Source: The Alexander Association open_in_new

AO-7 Satellite to Celebrate 50 Years in Orbit

November 8, 2024Designed by radio amateurs, AO-7 launched in November of 1974 and is now marking 50 years in orbit. The satellite initially functioned for 6.5 years before its batteries failed. 21 years later AO-7 became operational again.

A very active user of AO-7, Pat Gowain, G3IOR, from the UK, made a telephone call to Perry Klein, W3PK, (first AMSAT President and designer of the VHF/HF transponder). This was on June 21, 2002. Pat wondered if we had launched a new LEO spacecraft? He was hearing Morse Code Telemetry again on the old beacon frequency of AO-7. He played Perry a tape recording. It sure sounded like AO-7 telemetry!

AMSAT News Service will honor AO-7 over the next 3 weeks by publishing articles and stories to a special page on the AMSAT website.

Source: AMSAT open_in_new