AMSAT-OSCAR 6


AO-6 was the first Phase 2 amateur radio satellite launched into Low Earth Orbit. It was also the first satellite constructed by the new AMSAT North America organization.
The satellite was launched October 15, 1972, by a Delta 300 launcher from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, California. AO-6 was launched piggyback with ITOS-D.
AMSAT-OSCAR 6 was box-shaped, measuring 430mm × 300mm × 150mm, with a mass of 18.2 kg. It had a near-circular polar orbit of 1450 × 1459 km with an inclination of 101.7 degrees. It deployed two quarter-wave monopole antennas, one each for 144 and 435 MHz, and half-wave dipole antenna for 29 MHz. It remained operational for 4.5 years until a battery failure on June 21, 1977.
Equipped with solar panels powering NiCd batteries, AO-6 provided 24 V at 3.5 W power to three transponders. It carried a Mode A transponder and provided store-and-forward morse and teletype messages for later transmission. Subsystems were built in the United States, Australia, and Germany.
AO-6 had a 1.3-watt transmitter into a half-wave dipole antenna. AO-6's receiver input sensitivity was approximately -100dBm and had an AGC that provided up to 26 dB of gain reduction optimized for single-sideband modulation. The transceiver team consisted of Karl Meinzer DJ4ZC, Wallace Mercer W4RUD, Dick Daniels WA4DGU and Jan King W3GEY.

Firsts

AO-6 demonstrated several uses of new technologies and operations.