Oscar 3

Oscar 3 [Amsat]

Oscar 3 (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio 3) was a rectangular spacecraft 20 x 30 cm with 4 monopole antennae. It contained a tracking beacon transmitter and a communications repeater. No active attitude control system was employed, and power was furnished by onboard batteries. It was launched piggyback with seven United States Air Force satellites. Weight 16.3 kg. It was the first amateur satellite to operate from solar power and relay signals from Earth. Oscar 3 was the first true amateur satellite relaying voice contacts in the VHF 2 meter band through a 1 W 50 kHz wide linear transponder (146 MHz uplink and 144 MHz downlink). Oscar 3's transponder lasted 18 days. More than 1000 amateurs in 22 countries communicated through the linear transponder. The two beacon transmitters continued operating for several months.

Nation:	USA
Type / Application:	Amateur communication
Operator:
Contractors:
Equipment:
Configuration:
Propulsion:	none
Lifetime:
Mass:	13.6 kg
Orbit:

Satellite	Date	LS		Launcher	Remarks:
Oscar 3	09.03.1965	Va 75-1-2		Thor-DM21 Agena-D	with SECOR 3, Dodecapole 1, Poppy 4, Solrad 7B, GGSE 2, GGSE 3, Surcal 4