UoSAT-Oscar-11
My first QSL card! OSCAR-11. This bird has been in space for 20 years. The offical birthday announcement states:
** AMSAT OSCAR-11 Celebrates 20 years in Space on 1 March 2004**
To mark the occasion, AMSAT-UK will be issuing special commemorative QSL cards to those lodging a reception report of the satellite during the month of March 2004.
UoSAT-Oscar-11, (also known as UOSAT-2 and UO-11) was launched on 1 Mar 1984, and has been performing well in orbit for 20 years!
So I fired up an orbital prediction program to determine when OSCAR-11 would be overhead. No special equipment needed, just my regular mobile radio in my van. My official report filed March 1, 2004 explains:
First aquired the signal at about 20:52 UTC. It peaked for a very short time at S2 then faded away. It came back at 20:54 UTC and stayed at S2 for a few seconds. The signal closely resembled a steady 1200bd packet stream.
I listened to the signal from my van parked in my driveway at 50.11N / 91.9314W in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Canada.
The best is that I now have a QSL card to show off.