(HIST/EDU) K2ZRO SATELLITE MEMORIAL STATION Traditional Cache
(HIST/EDU) K2ZRO SATELLITE MEMORIAL STATION
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A NEW MEMBER OF MY EDUCATION/HISTORICAL CACHES
NOTE: fOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SUMMER i HAVE PLACED A LOCK ON THIS NEW CACHE. SINCE IT HAS A LOT OF YOUNG STUDENTS VISITING THE OBSERVATORY, SOMETINES THEIR INQUISITY GEETS TO PRYING. THE LOCK COMBINATION IS 891 AND IT IS A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO OPEN/CLOSE SO YOUR COOPERATION IS APPRECIATED IN MAKING SURE IT IS SECURLY LOCKED BEFORE YOU LEAVE.
The posted coordinates will take you to the tracking antenna of the K2ZRO Satellite Station. If the Observatory is open one of the staff on duty would gladly show you the Radio Room, Ten months of the the year the Observatory has a special Friday night program and all are invited. For more information refer to the website Kopernik.org. Happy Hunting. You will find the log to sign at way point.
One of the many interesting things you will find at the Kopernik Observatory is this Amateur Radio Station named after a Polish immigrant and IBM Endicott engineer who became a Pioneer in Satellite Communications and tracking. His name was Kazimieres Deskur but we all knew him as Kay or Kaz. It all began in the fall of 1957 when the Russians launched the first satellite into space. At this time with the Cold War in progress everyone thought this was some sort of Spy Satellite, but in today's world this would be viewed as FAKE NEWS. This new Russian satellite began with a group of Russian Amateur Radio Operators in Moscow University. They created this simple experiment to include a small beacon powered by an ordinary dry cell battery. The beacon emitted an intermittent beeping sound right in the middle of one of the most popular amateur radio frequencies used by amateurs worldwide. The Russians did not announce this launch in advance (in case it was a failure). But on that October day in 1957 amateurs around the world heard this strange beeping sound coming from their radios. Soon the air waves were full of chatter WHAT IS THIS NOISE and WHERE IS IT COMING FROM? The Russians then announced to the world that this was SPUTNIK and encouraged amateurs around the world to report the time, location, and duration of signal to Moscow University. In exchange they received from the University a QSL card with a picture of SPUTNIK. This was in the days before GPS or Personal Computers and this information was used to determine the tracking (or exact orbit) of the new satellite.
Kaz Deskur was an amateur radio operator in Poland during WW2. Following the war he came to the United States and was employed by IBM Endicott as an engineer. He was also issued the US amateur call sign of K2ZRO. In the early 1960's many amateurs in the US, began experimenting in launching similar satellites to Sputnik into space. In fact thirteen such satellites were launched in the following ten years before the Russians put Sputnik#2 in space. Years before Kopernik Observatory was constructed Kaz had a shack on this location to allow him to work these new amateur radio satellites. In those days the biggest problem was to know when these satellites would be in range for communication. Engineers like Kaz did not have hand held calculators, or personal computers. Their calculating device was a simple SLIDE RULE. Kaz invented a circular slide rule to accomplish this task. He named it OSCARLOCATOR. In the US all amateur radio satellites are called OSCAR's (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio). As of today nearly 100 OSCAR;s have been launched. Many other countries have launched similar devices in space, Japan's FUGI sats and Russian SPUTNIK's, to name just a few.
In 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger blew up carrying the First Teacher in Space ( Crista McAullife) it was a devastating event. Since then all US astronauts aboard the Internal Space Station are hams and frequently give school children an opportunity to ask questions and receive answers from those on board. In 2001 I was fortunate to obtain such a contact for students of St. James Middle School in Johnson City. Normally, the astronauts are flying over Texas when they contact ground stations there. A telephone line in created in the school to allow the students to hear and speak with them. At the time of the first such contact from Broome County I was the trustee of the K2ZRO station and convinced NASA to allow the space shuttle to contact Kopernik directly as they flew over New York. This was a first of many such contacts to come later and to my knowledge Kopernik is the only station to be allowed such direct contact with the ISS for school children. NASA granted this request I am certain as a great tribute to Kaz Deskur a true pioneer of satellite communications and tracking. Today's operations are quite different from those early days over 50 year ago. The OSCARLOCATOR has been replaced by a computer program to predict a satellites precise location. Kaz had to manually tract the antenna to follow a satellite traveling over 17,000 miles an hour. Today the antenna you are standing in front of is also controlled by a computer program. I hope you enjoy this bit of local history and a pioneer in satellite location.
Dont forget to sign the log (Way Point) before leaving, and if the observatory is open someone on the staff will gladly show you this historic satellite station named in honor of a true pioneer in space communications.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[this hint is for new catchers to the hobby. When you lift cover you will find a bison tube containing the log. To re-insert roll log and place it in the cap end of tube (NOT THE LONG BODY OF TUBE.]
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