Half-wave Dipole Aerial Tuned to 20 MHz
Half-wave Dipole Aerial Tuned to 20 MHz
This homemade half-wave dipole aerial tuned to 20 MHz was made by Derek Slater around 1964, to assist with tracking satellites.Slater and Geoff Perry worked at the Kettering Grammar School together and shared an interest in space. They used borrowed and inexpensive equipment to teach their students how to track satellites. In the process of doing this, the Kettering Satellite Tracking Group was born - which in turn led to the discovery and announcement of a secret Soviet launch site at Plesetsk, securing the Group worldwide media attention.
This aerial was used in conjunction with a Marconi CR-100 Communications Receiver and, later, a Racal RA-217 Communications Receiver. It was central to tracking the HF (High Frequency) transmitting Soviet Cosmos satellites, Soyuz spacecraft, and the Salyut space stations. It was slung between the two highest buildings at the Kettering Grammar School (the main teaching block and the science teaching block).
More information
Object number
2014-16
Location
Off-site Storage
Has this object been into space?
No
Material
Plastic
Metal
Associated Organisation
Kettering Satellite Tracking Group
Associated Person
Slater, Derek
Perry, Geoffrey
Associated Place
Kettering
Object Production Date
Circa 1964
Object Production Place
Kettering
Object Production Person
Slater, Derek
Credit Line
Donated by Derek Slater
On Display Status
In storage
Copyright and Photos
Photography is shared via the license below.
However, some objects on this website are on loan to the National Space Centre and are being shared through the permission of their owners.
Commercial use of images from this website is not allowed without additional permissions being granted. To request permission to use images for purposes not covered in the license below, please contact [email protected]
Individual objects on loan to the National Space Centre may have additional copyright permissions, so advice should always be sought before use.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
