Instruction Manual for Vitatron UR400 Linear Recorder

Instruction Manual for Vitatron UR400 Linear Recorder

Instruction manual used in conjunction with a Vitatron UR400 Linear Recorder. Part of the equipment used by Derek Slater and Geoff Perry for the Kettering Satellite Tracking Group as part of their tracking of Soviet space activity.

Slater and 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.

The Vitatron Linear Recorder was used in conjunction with an ex-minicab communications receiver and a tape recorder to routinely and automatically monitor voice traffic from Soyuz vehicles travelling to the Salyut space stations between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s. The setup operated overnight and at weekends, meaning that the Group missed very few opportunities to listen in and learn from what they heard. Soviet crews working on Salyut aligned with Moscow Time, meaning that they could normally be monitored during daytime in the UK. However, some launch windows dictated that the visiting Soyuz passed over Russia and Kettering during the night. To compensate for this a communications receiver was left running so that when a signal was received it opened the 'squelch' which, in turn, started the tape recorder. The Vitatron Linear Pen Recorder ran continuously and the trace it made showed when there was a signal present. The tape recorded conversations were available for translation and the pen trace allowed the times to be logged.
Used as part of the equipment Geoffrey Perry and Derek Slater used for the Kettering Grammar School Group to track Soviet space activity.