The Space Age at 65: How High School Hams Tracked Sputnik

n 1957, the United States was preparing for the 1958 International Geophysical Year, deploying ground stations to track the 108-MHz signals from the planned launch of Explorer 1. But the Russians surprised the world by launching Sputnik on October 4, 1957, transmitting on 20.005 MHz. Caught off guard, the U.S. ground stations were NOT equipped to tune in that frequency. However, that was not a problem for a bunch of ham radio club students