{"id":10643,"date":"2011-06-07T10:09:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-07T00:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2011\/06\/07\/searching-for-the-sputnik-schematic\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T04:52:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T18:52:04","slug":"searching-for-the-sputnik-schematic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2011\/06\/07\/searching-for-the-sputnik-schematic\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for the Sputnik Schematic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> Mike, AA1TJ, has launched (!) yet another intriguing project. See below. In an effort to come up with the actual Sputnik schematic, I have thrown down the geek gauntlet to our fellow nerds at sci.space.history: <\/span><\/p>\n

Greetings Space Historians!<\/span>
We are a group of radio amateurs and we probably rival you in our<\/span>
technical geeky-ness. We are now involved in an effort to re-create<\/span>
and put on the airwaves replicas of the 20 MHz transmitters used in<\/span>
Sputnik 1. (We will use the amateur radio 21 MHz band).<\/span>
We are trying to find a schematic diagram for the transmitter. Can<\/span>
you help us? Thanks. <\/span><\/p>\n

————————<\/span>
Gentlemen,<\/span><\/p>\n

Arnie, CO2KK, told me last night that as a 15 year-old boy he’d made<\/span>
it into the newspaper by picking up Sputnik’s signal on his Hammarland<\/span>
Super-Pro receiver.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don Mitchell<\/span> – a physicist now retired from the Bell Labs – also wrote<\/span>
last evening to ask if I knew of a schematic diagram for the two<\/span>
transmitters used on Sputnik-1. Mr. Mitchell maintains an informative<\/span>
web site on the topic of <\/span>Sputnik<\/span>. Here, for example, is the link to<\/span>
his page on the first of the series of “Travellers” to be lofted into<\/span>
orbit in late 1957 into 1958.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.mentallandscape.com\/S_Sputnik1.htm<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>
To the best of my knowledge the schematic for what may be the most<\/span>
famous QRPp transmitter has never been published. It’s a shame,<\/span>
particularly as it would have been great fun to build an approximate<\/span>
replica for use on the ham bands<\/span><\/p>\n

However, I woke up this morning wondering why should we allow the lack<\/span>
of an original schematic to stop us when there’s plenty of descriptive<\/span>
evidence available? “Spaceflight Magazine,” for example, published a<\/span>
wonderful article on the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. The story was<\/span>
pieced together from original documents over a period of 20 years. You<\/span>
may read the article here<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/faculty.fordham.edu\/siddiqi\/writings\/siddiqi_sputnik_history_2007.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

“The two D-200 type radio transmitters operated on frequencies of<\/span>
20.005 and 40.003 megacycles at wavelengths of 15 and 7.5 m. These<\/span>
transmitters (which obviously used <\/span>vacuum tubes<\/span>) each had a power<\/span>
intake of 1 watt and provided the famous \u201cbeep-beep-beep\u201d sound to<\/span>
Sputnik. The signals on both the frequencies were spurts lasting 0.2<\/span>
to 0.6 seconds, and carried information on the pressure and<\/span>
temperature inside the satellite; one set would transmit during the<\/span>
\u201cpauses\u201d of the other.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“Despite objections from just about everyone, Gringauz insisted that<\/span>
PS-1 carry a <\/span>high frequency<\/span> transmitter (the 20.005 MHz transmitter<\/span>
operating in the decameter waveband) in addition to the VHF<\/span>
transmitter (which had been commonly used on Soviet ballistic<\/span>
missiles). …In the end, Gringauz won over his opponents, partly<\/span>
because everyone agreed that a high frequency<\/span>
transmitter would ensure that the radio transmissions would be heard<\/span>
around the world. The transmitter hardware was built by one<\/span>
of Gringauz\u2019 youngest engineers, Vyacheslav Lappo…”<\/span><\/p>\n

>From other sources we know the transmitter used vacuum tubes rather<\/span>
than transistors. This site mentions that when the received <\/span>signal
level<\/span> was quite strong, the presence of a back-wave while the other<\/span>
transmitter was keyed could be noted.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.amsat.org\/amsat\/features\/sounds\/firstsat.html<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>
The RF oscillator, at a minimum, must have been free-running. So,<\/span>
we’re talking a <\/span>vacuum tube<\/span> crystal-controlled oscillator and a PA<\/span>
having an input power of 1 watt. They may have used a PA driver stage,<\/span>
or perhaps a frequency multiplier stage. If they did use a multiplier<\/span>
then it must have been allowed to free-run as well. But given the<\/span>
battery drain considerations, I would have done my best to reduce the<\/span>
number of <\/span>vacuum tube heaters<\/span>, or filaments to a minimum. As such, I<\/span>
think there’s a fairly good chance this was a simple, MOPA design<\/span>
(oscillator-> PA).<\/span><\/p>\n

I found what might be a photograph of the transmitter on page 26 of<\/span>
the December 1957 issue of the Soviet “<\/span>Radio Magazine<\/span>.” Perhaps our<\/span>
Russian speaking group members can confirm this and provide us with<\/span>
other clues appearing in the article text? The magazine can be<\/span>
downloaded at<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/publ.lib.ru\/ARCHIVES\/R\/”Radio”\/<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>
Click-on ”Radio”,1957,N12.[djv].zip. The “zipped” December issue<\/span>
appears in DJVU format. Don’t miss the nice Sputnik cover art.<\/span><\/p>\n

This re-post talks about the center-fed Vee dipole used (the 15m<\/span>
transmitter used the 5.8meter dipole) among other things.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/hamradio.mybb.ru\/viewtopic.php?id=625<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>
Getting to get the point, this morning I woke up thinking about how<\/span>
plentiful vintage Russian military tubes are these days. Remember how<\/span>
inexpensive US military surplus used to be? That’s how it is right now<\/span>
with Russian components (and the characteristics of some of these<\/span>
tubes are simply amazing). All I can say is get ’em while they’re hot,<\/span>
as it surely won’t last forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also came to me that Expanded Spectrum Systems sells an HC49<\/span>
crystal cut for 21060kHz for two and a half-bucks each.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, I remarked to myself that propagation-wise, 15m may well be<\/span>
open for business come the 54th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik-1<\/span>
next October the 4th.<\/span><\/p>\n

You’ve probably guessed by now what I’m going to propose. We have<\/span>
plenty of time to throw together a simple 15m CW vacuum-tube<\/span>
transmitter having an input power of 1w or less. We could use any<\/span>
tubes that we like but I’m going to build mine using 1950’s vintage<\/span>
ex-Soviet devices. I plan to power mine with one or two of those<\/span>
ubiquitous 12V sealed-lead-acid batteries. I’ll VXO my crystal and<\/span>
I’ll let it free-run during transmit; both for historical reasons and<\/span>
to improve the signal quality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps some of the antenna gurus here would lend a hand by modeling<\/span>
and testing something akin to the original 70 degree Vee dipole? Would<\/span>
this be a practical antenna?<\/span><\/p>\n

I propose that beginning on “Sputnik Day” we launch our 1 watt Sputnik<\/span>
clones on 15m CW. Instead of calling CQ, our call could be along the<\/span>
lines of “Beep_Beep_Beep_Beep_Beep_Beep de AA1TJ”. In other words, six<\/span>
letter E’s followed by our call sign. Given that I can barely organize<\/span>
the socks in my underwear drawer, perhaps someone skilled at<\/span>
organizing events would take up the cause?<\/span><\/p>\n

One more thing. Poking around on <\/span>Google<\/span> last night, I was struck by<\/span>
how many people remarked that the experience of Sputnik had changed<\/span>
their lives. Some decided to become engineers, scientists or amateur<\/span>
radio operators. I didn’t know it at the time, but Sputnik changed the<\/span>
way that I was educated. Not only did this little QRPp transmitter<\/span>
make a tremendous impact on the world, but radio amateurs were front<\/span>
and center. It seems appropriate that we should commemorate this<\/span>
extraordinary day in the history of QRPp.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CHaJDuq6tBM<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>
(they were seeing the orbiting booster stage rather than the satellite)<\/span><\/p>\n

Sputnik Mania…the complete film in two parts (warning…contains<\/span>
some political “button-pushing”)<\/span><\/span>Greetings Space Historians!<\/span>
We are a group of radio amateurs and we probably rival you in our<\/span>
technical geeky-ness. We are now involved in an effort to re-create<\/span>
and put on the airwaves replicas of the 20 MHz transmitters used in<\/span>
Sputnik 1. (We will use the amateur radio 21 MHz band).<\/span>
We are trying to find a schematic diagram for the transmitter. Can<\/span>
you help us? Thanks. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8jI5RBRWIOE<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>
If I happen to learn more about the original transmitter I’ll be sure<\/span>
and post it on my blog or web site. I found particularly interesting<\/span>
the fact that WWV interrupted some of their 20MHz transmissions in<\/span>
order to accommodate Sputnik’s signal; a gentlemanly thing to do<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the possibility of an event along these line, any comments or<\/span>
discussion is most welcome. I plan to make a start on my little<\/span>
Sputnik sender upon my return from vacation in July.<\/span>
<\/span>Greetings Space Historians!<\/span>
We are a group of radio amateurs and we probably rival you in our<\/span>
technical geeky-ness. We are now involved in an effort to re-create<\/span>
and put on the airwaves replicas of the 20 MHz transmitters used in<\/span>
Sputnik 1. (We will use the amateur radio 21 MHz band).<\/span>
We are trying to find a schematic diagram for the transmitter. Can<\/span>
you help us? Thanks. <\/span><\/span>
Ha…I just received several fairly good-quality color photos of the<\/span>
original Sputnik transmitters! At first glance it looks as though they<\/span>
used two subminiature pencil tubes! The quartz crystal looks very<\/span>
similar to our HC-18\/u package. The RF portion is very simple in<\/span>
appearance. In fact, it reminds me of something you’d find in a 1950’s<\/span>
ARRL Mobile Radio Manual! ;o)<\/span><\/p>\n

The fellow who sent these apparently has a contact with one of the<\/span>
original Sputnik (non-electronic) hardware designers; who is said to<\/span>
be “still very much alive.” My contact is going to make an inquiry<\/span>
with his Russian contact about the transmitter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Very cool…<\/span><\/p>\n

73\/72,<\/span>
Mike, AA1TJ<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike, AA1TJ, has launched (!) yet another intriguing project. See below. In an effort to come up with the actual Sputnik schematic, I have thrown down the geek gauntlet to our fellow nerds at sci.space.history: Greetings Space Historians!We are a group of radio amateurs and we probably rival you in our technical geeky-ness. We are … Continue reading “Searching for the Sputnik Schematic”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,96,82,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rainey-michael","category-russia","category-satellites","category-space-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10645,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10643\/revisions\/10645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}