CE3AGI 1960 Chile

Vanguard Satellite Tracking Station #8

That XQ8AG card from Antofagasta Chile (1957) was when the US Army ran the stations. This was the year they started the tracking stations. Project Vanguard was the name of the rocket used to launch the satellites. Our first successful orbit was in March of 1958. The satellite was code named "58 Beta".

That next card CE1AGI from Antofagasta in 1959, was changed and had the AGI at the end. The AGI stood for "American Geosciences Institute". I always assumed the all NASA Stations had AGI at the end. They also have Bendix Radio Div. They won the contract to man all the Nasa stations. I actually worked for Bendix Field Engineering Corp. The trailer you see is what the first stations looked like.

The CE3AGI card (on this page ) you sent from Santiago in 1960, 2 years before I got there, they called it Station # 8. When I got there it was Station # 09. It also states they had an actual ham transmitter and receiver. It said 400 watts. By the time I got there, we used the 40 KW transmitter, the same one we used to communicate with Goddard Space Flight Center in MD. and the other three stations in South America.

From the estate of W8JIN
Info courtesy of Bob Schuler