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| The Kettering Group | Tyneside, UK 2021 Jan 31 Sunday, Day 31
Maintained by: Robert Christy Zarya Home Kettering Group Home Kettering Group Equipment in Detail: The Tracking Station Radio Receivers Radio Aerials Additional Radio Equipment Timing Calculating and Computing Recording Archives Miscellanea Racal RA-217 Brochure Elsewhere on the Web: British Pathé News Film Contemporary 1966 film of the tracking equipment | Recording Equipment Tape recording the sound of satellite transmissions was often the means of creating a permanent record of the signal content. In 1967/8 this was complemented by acquisition of the GNT Undulator, a simple but very effective chart recorder that used ticker tape as its recording medium.
Item | Purpose | Note | Currently Residing
Tape Recorder | Recording of signals | Geoff's personal equipment used at home and at the school At least three of these (in addition to the Ferrograph) - different examples can be seen on the 'Wonderstuff' album cover and in Sven Grahn's 1979 photographs | Various locations (if any still exist)
Ferrograph Tape Recorder | Recording of signals | Mono recording Original purpose was to record metsat signals to play back through decoding equipment Very expensive when purchased - 95 GBP mid-1960s (equivalent to four figure sum at 2009 prices) Derek Slater personal property | Part of the Derek Slater collection, passed to British National Space Centre during 2011 and put on open display 2015 December
Great Northern Telegraph Co Ltd Undulator | Creation of paper chart for measurement of parameters contained in HF signals | Originally on loan from the British Post Office, designed for electric telegraphic signal reception Modified from original use of ink reservoir to holding felt/fibre tip pen | Geoff Perry Collection, passed to Science Museum, London in 2018.
AEI 8-channel Polygraph | Analysing/decoding telemetry from Parus and Tsikada satellites | Acquired by Derek Slater from English Electric - the original source may have been a hospital Used at the school for monitoring signals from Parus and Tsikada Later passed to Chris Wood who used it to undertake a more-detailed analysis for decoding Parus and Tsikada - the work he did led on to a small, solid state decoder that he used for reading out the transmitted almanacs | Held by Chris Wood
Pen Recorder and Power Supply | Used in conjunction with crystal-controlled VHF receiver to flag when receiver squelch was open during unattended recordings and to record a time signal. It allowed reception times of overnight voice transmissions from Soyuz to be determined. |  | Part of the Derek Slater collection, passed to British National Space Centre during 2011 and put on open display 2015 December

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