Dec 27 1982
From The Space Library
ARC said that it had developed, with the aid of General Electric, a portable remote-communications system: a terminal and a folding antenna sized to fit inside two suitcases and be carried aboard an airplane and powered by either an ordinary AC outlet or the cigarette lighter in an automobile. Working with experimental communications satellite ATS 3, operated by NASA since 1967, an operator anywhere in North or South America or most of the nearby Atlantic and Pacific Oceans could contact any of several ground stations at any time.
The system would fit into two ordinary suitcases that could be carried as luggage in an automobile or on public transportation; one suitcases contained the collapsible antenna, the other an alphanumeric terminal to send or receive messages. The alphanumeric system would not disturb voice communications over the satellite, so that a NASA-authorized user could use it at any time without prior scheduling. ATS 3 had already served in many emergencies. When Mt. St. Helens erupted in May 1980, an Air Force jeep at the disaster site maintained voice communications through ATS 3 and a GE station near Schenectady, showing the need for rapidly deployable long-distance systems not dependant on land lines, often destroyed in emergencies. Organizations, including the state of California and the National Association for Search and Rescue, were working with NASA on further uses of the technology. (NASA Release 82-195; ARC Release 82-48)
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