via the ARRL: AMSAT OSCAR Number Administrator Bill Tynan, W3XO, Steps Down

Citing poor health, AMSAT OSCAR Number Administrator — the individual who confers the alphanumeric designators on Amateur Radio satellites — has stepped down from the volunteer post after granting numbers to qualifying applicants for more than 2 decades.

“I want to thank Bill for his many dedicated years of service to AMSAT,” said AMSAT President Joe Spier, K6WAO, who named AMSAT Vice President-Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, to succeed Tynan.

“Ever since the launch of OSCAR 1 in 1961, it has been traditional for Amateur Radio satellites to carry the name OSCAR — for ‘Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio,’” Spier explained.

OSCAR satellites are customarily referred to by hyphenated names, the first selected by the builder, AMSAT-OSCAR 7, abbreviated as AO-7. Spier called OSCAR numbers “a proud tradition of Amateur Radio, one that we hope to keep going for many years to come.”