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I am interested in any description of the electronics on Syncom-3, the first geostationary satellite. I've been able to find quite a bit of general information. There was a pair of 2 Watt TWTs and somewhere there were five stages of clever diode frequency doubling to get up to the 7 GHz frequency. But I've not been able to find out if it was all vacuum tubes, for example, or if there were any transistors used. Was there a computer or state-machine of any description? What type of memory elements (if any) were used. Latching relays, Core memory, etc. These are the links I've seen so far:

uhoh
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Roger Wood
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You may want to read this technical report by NASA.

By searching "transistor" in the pdf, I have found this:

[...] the frequency multiplication is accomplished in eight doublers, of which all but the first involve the use of varactor diodes connected push-push in efficient duo-mode networks. The first doubler uses a conventional transistor circuit [...]

And this for "memory":

A psi tracker is used in the input circuitry of the synchronous controller servo. This functions as a memory circuit to ensure controller lock-on if for some reason psi pulses from the spacecraft are lost. It also discriminates against noise and spurious signals from the telemetry receiver that might otherwise break controller lock-on.

(There were also other results for transistor and memory).

BlueCoder
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