[G6Tanuki]

The US Vanguard satellite's transistor beacon-TX was indeed simple.

It also worked on 108MHz which no doubt made the whole issue of efficient antennas a lot simpler.

It lasted from March 17, 1958 until May 1964, being powered by solar panels rather than Sputnik-style batteries.

I guess you could easily recreate this if you could find a non-whiskery AF117!