Author: SM0TGU

Webmaster and member of the AMSAT-SM steering group.

Categories
Ham Satellite news

MARMOTSat with 10m downlink

MARMOTSat is a 3U CubeSat currently under development with an Amateur radio focus. It is slated to launch NET June 2026 on SpaceX Transporter-17.

Radio Frequencies

MARMOTSat will use the following frequencies for TT&C and Amateur experiments:

Amateur ExperimentFrequency
TT&C up- and downlink436.125 MHz
Digipeater up- and downlink145.875 MHz
CW telemetry beacon downlink145.875 MHz
CW telemetry beacon downlink29.410 MHz
DVB-S2 digital video beacon29.410 MHz
Linear frequency modulation downlink29.410 MHz

Frequencies in each band are shared. The Amateur experiments which use the same frequencies are mutually exclusive and will never be run at the same time.

Amateur Payload Overview

The Amateur payload is available to be used by all interested and propely licensed parties, gobally. The Amateur payload is the debut of the Modular CubeSat Radio, featuring the RF modules necessary to facilitate MARMOTSat’s Amateur radio and ionospheric science experiments. The MCR configuration for this mission is the core consisting of the SDR, computer and camera, as well as HF and VHF RF front ends, and wire antennas:

  • HF antenna: Base loaded half-wave tape measure whip.
  • VHF antenna: Half wave tape measure dipole.
  • Radio: Low power HF SDR based on the Hermes Lite 2. Design here.
  • HF RF front end: Two chain push/pull HF amplifier for 10m. Design here.
  • VHF RF front end: HF to VHF transverter. Design here.
  • Camera: Off the shelf serial camera module with resolution worse than <7.5m/pix.

Full information at: https://www.propagationlab.ca/satellite/

Categories
SDR and software

OscarWatch – new satellite tracking software

OscarWatch by Peter @mm9sql is a new desktop satellite tracking multi-platform software. It takes all the best parts from all other tracking softwares and bundles it into one package.

Peter have done a lot of work with the radio doppler control part and – as I see it – it is a huge improvement from what you have seen before in older software.

OscarWatch is still under development (summer 2026) and can be downloaded from:
https://github.com/magicbug/OscarWatch-Tracker

This is the current features list 30 Juno 2026, copied from GitHub:

  • World map: equirectangular Earth texture with satellite subpoint, ground track, footprint overlays (optional motion arrows), your QTH, and an optional remote DX station grid marker; map time scrubbing from the status bar (hardware tracking stays live)
  • Sky plot: polar view of satellite azimuth/elevation relative to your station; click to focus; expand/collapse state is remembered
  • TLE catalog: fetched from https://tle.oscarwatch.org/, cached under %AppData%/OscarWatch/
  • TLE auto-update: manual refresh, on startup (if stale), or every 6 hours while running (Settings → Tracking)
  • Satellite picker: choose which spacecraft to track
  • Pass predictions: upcoming passes with TCA (time of closest approach / max elevation), min-elevation and min-duration filters; sidebar View pass plot for a single-station polar chart
  • Pass planner: multi-station profiles (home / portable), pass quality filters, satellite filter, pass radar gallery (polar plots for all upcoming passes of one satellite), and .ics calendar export for contest or field-day planning
  • Mutual pass finder: find passes visible from two stations at once (Passes → Mutual pass finder)
  • DX station monitor: enter a remote Maidenhead grid on the map; see where that station is and live azimuth/elevation for the focused satellite from their QTH (compact draggable overlay)
  • Live telemetry: azimuth, elevation, range, and altitude updated every second (UTC)
  • Voice announcements: optional spoken “rising” alerts when a satellite crosses a configurable elevation while ascending (e.g. “Alpha Oscar Zero Seven is rising”); Settings → Voice
  • Pass recording: optional automatic WAV capture from a line-in or USB audio device while the focused satellite is above configurable elevation thresholds; Settings → Recording. Files save to %AppData%/OscarWatch/recordings/ by default as {sat-name}-{yy}-{MM}-{dd}-{HH}-{mm}.wav (UTC). A red REC badge appears on the pass row while recording.
  • Doppler frequencies: draggable overlay on the world map with transponder modes from the satellite database, live radio/sat uplink & downlink, RX offsets (separate stored values for Voice and CW on linear SSB), CTCSS (access/arm), and Voice/CW toggle for linear SSB (header buttons + Ctrl+W; CAT/Cloudlog follow Settings → Radio → Linear CW: keep receive in USB/LSB)
  • Transponder database editor: Satellites → Manage transponder database… (add satellites from your TLE catalog or a custom name, Import/Export JSON, edit modes); Satellites → Update transponder database… merges published modes from tle.oscarwatch.org/satellite_database.json (new entries added with your consent; local edits kept on conflicts unless you accept remote). See documents/satellite-database.md
  • Radio CAT: doppler tracking, satellite/split setup, Main/Sub VFOs, uplink CTCSS where supported; Settings → Radio (see Supported hardware)
  • Rotator control: serial pass tracking, manual park, and manual rotator (az/el dialog in Standby for quick contacts between passes); Settings → Rotator (see Supported hardware)
  • Cloudlog: optional Radio API v2 uplink/downlink when tracking (Settings → Cloudlog)
  • Appearance: light, dark, or system theme (sky plot adapts; world map image stays light); 12- or 24-hour clock; optional greyline and footprint motion arrows on the map
Categories
SDR and software

CardSat tracker for M5Stack

From ANS-165: Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, has released CardSat, a free, open-source amateur satellite ground station controller that runs on the M5Stack Cardputer ADV – a credit-card-sized ESP32-S3 computer with a built-in keyboard, color display, and microSD slot. The project lives at https://github.com/prstoetzer/CardSat.

CardSat downloads GP orbital and transponder data over WiFi, predicts passes locally with SGP4, and drives a radio over CAT with real-time Doppler correction. It works fully offline once data is cached and deep-sleeps between passes to save battery.

Its Doppler engine uses the AMSAT “One True Rule” correcting both uplink and downlink so your signal holds the same spot in the passband for the whole pass. You can tune with the Cardputer keys or the radio’s own knob – CardSat follows the dial and re-applies correction with nothing drifting.

Radios: Ten rigs across three CAT families – Icom CI-V (IC-820/821/910/970/ 9100/9700), Yaesu (FT-847, FT-736R), and Kenwood (TS-790, TS-2000) – plus native Icom LAN (RS-BA1) control of a networked Icom IC-9700 over WiFi. Linear-transponder passband tracking, automatic sideband selection, and automatic FM CTCSS tones are included. CardSat can also act as a rigctld/rotctld server for a PC, or as a rigctl client to a remote rig.

Operating and planning: An all-favorites Next Passes schedule, an AOS alarm, deep-sleep until AOS, elevation and polar plots with ground track, sun/eclipse status, a mutual-window finder for co-visibility with a remote station, a 10-day pass overview, a 60-day illumination raster, a time-step simulation, and a multi-page orbital analysis (including beta angle and decay).

Award chasing: CardSat lists what’s under the footprint right now – workable grid squares (VUCC), US states (WAS), and the full 340-entity DXCC list (major countries as polygons, island/micro-entities by reference point from cty.dat) – live or as a per-pass union.

Plus: Az/el rotator control (GS-232, rotctl, PstRotator, or direct Yaesu) with park, pre-position, per-pass flip, and manual jog; Sun/Moon pointing for sun-noise and EME aiming; QSO logging with ADIF export that doesn’t interrupt Doppler; AMSAT OSCAR Status activity marks; a world map with all footprints; a GPS sky plot; selectable element sources; on-device help; and screenshots.

The Cardputer ADV uses an ESP32-S3 (4 MB flash, no PSRAM, 240×135 LCD, 56-key keyboard). Controlling a radio requires a CAT interface suited to the rig; the 3.3 V GPIO is not 5 V tolerant, so CAT lines must never be wired direct.

Status: CardSat builds and runs on the Cardputer, with pass prediction, the plots, mutual-window search, GPS, the AOS alarm, deep sleep, and the offline caches all confirmed on hardware. The CAT frequency encoders, the Icom LAN backend, the rotator backends, and the network server/client paths are implemented and host-tested but have not yet driven a real radio or rotator on the air. Operators willing to test these paths and report results are encouraged to do so.

The repository includes firmware, a full manual, wiring guides, and a printable key-reference card.

[AMSAT-SM thanks ANS for the text and ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President for the above information.]

Categories
Ham Satellite news

OrigamiSat-2 (FO-126) active on 5.8 GHz

Image: Reception of a 5.84 GHz CW signal from Fuji-OSCAR 126 (FO-126) displayed on an Icom IC-905. [Credit: JA1OGZ]

OrigamiSat-2, one of eight satellites launched aboard Rocket Lab’s Kakushin Rising mission for JAXA on April 23, 2026, has now received an official OSCAR designation from AMSAT. Developed by the Institute of Science Tokyo, the satellite has been assigned the designation Fuji-OSCAR 126 (FO-126) following a request submitted through the Japan Amateur Satellite Association (JAMSAT). The announcement came after satellite teams confirmed successful deployment and initial on-orbit operations.

The 3U CubeSat was designed to demonstrate lightweight deployable membrane antenna technology and promote amateur use of the 5.8 GHz band. Mission goals include testing a high-gain deployable reflector array antenna, demonstrating its performance in orbit, and helping establish methods for future advanced satellite systems. OrigamiSat-2 carries both UHF and C-band transmitters and aims to expand amateur radio experimentation beyond traditional VHF and UHF operations.

IARU coordination lists downlinks on 437.505 MHz and 5840.000 MHz. The satellite supports CW and digital modes, including higher-speed data experiments over its 5.8 GHz link. Project information released by the team indicates a desire to openly share reception techniques and operational status with amateur operators, encouraging wider participation in receiving and decoding signals from the spacecraft.

Reports from the satellite team indicate the 5.8 GHz downlink has already been confirmed operational. Amateur satellite observers have expressed interest in monitoring activity from outside Japan as additional operational details become available. OrigamiSat-2 now joins the long-running OSCAR satellite tradition under its new designation, Fuji-OSCAR 126, continuing the international partnership between satellite developers and the amateur radio community.

[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT President / OSCAR Number Administrator, and Shiro Sakai, JH4PHW, JAMSAT President, for the above information]

Categories
Oscar-100

AMSAT-DL to Highlight QO-100 at Friedrichshafen

As part of the “HAM RADIO 2026” event at Friedrichshafen, Germany in June, AMSAT-Deutschland e. V. (AMSAT-DL) cordially invites all QO-100 users and amateur radio satellite enthusiasts to an open community workshop.

Building on the experiences with Qatar OSCAR 100 (QO-100) and current activities in the future geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) environment, the event invites amateurs to discuss together with the community what a future geostationary amateur radio payload could look like. The aim of the workshop is to gather ideas, requirements and perspectives from the user community and place them in a common context.

As a basis for the discussion, AMSAT-DL will present 2-3 concrete mission and payload concepts that reflect different development directions and are deliberately put up for open discussion:

1. “Enhanced QO 100+” (basic) An evolutionary approach that builds on the success of the QO 100: classic bent-pipe narrowband and wideband transponders, an advanced beacon architecture, multi-band downlinks and additional functions such as text and image transmission, e.g. for emergency and disaster communication, Internet of Things, etc.

2. Digital Innovation Lab (extended) A more experimentally oriented concept with extensive digital signal processing on board. The focus is on flexible, software-defined payload architectures (SDR), regenerative processing and a “digital playground” for new modulation and access methods and user experiments. But with the risk of being very software-heavy.

3. “High Frequency Pathfinder” (optional) An explorative approach with beacons and experiments in very high frequency ranges (mm Wave), supplemented by new antenna concepts, propagation and environmental measurements as well as earth and space imaging.

Open workshop

The workshop is designed to be explicitly open.

These concepts are not intended as ready-made solutions, but as a basis for discussion. The aim is to evaluate together with the participants which approaches are particularly interesting, sensible and sustainable for the amateur radio satellite community. Which aspects should be pursued further or in greater depth, but also the risks and dependencies should be addressed.

Both experienced satellite radio operators and anyone interested in the future development of amateur radio satellites, new technical concepts and possible applications are invited to attend.

Thematic focus:

  • Experiences and lessons learned from the operation of QO-100
  • User requirements and expectations for future GEO amateur radio payloads
  • Discussion of the 2-3 future GEO concepts presented
  • Possible technical development directions and areas for experimentation
  • Role of the amateur radio community in future missions

The workshop thrives on participation, discussion and the exchange of ideas – it is not a frontal lecture, but an interactive format with an open end.

Organizational data:

  • Event: futureGEO Community Workshop
  • Date: Saturday, June 27, 2026
  • Start: 16:00 hrs
  • Duration: open end
  • Venue: HAM RADIO 2026, Friedrichshafen
  • Room: (to be announced and can be found in the lecture program)

Registration is not necessary – just come along and bring your ideas, questions and experiences!

[AMSAT-SM and ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information]

Categories
Ham Satellite news

FO-29 Update May 2026

FO-29

Re-post from ANS-123:

Fuji-OSCAR 29 (FO-29 / JAS-2), the long-lived Japanese amateur radio satellite launched in 1996, continues to operate its V/U inverting analog linear transponder under the control of the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL). Because the onboard batteries have failed years ago, the satellite depends entirely on solar power and can only function when its solar panels are illuminated.

Current Status (May 2026)

FO-29 entered a full-sunlight orbit in early March 2026 and lasted approximately 40 days. This continuous operation ended around April 21, 2026, after which the satellite entered an eclipse period for about one month.

A second, longer full-sunlight period is expected from approximately May 20 to mid-November 2026, during which continuous operation should resume.

Transponder Details

Mode: V/U inverting linear transponder (SSB and CW only)
Uplink: 145.900 – 146.000 MHz (LSB)
Downlink: 435.800 – 435.900 MHz (USB)
CW Beacon: 435.795 MHz (typically 100 mW)
Digitalker: 435.910 MHz FM (rarely activated)
The digital BBS (1k2/9k6) remains non-operational.

Important Restriction:
Digital modes are generally NOT permitted on the FO-29 linear transponder due to licensing and operational constraints.

Operating Procedure

During eclipse periods (or the transition out of full sunlight), the JARL control team sends specific commands to activate the transponder at designated UTC times. If the transponder does not turn on within about 2 minutes of the command start, the team terminates the attempt.

During confirmed full-sunlight periods, no regular command schedule is needed — the transponder stays active whenever the satellite is in sunlight.

Operators should always check real-time status via AMSAT Live Satellite Status, OSCAR Status pages, or recent community reports, as voltage instability in the aging satellite can occasionally cause unexpected behavior.

The scheduled activations for the eclipse period are:

May

1st 22:56~
2nd 22:00~
3rd 22:51~
4th 21:55~
5th 22:45~
6th 21:50~
7th 22:40~
8th 21:44~
9th 22:35~
15th 22:19~
16th 23:10~

Amateurs are reminded to:

  • Use proper Doppler correction.
  • Follow linear transponder etiquette (listen before transmitting, keep signals clean).
  • Limit uplink power to avoid overloading the transponder (typically no more than a few watts with a modest antenna).

The JARL page provides the detailed historical and upcoming command schedules for eclipse periods across 2025–2026. For the absolute latest status and any updates from the Japanese control team, monitor the official JARL FO-29 page, AMSAT.org, and AMSAT bulletins.

FO-29’s continued operation nearly 30 years after launch remains a testament to robust engineering and the dedication of the JARL team.

[ANS thanks JARL for the above information.]