Amateur Satellites

In Earth orbit: A student-built “cubesat” small enough to hold in your hand.  (Credit photo: Aalborg Universitet)

Late in 1957, the first artificial satellite was launched into orbit around the Earth.  By 1961, Amateur Radio operators had their own orbital satellite, called “OSCAR I.” This first ham satellite did nothing more than continuously transmit the message “hi” in Morse code back to Earth, but it was an important beginning!

Today, a number of ham satellites in orbit feature a variety of communications capabilities, and some can allow contacts to be made with little more than a cheap handheld radio and a homemade handheld antenna, and, of course, the knowledge of when a particular satellite will be overhead. Even the most basic Amateur Radio license allows access to this thrilling means of talking to other hams in distant places.

AMSAT
AMSAT-UK
Becoming a Ham Radio Operator

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