OSCAR

This article is about the satellite. For other uses, see Oscar (disambiguation).

OSCAR 1

OSCAR is an acronym for Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio. OSCAR series amateur radio satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amateur radio stations.

These satellites can be used for free by licensed amateur radio operators for voice (FM, SSB) and data communications (AX.25, packet radio, APRS). Currently over 5 fully operational satellites in orbit act as repeaters, linear transponders or store and forward digital relays.

Throughout the years OSCAR satellites have helped make breakthroughs in the science of satellite communications. A few advancements include the launch of the first satellite voice transponder (OSCAR 3) and the development of highly advanced digital "store-and-forward" messaging transponder techniques. To date, over 70 OSCARs have been launched with more to be launched in the future.

OSCAR 1

USSR postal stamp depicting amateur radio satellites, RS-1 and RS-2

The first amateur satellite, simply named OSCAR 1, was launched on December 12, 1961, barely four years after the launch of world's first satellite, Sputnik I. OSCAR 1 was the first satellite to be ejected as a secondary payload (Discoverer 36) and subsequently enter a separate orbit. Despite being in orbit for only 22 days OSCAR 1 was an immediate success with over 570 amateur radio operators in 28 countries forwarding observations to Project OSCAR.

OSCAR satellite communications

Currently OSCAR satellites support many different types of operation including FM voice, SSB voice, as well as digital communications of AX.25 FSK (Packet radio) and PSK-31.

Mode designators

Historically OSCAR uplink (transmit to) and downlink (receive from) frequencies were designated using single letter codes.

• Mode A: 2 m uplink / 10 m downlink
• Mode B: 70 cm uplink / 2 m downlink
• Mode J: 2 m uplink / 70 cm downlink

New uplink and downlink designations use sets of paired letters following the structure X/Y where X is the uplink band and Y is the downlink band.

Designator	H	A	V	U	L	S	S2	C	X	K	R
Band	15 m	10 m	2 m	70 cm	23 cm	13 cm	9 cm	5 cm	3 cm	1.2 cm	6 mm
Frequency (General)	21 MHz	29 MHz	145 MHz	435 MHz	1.2 GHz	2.4 GHz	3.4 GHz	5 GHz	10 GHz	24 GHz	47 GHz

Doppler shift

Due to the high orbital speed of the OSCAR satellites, the uplink and downlink frequencies will vary during the course of a satellite pass. This phenomenon is known as the Doppler effect. While the satellite is moving towards the ground station, the downlink frequency will appear to be higher than normal and therefore, the receiver frequency at the ground station must be adjusted higher in order to continue receiving the satellite. The satellite in turn, will be receiving the uplink signal at a higher frequency than normal so the ground station's transmitted uplink frequency must be lower in order to be received by the satellite. After the satellite passes overhead and begins to move away, this process reverses itself. The downlink frequency will appear lower and the uplink frequency will need to be adjusted higher. The following mathematical formulas relate the doppler shift to the velocity of the satellite.

Where:
$f_d$	=	doppler corrected downlink frequency
$f_u$	=	doppler corrected uplink frequency
$f$	=	original frequency
$v$	=	velocity of the satellite relative to ground station in m/s. Positive when moving towards, negative when moving away.
$c$	=	the speed of light in a vacuum ($3\times10^8$  m/s).

Change in frequency	Downlink Correction	Uplink Correction
$\Delta f=f\times\frac{v}{c}$	$f_d=f(1+\frac{v}{c})$	$f_u=f(1-\frac{v}{c})$

Due to the complexity of finding the relative velocity of the satellite and the speed with which these corrections must be made, these calculations are normally accomplished using satellite tracking software. Many modern transceivers include a computer interface that allows for automatic doppler effect correction. Manual frequency-shift correction is possible, but it is difficult to remain precisely near the frequency. Frequency modulation is more tolerant of doppler shifts than single-sideband, and therefore FM is much easier to tune manually.

Satellites previously launched

The names of the satellites below are sorted in chronological order by launch date, ascending. The status column denotes the current operational status of the satellite. Green signifies that the satellite is currently operational, orange indicates that the satellite is partially operational or failing. Red indicates that the satellite is non operational and black indicates that the satellite has re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. The country listing denotes the country that constructed the satellite and not the launching country.

Name (a.k.a.)	Status	Launched	Country
OSCAR (OSCAR 1)	Decayed	1961-12-12	USA
OSCAR II (OSCAR 2)	Decayed	1962-06-02	USA
OSCAR III (OSCAR 3, EGRS-3)	Non-Operational	1965-03-09	USA
OSCAR IV (OSCAR 4)	Decayed	1965-12-21	USA
Australis-OSCAR 5 (OSCAR 5, AO-5, AO-A)	Non-Operational	1970-01-23	Australia
AMSAT-OSCAR 6 (OSCAR 6, AO-6, AO-C, P2A)	Non-Operational	1972-10-15	USA
AMSAT-OSCAR 7 (OSCAR 7, AO-7, AO-B, P2B)	Semi-Operational	1974-11-15	USA
AMSAT-OSCAR 8 (OSCAR 8, AO-8, AO-D, P2D)	Non-Operational	1978-03-05	USA/Canada/Germany/Japan
Radio Sputnik 1 (RadioSkaf-1, RS-1)	Non-Operational	1978-10-26	USSR
Radio Sputnik 2 (RadioSkaf-2, RS-2)	Non-Operational	1978-10-26	USSR
UoSat-OSCAR 9 (UOSAT 1, UO-9)	Decayed	1981-10-06	UK
Radio Sputniks RS3 through RS8	Non-Operational	1981-12-17	USSR
AMSAT-OSCAR 10 (Phase 3B, AO-10, P3B)	Non-Operational	1983-06-16	USA/Germany
UoSat-OSCAR 11 (UoSat-2, UO-11, UoSAT-B)	Semi-Operational	1984-03-01	UK
Fuji-OSCAR 12 (JAS 1, FO-12)	Non-Operational	1986-08-12	Japan
Radio Sputnik 10/11 (RadioSkaf-10/11, RS-10/11, COSMOS 1861)	Non-Operational	1987-06-23	USSR
AMSAT-OSCAR 13 (Phase 3C, AO-13, P3C)	Decayed	1988-06-15	Germany
UOSAT-OSCAR 14 (UoSAT-3, UO-14 UoSAT-D)	Non-Operational	1990-01-22	UK
UOSAT-OSCAR 15 (UoSAT-4, UO-15, UoSAT-E)	Non-Operational	1990-01-22	UK
AMSAT-OSCAR 16 (Pacsat, AO-16, Microsat-1)	Semi-Operational	1990-01-22	USA
Dove-OSCAR 17 (Dove, DO-17, Microsat-2)	Non-Operational	1990-01-22	Brazil
Weber-OSCAR 18 (WeberSAT, WO-18, Microsat-3)	Non-Operational	1990-01-22	USA
LUSAT-OSCAR 19 (LUSAT, LO-19, Microsat-4)	Non-Operational	1990-01-22	Argentina
Fuji-OSCAR 20 (JAS 1B, FO-20, Fuji-1B)	Non-Operational	1990-02-07	Japan
AMSAT-OSCAR 21 (RS-14, AO-21, Informator-1)	Non-Operational	1991-01-29	Russia
Radio Sputnik 12/13 (RadioSkaf-12/13, RS-12/13, COSMOS 2123)	Non-Operational	1991-02-05	Russia
UoSat-OSCAR 22 (UOSAT 5, UO-22 UoSAT-F)	Non-Operational	1991-07-17	UK
KitSAT-OSCAR 23 (KITSAT 1, KO-23, Uribyol-1)	Non-Operational	1992-08-10	Korea
Arsene-OSCAR 24 (Arsene, AO-24)	Non-Operational	1993-05-12	France
KitSAT-OSCAR 25 (KITSAT B, KO-25, Kitsat-2, Uribyol-2)	Non-Operational	1993-09-26	Korea
Italy-OSCAR 26 (ITAMSAT, IO-26)	Non-Operational	1993-09-26	Italy
AMRAD-OSCAR 27 (EYESAT-1, AO-27)	Non-Operational	1993-09-26	USA
POSAT-OSCAR 28 (POSAT, PO-28, Posat-1)	Non-Operational	1993-09-26	Portugal
Radio Sputnik 15 (RadioSkaf-15, RS-15, Radio-ROSTO)	Semi-Operational	1994-12-26	Russia
Fuji-OSCAR 29 (JAS 2, FO-29, Fuji-2)	Semi-Operational	1996-08-17	Japan
Mexico-OSCAR 30 (UNAMSAT-2, MO-30, Unamsat-B, Kosmos-2334)	Non-Operational	1996-09-05	Mexico/Russia
Thai-Microsatellite-OSCAR 31 (TMSAT-1, TO-31)	Non-Operational	1998-07-10	Thailand
Gurwin-OSCAR 32 (GO-32, Gurwin-1b, Techsat-1b)	Non-Operational	1998-07-10	Israel
SEDSat-OSCAR 33 (SEDSat, SO-33, SEDsat-1)	Semi-Operational	1998-10-24	USA
Pansat-OSCAR 34 (PAN SAT, PO-34)	Non-Operational	1998-10-29	USA
ARISS (ARISS)	Operational		International
Sunsat-OSCAR 35 (SUNSAT, SO-35)	Non-Operational	1999-02-23	South Africa
UoSat-OSCAR 36 (UOSAT 12, UO-36)	Non-Operational	1999-04-21	UK
ASU-OSCAR 37 (AO-37, ASUsat-1, ASUSAT)	Non-Operational	2000-01-27	USA
OPAL-OSCAR 38 (OO-38, StenSat, OPAL)	Non-Operational	2000-01-27	USA
Weber-OSCAR 39 (WO-39, JAWSAT)	Non-Operational	2000-01-27	USA
Saudi-OSCAR 41 (SO-41, Saudisat 1A)	Non-Operational	2000-09-26	Saudi Arabia
Saudi-OSCAR 42 (SO-42, Saudisat 1B)	Non-Operational	2000-09-26	Saudi Arabia
Malaysian-OSCAR 46 (MO-46, TIUNGSAT-1)	Non-Operational	2000-09-26	Malaysia
AMSAT-OSCAR 40 (AO-40, Phase 3D, P3D)	Non-Operational	2000-11-16	USA
Starshine-OSCAR 43 (SO-43, Starshine 3)	Decayed	2001-09-30	USA
Navy-OSCAR 44 (NO-44, PCSat)	Semi-Operational	2001-09-30	USA
Navy-OSCAR 45 (NO-45, Sapphire)	Non-Operational	2001-09-30	USA
BreizhSAT-OSCAR 47 (BO-47, IDEFIX CU1)	Non-Operational	2002-05-04	France
BreizhSAT-OSCAR 48 (BO-48, IDEFIX CU2)	Non-Operational	2002-05-04	France
AATiS-OSCAR 49 (AO-49, Safir-M, RUBIN 2)	Non-Operational	2002-12-20	Germany
Saudi-OSCAR 50 (SO-50, Saudisat-1C)	Operational	2002-12-20	Saudi Arabia
CubeSat-OSCAR 55 (Cute-1)	Operational	2003-06-30	Japan
CubeSat-OSCAR 57 (CubeSat-XI-IV)	Operational	2003-06-30	Japan
CanX-1	Non-Operational	2003-06-30	Canada
DTUSat	Decayed	2003-06-30	Denmark
AAU Cubesat	Non-Operational	2003-06-30	Denmark
RS-22 (Mozhayets 4)	Operational	2003-09-27	Russia
AMSAT-OSCAR 51 (Echo, AO-51)	Non-Operational	2004-06-28	USA
VUSat-OSCAR 52 (HAMSAT, VO-52, VUSat)	Operational	2005-05-05	India / Netherlands
PCSat2 (PCSAT2)	Decayed	2005-08-03	USA
AMSAT-OSCAR 54 (AO-54, SuitSat, Radioskaf)	Decayed	2005-09-08	International
eXpress-OSCAR 53 (XO-53, SSETI Express)	Non-Operational	2005-10-27	ESA
CubeSat-OSCAR 58 (CO-58, Cubesat XI-V)	Operational	2005-10-27	Japan
UWE-1	Non-Operational	2005-10-27	Germany
NCube-2	Non-Operational	2005-10-27	Norway
CubeSat-OSCAR 56 (CO-56, Cute-1.7)	Non-Operational	2006-02-21	Japan
K7RR-Sat	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
CP2	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
HAUSAT 1	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	South Korea
ICE Cube 1	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
ICE Cube 2	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
ION	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
KUTESat	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
MEROPE	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
nCUBE 1	Non-Operational	2006-07-26
RINCON	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
SACRED	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
SEEDS	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	Japan
Voyager	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	USA
PicPot	Non-Operational	2006-07-26	Italy
HITSat-OSCAR 59 (HITSat, HO-59)	Non-Operational	2006-09-22	Japan
GeneSat-1	Operational	2006-12-16	USA
Navy-OSCAR 60 (RAFT, NO-60)	Decayed	2006-12-21	USA
Navy-OSCAR 61 (ANDE, NO-61)	Decayed	2006-12-21	USA
Navy-OSCAR 62 (FCAL, NO-62)	Decayed	2006-12-21	USA
Libertad-1	Non-Operational	2007-04-17	Colombia
CAPE-1	Semi-Operational	2007-04-17	USA
CP3	Non-Operational	2007-04-17	USA
CP4	Non-Operational	2007-04-17	USA
Pehuensat-OSCAR 63 (PEHUENSAT-1, PO-63)	Decayed	2007-10-01	Argentina
Delfi-OSCAR 64 (Delfi-C3, DO-64)	Semi-Operational	2008-04-28	Netherlands
Cubesat-OSCAR 65 (Cute-1.7+APD II, CO-65)	Operational	2008-04-28	Japan
Cubesat-OSCAR 66 (SEED II, CO-66)	Operational	2008-04-28	Japan
COMPASS-1	Semi-Operational	2008-04-28	Germany
RS-30 (Yubileiny)	Operational	2008-05-23	Russia
PRISM (HITOMI)	Operational	2009-01-23	Japan
KKS-1 (KISEKI)	Operational	2009-01-23	Japan
STARS (KUKAI)	Unknown	2009-01-23	Japan
Castor	Unknown	2009-07-30	USA
Pollux	Non-Operational	2009-07-30	USA
Aggiesat2	Decayed	2009-07-30	USA
PARADIGM (BEVO-1)	Decayed	2009-07-30	USA
Sumbandila-OSCAR 67 (SumbandilaSat, SO-67)	Non-Operational	2009-09-17	South Africa
SwissCube	Operational	2009-09-23	Switzerland
ITUpSAT1	Operational	2009-09-23	Turkey
UWE-2	Operational	2009-09-23	Germany
BEESAT	Operational	2009-09-23	Germany
Hope Oscar 68 (XW-1, HO-68)	Non-Operational	2009-12-15	China
AubieSat-1 (AO-71)	Operational	2011-10-28	USA

Low Earth Orbit FM OSCARs

A number of low earth orbit (LEO) OSCAR satellites use frequency modulation (FM). These are also commonly referred to as "FM LEO's" or the "FM Birds". Such satellites act as FM amateur radio repeaters that can be communicated through using omni-directional antennas and commonly available amateur radio equipment. Due to the relative ease of tuning FM as compared to SSB and the decreased distance of LEO satellites from earth stations communication can be achieved even with handheld transceivers and using manual doppler correction. The orbit of these satellites however causes the available time in which to communicate to be limited to only a few minutes per pass.

List of FM LEO satellites

Satellite name	OSCAR number	Uplink (MHz)	Downlink (MHz)	CTCSS (Hz)	Status
Hope Oscar 68	7001680000000000000HO-68	145.825 FM	435.675 FM	67.0	Non-Operational
Sumbandila Oscar 671	7001670000000000000SO-67	145.875 FM	435.345 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
AMSAT-OSCAR 512	7001511000000000000AO-51	145.880 FM	435.150 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
AMSAT-OSCAR 512	7001512000000000000AO-51	145.920 FM	435.300 FM	67.0	Non-Operational
AMSAT-OSCAR 512	7001513000000000000AO-51	145.880 FM	2401.200 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
AMSAT-OSCAR 512	7001514000000000000AO-51	1268.700 FM	435.300 FM	67.0	Non-Operational
AMSAT-OSCAR 512	7001515000000000000AO-51	1268.700 FM	2401.200 FM	67.0	Non-Operational
Saudi-OSCAR 50	7001500000000000000SO-50	145.850 FM	436.795 FM	67.0 (74.4 to activate)	Operational
Saudi-OSCAR 41	7001410000000000000SO-41	145.850 FM	436.775 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
SUNSAT-OSCAR 35	7001351000000000000SO-35	145.825 FM	436.250 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
SUNSAT-OSCAR 35	7001352000000000000SO-35	436.291 FM	145.825 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
SUNSAT-OSCAR 35	7001353009999900000SO-35	1265.000 FM	436.2500 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
ISS3	5000000000000000000ARISS	437.800 FM	145.800 FM	N/A	Operational
AMRAD-OSCAR 274	7001270000000000000AO-27	145.850 FM	436.795 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
AMSAT-OSCAR 16	7001160000000000000AO-16	145.920 FM	437.026 DSB-SC5	N/A	Semi-Operational
UoSAT-OSCAR 14	7001140000000000000UO-14	145.975 FM	435.070 FM	N/A	Non-Operational
Note 1: SO-67 suffered a power board failure. The team still hopes recovery to amateur radio operations is possible. Note 2: As of November 29, 2011 AO-51 has ceased all transmissions. Note 3: The ISS FM repeater is rarely activated. Note 4: AO-27 FM Repeater is stuck on bootloader. The team is working on a fix. Note 5: The AO-16 downlink transmits in DSB-SC instead of FM, but the satellite otherwise operates like the other FM Birds.

Multinational effort

Currently 23 countries have launched an OSCAR satellite. These countries, in chronological order by date of launch, include: The United States of America, Australia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, Russia, France, Portugal, Korea, Italy, Mexico, Israel, Thailand, South Africa, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Germany, India, Colombia, and the Netherlands.

Satellites in development

• IRSHSAT-1 - A cubesat is being built by the students at Pakistan Student Satellite Program. Launch Date sometime in 2011.
• BLUEsat - A microsatellite built by the students of The University of New South Wales. Unknown launch date.
• ZSAT - A microsatellite initiated and funded by the U.S. Department of Science and Technology. Unknown launch date.
• ALMASat - A microsatellite built by the University of Bologna in Forlì. To be launched on Vega maiden flight. [1]
• AMSAT-Phase 3E - A satellite built by AMSAT. No Launch Identified.
• KiwiSAT - A microsatellite built by AMSAT-ZL. Scheduled to launch from mid to late 2009
• ESEO - A microsatellite built by SSETI. Scheduled to launch October 30, 2008.
• AMSAT-Eagle - A satellite built by AMSAT. No Launch Identified.
• Delfi-n3Xt - The second nano-satellite from Delft University of Technology. Scheduled to launch in the second half of 2013.
• FUNcube - The first UK CubeSat, by AMSAT-UK. Also developed a ground segment using the purpose made FUNcube dongle SDR receiver

Related names

SuitSat, an obsolete Russian space suit with a transmitter aboard, is officially known as OSCAR 54. In a twist of fate, "Oscar" was the name given to an obsolete space suit by its young owner in the book Have Space Suit—Will Travel, by Robert A. Heinlein. This book was originally published a year after the launch of the first artificial satellite (Sputnik).

References

• "Space Satellites from the World's Garage -- The Story of AMSAT". The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. Retrieved 2006-09-05. 

• "The Extraordinary History of Amateur Radio Satellites". Space Today Online. Retrieved 2006-09-05. 

• "A Brief History of Amateur Satellites". N7HPR. Retrieved 2006-09-05. 

• "Satellite Development Programs". The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. Retrieved 2006-09-05. 

• "Amateur (ham) Radio Satellites". Colorado State University. Archived from the original on 2006-08-31. Retrieved 2006-09-07. 

External links

• AMSAT Corporation a nonprofit corporation that coordinates construction and launch of the satellites
• Project OSCAR organization that built "OSCAR-1"
• NASA J-Track Amateur Track amateur satellites in real-time
• SSTL Builders and operators of the UoSat series satellites
• Work-Sat Work the FM satellites - with equipment most hams already own!