A tale of two first OSCARs
This is a tale of two first OSCARs (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio), American OSCAR I and Canada-OSCAR 128.
Updates
Latest news and announcements from AMSAT-CA
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President's Meeting
On August 26, AMSAT-CA President Levente Buzas VA7QF met in person with AMSAT President Drew Glassbrenner KO4MA in Salt Lake City, Utah at the 40th Small Satellite Conference.
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MARMOTSat Designated CO-128
AMSAT Canada is pleased to congratulate the University of Victoria Centre for Aerospace Research (CfAR) team on MARMOTSat receiving Canada’s first official OSCAR designation Canada-OSCAR 128 (CO-128). This recognition marks an important milestone for one of Canada’s newest Amateur radio satellite missions.
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Celebrating the Launch of MARMOTSat
AMSAT-CA congratulates the University of Victoria team on the successful launch and first contact of MARMOTSat. This achievement reflects the dedication, innovation, and teamwork of the students, faculty, mentors, and supporters who brought the project from concept to orbit, and a commitment to furthering Amateur Radio in space.
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UNB Tracked Artemis II
On January 14, 2026, NASA selected three participants from Canada to track Artemis II, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Scott Tilley, Citizen Scientist, VE7TIL, and the University of New Brunswick (UNB). The UNB Artemis II Tracking Team consisted of Blake Dauvin, VE9BJD, Chris Carson, VE9CCX, Megan MacDonald, VY2MM, Morgan Kini, VE1MNK, Olivia Gerry Rice, VE9OGR, Troy Lavigne, PEng, Richard B. Langley, PhD, Chris D. Rouse, PhD, PEng, VE9CDR, and Brent R. Petersen, PhD, PEng, VE9EX, VE9UNB, W1IY. On April 4, 2026, at 08:04 UTC, UNB’s first detection of the Artemis II signal was made by Megan and Brent. The UNB Artemis II Tracking Team acknowledges the significant help from Scott Tilley, AMSAT-CA Vice President.
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Anytone AT-D890UV: a new full-duplex handheld radio?
Amateur radio operators are keen to try the new Anytone AT-D890UV, a handheld radio that claims to have full duplex - essential for satellite work.
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The ISS Returns to S-Band: HamTV Now Transmitting Color Bars on 13 cm
Since just before Christmas 2025, the HamTV experiment aboard the International Space Station has resumed active video transmissions on the 13 cm amateur radio band. Where the downlink had previously been limited to a black screen, the signal at 2395 MHz is now carrying full-colour test pattern video.
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Building a Portable Satellite Station
Building a Portable Satellite Station?
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What is a satellite?
Amateur Radio Satellites
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Surrey Amateur Radio Communications Society (SARC) establishes satellite communications station
The Surrey Amateur Radio Communications Society (SARC) in British Columbia has established a fully operational satellite communications station, expanding our club’s capabilities into space-based amateur radio, which could be critical in emergencies. Led by Dino Gueorguiev VE7NX and John Brodie VA7XB, and supported by the SARC Projects Group, this station provides a robust platform for making reliable satellite contacts and mentoring members in advanced satellite radio operating techniques.
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Ham Radio Satellites 101: Build an Amateur Station & Talk to the Birds
DX Engineering recently posted a how-to guide for new amateurs along with a brief history of Amateur Radio satellites. They explain some of the unique characteristics and challenges you’ll face when transmitting into space and discuss a handful of vital satellite terms and RF principles that you’ll need to know. If you’ve been wanting to get involved in this exciting facet of Ham radio—DX Engineering can show you how.
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AMSAT-CA in the 'Canadian Amateur'
Are you a member of Radio Amateur Canada (RAC)?
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Starting Your Satellite Journey: Downloading Weather Images from Space
Ever looked up and wondered what Earth looks like from space, right now? With just a few accessible tools, you can receive live imagery from orbiting weather satellites. This isn’t just a cool trick. It’s one of the best ways to begin exploring satellite communications and radio science.
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UHF Spectrum Encroachment
The 435-438 MHz UHF Amateur satellite allocation is a global workhorse of the Amateur-satellite service. As shown in the figure below, it is second only to the commercial (non-Amateur) UHF spectrum in terms of utilization by nanosatellites (CubeSats) only.
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CUBICS Critical Design Review
CUBICS is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) initiative that provides professors in post-secondary institutions with an opportunity to engage their students in an end-to-end space mission adapted to their needs and their level of comfort, expertise and readiness. Selected teams have the unique opportunity to design, build, test, launch and operate their own miniature satellite called a CubeSat. This program is a follow-up to the highly successful Canadian CubeSat Project (CCP), another CSA initiative between 2018 and 2023, which has seen the launch of 15 such satellites built by universities across Canada.
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Canada-Wide Science Fair 2025
The Canada-Wide Science Fair was held in Fredericton, New Brunswick, May 31 to June 7, 2025. Hundreds of high school students presented their science projects. On June 5 and 6 was the STEM expo where the Radio Amateurs of Canada had a booth, where AMSAT-CA was a participant.
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ESA North America/EU GEO Position Paper
Idea to develop QO-100 like Amateur payload for GEO orbit with North American coverage First proposed by Frank Zeppenfeldt PD0AP in 2023.
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QO-100 North America Challenge
First QO-100 activation from Newfoundland by founding president Stefan VE4SW and board member John VE1CWJ. Featured in September-October edition of the Canadian Amateur.