How to legally transmit and receive data with open amateur satellites?

1

Hello everyone,

I am currently working on a small ground station project for amateur satellite communication.
My main goal is to transmit and receive telemetry or beacon data with any open / amateur satellites** purely for educational and experimental purposes.

I already have the required equipment such as antennas, an SDR transceiver, and a satellite tracking setup.
However, I’m not entirely sure about the legal procedures and coordination required to transmit signals to an amateur satellite.

Here are my main questions:

  1. How can I obtain authorization or coordination to legally transmit data to an amateur satellite?
  2. Which satellites currently allow open communication or telemetry exchange ?
  3. Are there any specific amateur radio callsigns, licenses, or coordination bodies I should contact before transmitting?
  4. Should I register my ground station on SatNOGS or any similar network?

I fully intend to comply with all amateur radio and ITU regulations, and all transmissions will be low-power and strictly non-commercial.

Any guidance, documentation, or contact references from the community would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for your time and support!

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2

Can we assume you already have an amateur radio license, which allows you to transmit on VHF and UHF frequencies? In that case, get the details of the receive and transmit frequencies of the satellite of interest from the SatNOGS database. Just make sure these frequencies are within the licensed part of the spectrum.

3

Yes, register your ground station with SatNOGS when you are happy it’s working. TLEs and Doppler will then be taken care off for you. Happy hunting.

4

When you have an amateur license you are only allowed to transmit to transponders which are designated for amateur use. All systems related to satellite operation and health are only available for the relevant personel. Receiving of telemetry data is allowed anyway. In case you want to do digital communication, there are some satellites providing APRS-repeaters.
You find a list of all operational amateur satellites on AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Status and all important information about operation of amateur satellites on the AMSAT-website.
73, Stefan / OE6ISP

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5

You don’t transmit telemetry, you only receive it.
Before you transmit (whatever you want), start with receiving telemetry beacons.

→ Start with CW telemetry beacons, it’s the simplest.

One of my suggestions would be: AISat

Come back to this thread once you get used to it (tracking, doppler, decoding, …).

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