OSCAR 8 (also called AO-08, Phase 2D or Amsat P2D) is an American

amateur radio satellite An amateur radio satellite is an artificial satellite built and used by amateur radio operators. It forms part of the Amateur-satellite service. These satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amate ...

. It was developed and built by radio amateurs of the

AMSAT AMSAT is a name for various amateur radio satellite organizations worldwide. In particular, it often refers to the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, headquartered in Washington, D.C. AMSAT organizations design, build, arrange launches for, a ...

and launched on March 5, 1978 as a secondary payload together with the Earth observation satellite

Landsat 3 Landsat 3 is the third satellite of the Landsat program. It was launched on March 5, 1978, with the primary goal of providing a global archive of satellite imagery. Unlike later Landsat satellites, Landsat 3 was managed solely by NASA. Landsat 3 ...

from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. The satellite had two linear

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

s, from the 2-meter band (uplink) to the 10-meter band and the 70-centimeter band (downlink).

Frequencies

Transponder 1

Uplink In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or shar ...

(MHz): 145.850 - 145.900 *

Downlink In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or shar ...

(MHz): 29.400 - 29.500 *

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

(MHz): 29.402 * Mode: SSB CW

Transponder 2

* Uplink (MHz): 145.900 - 146.000 * Downlink (MHz): 435.200 - 435.100 * Beacon (MHz): 435.095 * Mode: SSB CW

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amsat-Oscar 8 Satellites orbiting Earth Amateur radio satellites Spacecraft launched in 1978