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 amat ...

. It was developed and built by radio amateurs of the

AMSAT AMSAT is a name for amateur radio satellite organizations worldwide, but in particular the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) with headquarters at Washington, D.C. AMSAT organizations design, build, arrange launches for, and then opera ...

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

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, 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 sha ...

(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