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Step 01 — Equipment

Pick your gear

You don't need an expensive station to work amateur satellites. Start with what you have and upgrade as your skills grow. Every tier below assumes you hold the license class shown — Technician is enough for most beginners.

Starter station

Tech$50–$200

You can work FM satellites and hear the ISS with gear you may already own. A dual-band handheld radio and a $30–$60 tape-measure Yagi antenna is all it takes.

Radio options

  • Baofeng UV-5R / UV-82

    Widely available, budget option. Works but has limitations — audio may clip on strong downlinks. Fine for a first pass.

  • Yaesu FT-65 / FT-4X

    Better receive, cleaner audio. Recommended step up from the Baofeng for regular satellite work.

  • Kenwood TH-D74A

    Premium HT with APRS built in and better filtering. Jump to this if you plan to do APRS and voice.

Antenna options

  • Arrow OSJ 146/437 (hand-held Yagi)

    The classic choice. Dual-band, splits for travel. Point it at the satellite manually during the pass.

  • Elk Antennas Log Periodic

    Lighter and slightly broader bandwidth than the Arrow. Also an excellent first satellite antenna.

  • Tape-measure Yagi (homebrew)

    Build one from PVC and a tape measure for under $20. Dozens of plans online. Works surprisingly well.

Accessories

  • · Headset or speaker-mic — frees one hand to hold the antenna
  • · Phone mount for running ISS Detector or Heavens-Above pass predictions

Satellites accessible

  • ISS (APRS on 145.825 MHz)
  • SO-50
  • AO-91
  • AO-92

Intermediate station

Tech / General$300–$1,500

Hear yourself through the satellite in real time and start working SSB linear transponders. This tier opens up the full fleet of amateur satellites.

Radio options

  • Icom IC-9700

    The gold standard for satellite work — 2m/70cm/23cm with satellite mode (full duplex) built in. Auto Doppler via Hamlib.

  • Yaesu FT-818 + FT-847

    Classic combo. The 847 has true satellite mode. The 818 works as a portable rig with external TNC.

  • Two HTs in full-duplex mode

    One HT transmits, the other receives. Clunky but effective and cheap if you already own two radios.

Antenna options

  • M2 Antennas LEO-Pack

    Fixed-boom 2m/70cm Yagi pair on a cross-boom. Excellent gain without going full az/el.

  • Diamond A-430S10 + A144S10

    Good gain antennas for a static or manually-aimed setup.

  • Homebrew crossed Yagi (turnstile)

    Circular polarization helps with LEO satellite polarization tumbling. Build one for linear transponders.

Accessories

  • · TNC (VARA, Direwolf, or hardware TNC) — for packet and APRS beyond the ISS
  • · SDR receiver (RTL-SDR) — receive-only monitoring to learn Doppler before transmitting
  • · Ham Radio Deluxe or Gpredict — software for pass prediction and auto-Doppler tuning

Satellites accessible

  • All Tech-class sats
  • AO-73 (FUNcube)
  • FO-29 (SSB/CW)
  • AO-7 Mode B (General+)

Advanced station

General / Extra$2,000+

Automated antenna tracking, EME capability, and access to the full transponder range on every amateur satellite. Serious DX and contest work.

Radio options

  • Icom IC-9700 (or dual IC-7300 + IC-9700)

    Full SDR-based receive monitoring alongside your main TX/RX.

  • Elecraft K3S

    Preferred by SSB/CW satellite operators for its clean receive and narrow filtering.

  • SDR++ or SDR Console + UpConverter

    Run software-defined receive to record full satellite passes for later review.

Antenna options

  • Yaesu G-5500 Az/El rotator + M2 antennas

    The classic automated tracking combo. Gpredict drives the rotator via RS-232 or USB.

  • Alfa-SPID RAS / BIG-RAS

    European alternative with good software support and higher pointing accuracy.

  • Dish antenna for L/S-band downlinks

    Required for Phase 3/4 GEO-class amateur satellites and high-speed data downlinks.

Accessories

  • · Rotator controller interface (PSTRotator, Hamlib) — links Gpredict to your rotator
  • · Low-noise amplifier (LNA) at the antenna feedpoint — 0.5–1.5 dB improvement pays dividends on SSB
  • · Band-pass filter on receive — critical in urban RF environments
  • · Raspberry Pi or dedicated PC running Gpredict + Hamlib + FLRIG for unattended tracking

Satellites accessible

  • All amateur satellites
  • Linear transponder birds
  • CAS-4A/B
  • Upcoming AMSAT Phase 4 missions

Next step

Choose a satellite to target with your new gear.

Browse satellites →