Track amateur radio (ham) satellites live
A handful of satellites carry amateur-radio transponders anyone with a licence can use to talk across a continent for free. Cosmik tracks the active ones live in 3D and tells you the next pass over your exact location. Open the live sky view →
Amateur (ham) radio satellites are orbiting repeaters: point a small antenna up during a pass, correct for Doppler, and you can work stations hundreds of kilometres away with a handheld radio. Below are the satellites that actually work right now — each links to a live tracker with its position, orbit and the next visible pass over you.
Ready to paste
“Working FM "easy sats" you can reach with a handheld in 2026: SO-50, AO-91 (sunlit passes), PO-101 and SO-127 (HADES-SA, 436.888 MHz) — live pass windows per city at gocosmik.com/satellites/amateur-radio (data: Cosmik, CC-BY 4.0)”
gocosmik.com/satellites/amateur-radio#working-sats
The working ham satellites
FM “easy sats”
- SO-127 (HADES-SA / SpinnyONE)— AMSAT-EA's 2026 PocketQube with an FM repeater at 436.888 MHz; the newest easy sat, and the only one with per-city radio-window pages (577 cities).
- SO-50 (SaudiSat-1C) — the most dependable FM repeater in orbit since 2002. A dual-band handheld and an Arrow antenna are enough to make contacts.
- AO-91 (Fox-1B) — an FM bird that still works on sunlit (daytime) passes; its ageing battery means it goes quiet in eclipse, so check the pass lighting.
- PO-101 (Diwata-2)— a Philippine FM transponder that is switched on for scheduled periods; catch it when it's active.
- The ISS— the International Space Station carries an APRS digipeater and the ARISS crossband voice repeater on 145.825 MHz. It's the brightest, easiest target in the sky. See tonight's ISS passes over your city →
SSB / linear-transponder birds
- RS-44 (DOSAAF-85) — a superb SSB/CW linear transponder in a high (~1,200–1,500 km) orbit, giving long, relaxed passes. Needs an all-mode radio.
- AO-73 (FUNcube-1) — an educational CubeSat with an SSB transponder (active in eclipse) plus a telemetry beacon you can receive and decode.
The geostationary one
- QO-100 (Es'hail-2) — the first geostationary amateur transponder, parked at 26° East. Because it never moves, a fixed dish gives 24/7 access — but only from its Europe/Africa/Middle-East/Asia footprint, not the Americas.
How to listen and make contacts
- Radio: a dual-band (2 m / 70 cm) handheld covers the FM sats; the SSB birds need an all-mode, ideally full-duplex, transceiver.
- Antenna: a handheld Yagi (an Arrow or a 3-element home-brew) that you aim at the satellite as it crosses the sky.
- Doppler: the downlink frequency drifts several kHz during a pass — tune it down as the satellite approaches and recedes. This is the one skill every new operator learns.
- Timing: passes last only 5–15 minutes, so know when the satellite rises. Cosmik gives you the exact next pass, elevation and direction for your location.
- Licence: you need an amateur licence to transmit; anyone can receive to practise.
Satellites that are no longer active
A note for accuracy: AO-92 (Fox-1D) re-entered the atmosphere in February 2024 and FalconSat-3 re-entered in January 2023, so neither is trackable or usable despite still appearing on some older lists. We only list satellites that are currently in orbit and operational.
Track more
Browse the full satellite tracker for 700+ objects, see the weather satellites hobbyists decode with the same gear, or read how to track satellites live. New to spotting? Identify that light in the sky →
