VHF/UHF Antenna Flight Version

February 25th, 2026

Author: Forrester Munroe Parlee VE7FPM

The MARMOTSat team is excited to share a new milestone for our CubeSat project: we have successfully assembled our flight version VHF and UHF antenna subsystems which were the topic of an earlier update on testing in an anechoic chamber! This is a major step forward in the AI&T process, as these are now ready to be integrated into the flight satellite. These antennas are central to the satellite’s operational capability and Amateur radio experiments with regards to supporting the UHF Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) and the VHF Amateur radio experiments.

VHF Components

UHF Components

These antennas are a refreshed and modified implementation of the ORCASat UHF TT&C antenna, currently available as an open source project. Key modifications include connectorising the boards to remove pigtails, and seating the aluminum blocks holding the antenna arms directly on a copper pad on the PCB to remove the  difficult to manufacture sandwiched feed solution relying on copper foil directly soldered to the feeding coax . For use on VHF, the antenna has also been updated with longer arms and new ferrite to ensure optional VHF response as a lossy choke balun. In addition, the antenna subsystems have been integrated into the MARMOTSat deployables addressing system.

With the assembly done, we are preparing the UHF and VHF antennas for integration into the flight satellite. Keep an eye out for more updates as the project goes forwards!