---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "SatNOGS Satellite Transmitter Database"
language:
  - en
description: "Crowdsourced database of satellite radio transmitters from the SatNOGS network, maintained by the Libre Space Foundation.  SatNOGS (Satellite Networked Open Ground Station) is an open-source project t"
task_categories:
  - tabular-classification
tags:
  - space
  - satellite
  - radio
  - transmitter
  - satnogs
  - frequency
  - amateur-radio
  - earth-observation
  - open-data
  - tabular-data
  - parquet
size_categories:
  - 1K<n<10K
configs:
  - config_name: default
    data_files:
      - split: train
        path: data/satnogs_transmitters.parquet
    default: true
---

# SatNOGS Satellite Transmitter Database


<div align="center">
  <img src="banner.jpg" alt="An orbital sunrise illuminates the Earth's atmosphere, seen from the ISS" width="400">
  <p><em>Credit: NASA</em></p>
</div>


*Part of a [dataset collection](https://huggingface.co/collections/juliensimon/orbital-mechanics-datasets-69c24caca4ab3934c9856994) on Hugging Face.*

## Dataset description

Crowdsourced database of satellite radio transmitters from the SatNOGS network, maintained by the Libre Space Foundation.

SatNOGS (Satellite Networked Open Ground Station) is an open-source project that maintains a comprehensive database of satellite transmitters, including uplink and downlink frequencies, modulation modes, baud rates, and operational status. The data is crowdsourced from a global network of ground station operators.

The SatNOGS network represents one of the most ambitious citizen science projects in space operations. Hundreds of volunteer-operated ground stations around the world automatically schedule satellite passes, record RF signals, and upload observations to a central database. The transmitter database documents the exact frequencies, modulation schemes, and data rates needed to decode each satellite's signals.

The database spans the full radio spectrum used by satellites, from VHF (around 145 MHz) through UHF (435 MHz, the most common amateur satellite band) to S-band (2.4 GHz) and beyond. Each transmitter entry is linked to its parent satellite via NORAD ID, enabling cross-referencing with orbital elements for pass prediction.


This dataset is suitable for **tabular classification** tasks.

## Schema

| Column | Type | Description | Sample | Null % |
|--------|------|-------------|--------|--------|
| `uuid` | string | SatNOGS DB unique transmitter identifier (UUID v4); stable primary key for this record | UzPz4gcsNBPKPKAFPmer7g | 0.0% |
| `description` | string | Human-readable label for the transmitter (e.g. 'NOAA 15 APT', 'ISS FM Voice'); null for unlabeled entries | Upper side band (drifting) | 0.0% |
| `alive` | bool | True if the transmitter is known to be currently active; False if confirmed dead; based on community-verified observations | True | 0.0% |
| `type` | string | Transmitter functional type (e.g. 'Transmitter' for downlink-only, 'Transceiver' for uplink+downlink, 'Transponder' for linear/inverting) | Transmitter | 0.0% |
| `uplink_low_hz` | float64 | Lower bound of the uplink (ground-to-satellite) frequency range in Hz; null for downlink-only transmitters | 145850000.0 | 94.0% |
| `uplink_high_hz` | float64 | Upper bound of the uplink frequency range in Hz; equals uplink_low_hz for single-frequency uplinks; null for downlink-only | 145950000.0 | 98.8% |
| `uplink_drift` | float64 | Uplink frequency drift in Hz/s due to Doppler or oscillator instability; null for most entries | 0.0 | 99.8% |
| `downlink_low_hz` | float64 | Lower bound of the downlink (satellite-to-ground) frequency range in Hz; primary frequency for fixed-frequency beacons | 136658500.0 | 0.1% |
| `downlink_high_hz` | float64 | Upper bound of the downlink frequency range in Hz; equals downlink_low_hz for fixed-frequency transmitters; null for beacon-only | 29500000.0 | 98.6% |
| `downlink_drift` | float64 | Downlink frequency drift in Hz/s due to Doppler or oscillator instability; null for most entries | 21954.0 | 92.6% |
| `mode` | string | RF modulation and encoding scheme (e.g. 'FM', 'BPSK', 'CW', 'AFSK', 'GFSK', 'LoRa'); null if unspecified | USB | 0.4% |
| `baud` | float64 | Symbol/bit rate in baud (symbols per second); range ~50 baud (CW) to 9600+ baud (high-rate telemetry); null if not applicable | 2048.0 | 46.5% |
| `norad_id` | int64 | NORAD Space Surveillance Network catalog number of the parent satellite; join key with TLE and SATCAT datasets | 965 | 0.0% |
| `status` | string | SatNOGS DB curation status: 'active' (confirmed working), 'inactive' (confirmed not transmitting), 'unknown' (unverified) | active | 0.0% |
| `citation` | string | Free-text attribution or reference for the transmitter entry; null for most community-contributed entries | CITATION NEEDED - https://xkcd.com/285/ | 0.0% |
| `downlink_mhz` | float64 | Downlink low frequency in MHz (derived: downlink_low_hz / 1e6); useful for band filtering (VHF: 30-300, UHF: 300-3000, S-band: 2000-4000 MHz) | 136.6585 | 0.1% |

## Quick stats

- **4,873** transmitter entries
- **2,805** currently active
- **2,556** unique satellites
- **57** transmission modes
- Top modes: FM (1,531), BPSK (648), GMSK (450), FSK (402), CW (387)

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/satnogs-transmitters", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()
```

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/satnogs-transmitters", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Active transmitters
active = df[df["alive"] == True]
print(f"{len(active):,} active transmitters")

# UHF band (300-3000 MHz)
uhf = df[(df["downlink_mhz"] >= 300) & (df["downlink_mhz"] <= 3000)]

# Frequency band distribution
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
freqs = df["downlink_mhz"].dropna()
plt.hist(freqs[freqs < 3000], bins=100)
plt.xlabel("Downlink Frequency (MHz)")
plt.ylabel("Count")
plt.title("Satellite Transmitter Frequency Distribution")
plt.show()

# Transmitters per satellite
sats = df.groupby("norad_id").size().sort_values(ascending=False)
print(f"{len(sats):,} unique satellites")
```

## Data source

https://db.satnogs.org/

## Related datasets

- [juliensimon/space-track-satcat](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/space-track-satcat)

- [juliensimon/ucs-satellite-database](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/ucs-satellite-database)

> If you find this dataset useful, please consider [giving it a like](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/satnogs-transmitters) on Hugging Face. It helps others discover it.

## About the author

Created by [Julien Simon](https://julien.org) — AI Operating Partner at Fortino Capital. Part of the [Space Datasets](https://julien.org/datasets) collection.

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{satnogs_transmitters,
  title = {SatNOGS Satellite Transmitter Database},
  author = {juliensimon},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/satnogs-transmitters},
  publisher = {Hugging Face}
}
```

## License

[CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)