Satellite Radio Frequencies

Gonets is a business-orientated store-dump communications system that grew out of the military/government Strela programme. Strela itself had been operating since the early 1960s in support of the military, the intelligence services and the Soviet government.

2009 early-March, a reasonably comprehensive list of transmitting frequencies was derived from observations in the UK and the Netherlands. The conclusion is that eight of the ten Gonets satellites in orbit are transmitting.

Identification of individual satellites is difficult, particularly when several are above the horizon at the same time.

Gonets D1-3 seems to be off air and is assumed to have failed. The newest satellite, Gonets D1M is not transmitting in the same band as the others. There are frequencies reported for it on the web but they appear to be erroneous, and can be explained by misidentification of the other Gonets-D, or even Strela satellites in orbit.

Thanks are due to Ary Boender and Hans Oeben for their assistance in this piece of work on both the Strela-3 and Gonets-D1 satellites.

Freq (MHz)	Satellite	Payload	Signal Type	Notes
263.086	Gonets D1-1 (Gonets-D1) 1996-009A 23787	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past - entry updated 2009 Mar 8
265.059	Gonets D1-2 (Gonets-D1) 1996-009B 23788	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past - entry updated 2009 Mar 8
265.137	Gonets D1-3 (Gonets-D1) 1996-009C 23789	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past - entry updated 2009 Mar 13
264.750	Gonets D1-4 (Gonets-D1) 1997-006D 24728	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past - entry updated 2009 Mar 8
264.400	Gonets D1-5 (Gonets-D1) 1997-006E 24729	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past - entry updated 2009 Mar 8
262.910	Gonets D1-6 (Gonets-D1) 1997-006F 24730	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past - entry updated 2009 Mar 8
262.910	Cosmos 2386 (Gonets) 2001-058C 27057	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past, this is a Gonets even though listed elsewhere as Strela-3 through a NORAD name mix-up - entry updated 2009 Mar 8
262.910	Gonets-D1-7 (Gonets) 2001-058D 27058	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past - entry updated 2009 Mar 8
262.910	Gonets-D1-9 (Gonets) 2001-058F 27060	Store-dump comms	FM - mutiple sideband, 0.5s trigger signal every minute plus occasional data bursts	Has been reported on other frequencies in the past - entry updated 2009 Mar 8