Based on the success of UoSAT-OSCAR-11's Digital Communications Experiment, AMSAT-OSCAR-16 was designed to be a dedicated store-and-forward file server in space.

Anyone wishing to download files, personal mail from anywhere in the world, or news bulletins could request the information be "broadcast" to all under the footprint of the spacecraft, or directed specifically to that ground station.

This broadcast protocol differs from terrestrial packet radio communications, but allows a greater number of ground stations access to the spacecraft's resources during the limited time of a pass.

While testing a newly designed 1200 bit/s Pacsat modem, it was discovered that seven watts of transmitter power and an indoor antenna were all that was required to connect to oneself using AO-16 as a digipeater.

During these periods, ground stations were encouraged to limit their uplink transmitter power to the minimum necessary to establish and maintain AX.25 connection with the digital transponder.