The geostationary satellite Es’hail-2 carrying amateur radio transponders launched from Kennedy Space Center at 20:46 GMT on Thursday, November 15, 2018 and is now in a geostationary orbit at 25.9° East. These are the first amateur radio transponders to be put into geostationary orbit and they are expected to link radio amateurs from Brazil to Thailand.

Es’hail-2 carries two “Phase 4” amateur radio transponders operating in the 2400 MHz and 10450 MHz bands. A 250 kHz bandwidth linear transponder intended for conventional analogue operations and an 8 MHz bandwidth transponder for experimental digital modulation schemes and DVB amateur television.

Narrowband Linear transponder
 2400.050 -  2400.300 MHz Uplink
10489.550 - 10489.800 MHz Downlink

Wideband digital transponder
 2401.500 -  2409.500 MHz Uplink
10491.000 - 10499.000 MHz Downlink

Read this article Eshail-2_Transponder_Information

UHF–VHF Receive Converter for use with a satellite LNB by David Bowman G0MRF – Download article PDF here

Receiving Es’hail-2 by George Smart M1GEO at https://www.george-smart.co.uk/2019/02/eshail2-rx/

Equipment requirements:

X-Band 10 GHz Downlink:
– 89 cm dishes in rainy areas at EOC like Brazil or Thailand
– 60 cm around coverage peak
– 75 cm dishes at peak -2dB
– NB: linear vertical polarisation
– WB: linear horizontal polarisation

S-Band 2.4 GHz NB-Uplink:
– narrow band modes like SSB, CW
– 5W nominal Uplink power (22.5 dBi antenna gain, 75cm dish)
– RHCP polarisation

S-Band 2.4 GHz WB-Uplink (DATV):
– wide band modes, DVB-S2
– peak EIRP of 53 dBW (2.4m dish and 100W) required
– RHCP polarisation

Listen to Es’hail-2 online with the AMSAT-UK / BATC WebSDR located at Goonhilly https://eshail.batc.org.uk/

See the Satellite Forum for latest Es’hail-2 information https://forum.amsat-dl.org/

Es’hail-2 amateur radio information https://amsat-dl.org/en/eshail-2-amsat-phase-4-a

Es’hail-2 Narrowband amateur radio transponder operating guidelines
https://amsat-dl.org/en/p4-a-nb-transponder-bandplan-and-operating-guidelines

Es’hail-2 Wideband amateur radio transponder operating guidelines
https://amsat-dl.org/en/p4-a-wb-transponder-bandplan-and-operating-guidelines

Digital ATV co-ordination on Es’hail-2 / QB-100 https://amsat-uk.org/2019/02/27/digital-atv-co-ordination-on-eshail-2/

AMSAT-DL Phase 4A Es’hail-2 geostationary satellite amateur radio transponder slides
https://www.amsat-dl.org/images/stories/satellites/Eshail-2/EsHail2_AMSAT-DL_July2018.pdf

AMSAT-DL Phase 4A leaflet https://www.amsat-dl.org/images/stories/satellites/Eshail-2/P4A_Leaflet.pdf

Presentation on Es’hail-2 by Peter Guelzow DB2OS, President of AMSAT-DL, at the 2013 AMSAT-UK Colloquium http://www.batc.tv/streams/amsat1306

SpaceX Mission Timeline https://spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/eshail-2_mission_press_kit_11_14_2018.pdf

Es’hailSat announces tender process for Es’hail-2
http://www.qatarchronicle.com/science-and-technolgy/49977/eshailsat-announces-tender-process-for-eshail-2/

Es’hailSat – the Qatar Satellite Company https://www.facebook.com/EshailSat