Tag Archives: QO-100

May 12 2024

Newfoundland QO-100 Contact Successful – More Planned

First Newfoundland contact via QO-100 between VO1/M0XUU and G0MRF

First Newfoundland contact via QO-100 between VO1/M0XUU and G0MRF

On Saturday, May 11, 2024, Gopan VO1/M0XUU (VU3HPF) succeeded in making the first contact from North America through the amateur radio QO-100 geostationary satellite transponder located at 26° East.

Gopan's Screenshot of First Newfoundland QO-100 Contact

Gopan’s screenshot of first Newfoundland QO-100 contact

Gopan was in Newfoundland which is just outside the coverage area of QO-100, the elevation at Signal Hill at St. Johns is below the horizon at -0.9°.

He used FT-8 to have a trans-atlantic contact with David G0MRF in south-west London. David reported it was tough going with a lot of QSB.

Gopan will be in Newfoundland until May 15.

In a post on X Gopan reported his signal into QO-100 was not strong enough to permit SSB operation.

Dish used by VO1/M0XUU in Newfoundland

Dish used by VO1/M0XUU in Newfoundland

The transmit equipment Gopan used comprised, ICOM IC-705 with 2.4 GHz Up-converter from DX Patrol, feeding a homemade 2.4 GHz amplifier delivering 10 watts output to a Helix 2.5 turn YATT design.

The receive side comprised a homemade 10 GHz Down-converter was based on a design by David G0MRF, a modified LNB all controlled by a Leo Bodnar M0XER GPSDO.

The dish was an 80 cm offset.

The software used was SDR Console and Airspy for setting up the station and MSHV in standard mode for FT8/FT4.

After his initial contact with David G0MRF, Gopan went on the work several other stations including Sadan TA4SO in Turkey.

David G0MRF will be joining Graham G3VZV on a QO-100 Dxpedition to Newfoundland from May 15-19.

They are taking enough equipment to enable transmissions on QO-100 using SSB / CW / FT8 / FT4 / Digital Amateur Television (DATV).

Graham G3VZW testing QO-100 equipment before Newfoundland Dxpedition with David G0MRF

Graham G3VZW testing QO-100 equipment before Newfoundland Dxpedition with David G0MRF

A video of the presentation ‘Making QO-100 contacts from North America – A new challenge’, given by Graham G3VZV at the 2022 AMSAT-UK Colloquium can be seen at
https://amsat-uk.org/2022/11/01/making-qo-100-contacts-from-north-america-a-new-challenge/

AMSAT-UK issue a special Certificate of Achievement for QO-100 contacts made from North America.  Applications should be sent to awards@amsat-uk.org

Full details of the award in this Word Document

QO-100 North America CertfificateYou can follow posts on X at:

Gopan M0XUU – https://X.com/vu3hpf
David G0MRF – https://X.com/g0mrf
Graham G3VZV – https://X.com/G3VZV

Stefan VE4SW reports he will be traveling to Newfoundland and will be using the callsign VO100QO on QO-100 from May 13-17, he writes:

“VO100QO a special callsign for the activation of QO-100 from St John’s in Newfoundland will be used by the “Amateur Radio Satellites and Systems – Canada” Association starting Monday, May 13, at Signal Hill or another suitable location (weather permitting). Canadian amateur radio operators Stefan Wagener VE4SW and John Langille VE1CWJ will use a 1.8m dish and up to 100W on SSB to reach QO-100 at -1 degree elevation.

We invite all stations and operators in or near St John’s to join us in person and be part of the story. We will operate from Monday, May 13th to Friday, May 17th (weather permitting). Contact VE4SW (email on my QRZ page) for local information and timing.

The “Amateur Radio Satellites and Systems—Canada” Association will issue special certificates for successful contacts, and all QSOs will be logged into LoTW. Please see our “VO100QO” QRZ page for updates starting Sunday, May 12.

We would very much like to acknowledge the support of “DX Patrol” in Portugal (https://dxpatrol.pt) and António Matias for his support. We will use the DX Patrol QO-100 Groundstation V2 and other equipment for our attempt!”

Follow Stefan VE4SW on X – https://X.com/StefanWagener3

Information on QO-100 is at https://forum.amsat-dl.org/index.php?board/3-qo-100-es-hail-2-p4-a/

FT-8 QO-100 contact between Gopan VO1/M0XUU and TA4SO

FT-8 QO-100 contact between Gopan VO1/M0XUU and TA4SO

May 5 2024

Newfoundland on QO-100 ?

QO-100 North America CertfificateDuring May there are plans for two separate attempts to make contacts from Newfoundland using the QO-100 geostationary satellite amateur transponders.

Newfoundland is just outside the coverage area of QO-100, the elevation at Signal Hill at St. Johns is -0.9°, however, contacts have been made from Indonesia at an elevation as low as -1.3° so there is a chance of success.

Gopan VO1/M0XUU (VU3HPF) will be in Newfoundland from May 8-15 and will attempt to make QO-100 contacts.

David VO1/G0MRF and Graham VO1/G3VZV will be in Newfoundland May 15-19 and plan to be active on QO-100 using SSB / CW / FT8 / FT4 / DATV.

You can follow posts on X at:

Gopan M0XUU – https://X.com/vu3hpf
David G0MRF – https://X.com/g0mrf
Graham G3VZV – https://X.com/G3VZV

Video of the presentation ‘Making QO-100 contacts from North America – A new challenge’, given by Graham G3VZV at the 2022 AMSAT-UK Colloquium
https://amsat-uk.org/2022/11/01/making-qo-100-contacts-from-north-america-a-new-challenge/

Information on QO-100 is at https://forum.amsat-dl.org/index.php?board/3-qo-100-es-hail-2-p4-a/

Nov 1 2022

Making QO-100 contacts from North America – A new challenge

QO-100 North America CertfificateIt is understandable that amateur radio operators in North America are disappointed that they cannot experience the fun of using QO100. However, although the footprint charts that have been published show that it is not possible, there have been good reports recently about the successful QO-100 expedition in Indonesia. In particular YC1HVZ/P successfully operated through the QO100 narrow band transponder from OI42DE at -1.2 degrees elevation!

QO-100 Indonesia Contact

This success suggests that it should be possible to make contacts through QO-100 from at least one North American location.

Examination of the footprint maps and the BATC / AMSAT QO100 dish pointing tool https://eshail.batc.org.uk/point/ shows that the historic site at Signal Hill at St Johns on Newfoundland may be just the location from which to make the attempt.

QO-100 Newfoundland Contact

There would be a lot of challenges to be overcome!

Would the usual QO100 groundstation be sufficient or would a large dish and high power on the 2.4GHz be required? Could activity include operation of DATV through the wideband transponder? As signals from the ground station will probably be relying on tropospheric ducting for the first few miles, an alternative site, lower down, near the beach, might actually be better. What time of year, and what weather conditions might be most favourable? And perhaps the biggest unknown is whether the footprint maps for QO100 reflect the actual coverage or it is squinted towards the east by a couple of degrees?

Having been involved with supporting the QARS and AMSAT-DL since the inception of QO100, AMSAT-UK and BATC would like to establish this challenge and will award trophies as follows.

The station that succeeds in having the first 2-way QSO via the QO-100 narrow band transponder when operating from Newfoundland.

The station that succeeds in having more than 100 2-way QSOs via the QO-100 narrow band transponder when operating from Newfoundland.

The station that succeeds in having the first 2-way DATV QSOs via the via the QO-100 wide band transponder when operating from Newfoundland.

Subsequent operations from Newfoundland will also be eligible to apply for a special Certificate

Watch QO-100 North America Challenge talk at 2022 AMSAT-UK Colloquium

Details of tests being planned, and general questions should be submitted by email to
awards@amsat-uk.org
Claims for trophies and certificates should also be submitted to the same address.

QO-100 Award for contact from North America Word Document Here

Jan 3 2022

First ever Svalbard QO-100 DXpedition JW100QO

Map of Svalbard showing the QO-100 station location

Map of Svalbard showing the QO-100 station location

A DXpedition to Svalbard (78° North) is planned for April 19-26 with the callsign JW0X. In addition to the five HF stations (FT8/FT4/RTTY/SSB/CW) the team will activate the first QO-100 satellite DX Station callsign JW100QO April 22-24.

Making the first ever QO-100 calls from Svalbard is the biggest challenge of this DXpedition. ON4CKM Cedric, ON4DCU Patrick and ON5UR Max will make a rugged snowmobile ride of almost 100 km in temperatures of -20° – 25° Celsius to reach their goal. Kapp Linné is the only place in the area that allows a view of the QO-100 satellite at only 3° above the horizon. Svalbard also lies on the edge of the satellite area (footprint), which makes the challenge even greater. We want to give as many radio amateurs as possible the opportunity to work this first QO-100 DXpedition. For this unique challenge we also have a special callsign JW100QO.

Further info at:

Svalbard QO-100 JW100QO April 22-24
https://www.dx-adventure.com/en/qo-100-our-goal/

Svalbard JW0X April 19-26
https://www.dx-adventure.com/en/svalbard-dx-pedition/

QO-100 geostationary amateur satellite transponder provides coverage from Brazil to Thailand, see
https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geo/eshail-2/

Sep 23 2021

New EMF Regulation and QO-100 satellite / Microwave operation

Es'hail-2 Qatar-OSCAR-100Ian GM3SEK is giving an online talk on the application of the RSGB-Ofcom Calculator to Microwaves and QO-100 satellite operation on Saturday, October 16, at 1230 GMT (1:30pm BST)

John G3XDY, Secretary UK Microwave Group, writes:

As I expect you are aware, UK stations must have Electromagnetic Field (EMF) assessments in place for operation above 110 MHz from 18th November 2021. Some RSGB guidance on EMF is here:
https://rsgb.org/main/technical/emc/emf-exposure/

The RSGB has been developing a tool that incorporates the Ofcom EMF Calculator but extends the models to include single and multiple Yagis plus various sizes of dish antennas, and takes account of the directivity of the antenna.

Ian GM3SEK, a key member of the team that developed the spreadsheet tool, will be talking about its application to Microwaves and QO-100 operation on 16th October at 13:30pm, in a joint BATC/UK Microwave Group presentation during the BATC Convention.

Registration is not required, to view the talk just go to https://batc.org.uk/live/cat21

Full details of the BATC CAT21 program are available here
https://forum.batc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=135&t=7609

This is an important topic for all that operate on VHF and above, and Ian will dispense invaluable practical advice on how to assess your dishes and Yagis in the microwave bands. Not to be missed!

Aug 18 2021

Antarctica: DP0GVN QO-100 antenna destroyed, rebuild planned for 2022

AWI Neumayer Station III Antarctica - image from AMSAT-DL

AWI Neumayer Station III Antarctica – image from AMSAT-DL

AMSAT-DL reports the antenna used by DP0GVN in Antarctica for the QO-100 geostationary satellite amateur radio transponder is completely destroyed.

According to the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI), a severe winter storm hit Atka Bay (Antarctica) at the end of last week. At Neumayer Station III, about 20 kilometres away, wind speeds of max. 94.9 knots (175.7 km/h) were recorded as a minute average during the night from 13 to 14 August. The strongest gust was 112 knots (207 km/h). This is by far the highest wind speed in recent years.

Unfortunately, the satellite antenna for the geostationary QO-100 amateur radio satellite was also completely destroyed during the storm, despite the weatherproof radome, so no school contacts with DP0GVN can take place until further notice. AMSAT-DL and AWI hope to erect a new antenna early next year, in particular to continue the very successful contacts with schools.

Source AMSAT-DL
https://amsat-dl.org/en/dp0gvn-antenna-destroyed-rebuilding-planned-2022/
https://twitter.com/amsatdl