The RSGB has announced that their popular weekly GB2RS news broadcast will now be available via the QO-100 amateur radio transponder on the geostationary satellite Es’hail-2.

QO-100 provides continuous coverage from eastern Brazil to as far west as Thailand. There are two amateur transponders, one for Narrowband modes such as SSB and FT8 and the other for digital amateur television (DATV).

The RSGB website says:

“GB2RS can now also be heard via the QO-100 amateur radio satellite. The transmission is provided by Keith, GU6EFB at 0800UTC, using upper sideband on 10489.900 MHz, which is in the mixed-mode section of the narrowband transponder. QO-100 is a geostationary satellite with a footprint that covers Europe, Africa and India, so this news bulletin is a specially-adapted international version. The RSGB would like to thank AMSAT-DL for their kind cooperation in making this broadcast possible.”

If you do not have 10 GHz receive capability you can still listen to the broadcast on the AMSAT-UK and BATC WebSDR located at Goonhilly, see
https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

RSGB https://rsgb.org/
https://twitter.com/theRSGB

QO-100 info https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geo/eshail-2/

Team from the Telkom University Telecommunication Engineering Student Association

Indonesia’s national amateur radio society, ORARI, reports on the first contacts from Indonesia via the Qatar-Oscar-100 geostationary satellite transponder that took place on Thursday, January 27, 2021. Those involved were Farid Farhan YC1HVZ, Remco den Besten PA3FYM and Rene Stevens PE1CMO.

ORARI’s report says a team from the Telkom University Telecommunication Engineering Student Association (HMTT) led by Farid Farhan YC1HVZ, succeeded in conducting the first contact from Bukit Moko (Grid square OI33UD), Bandung, West Java with a satellite elevation of 0.8 degrees at an altitude of 1200m+.

Over several months Remco den Besten PA3FYM, and Rene Stevens PE1CMO had helped Farid Farham YC1HVZ get equipment operational for use on the QO-100 satellite which has an uplink in the 2.4 GHz band and a downlink in 10.45 GHz.

Farid’s location in Bandung is on the edge of the satellite’s footprint and he didn’t have a clear view to the horizon so Farid had to travel to a location in the hills of Java to get an unobstructed path to the satellite which had an elevation of just 0.8 degrees.

An attempt on Monday, January 24, was unfortunately unsuccessful and Farid YC1HVZ returned to the hill on Thursday, January 27, for a test with Remco PA3FYM and Rene PE1CMO. At about 07:40 GMT they heard the first signals from YC1HVZ but Farid couldn’t receive the QO-100 signal. It’s rainy season in Indonesia, which makes it much harder – the 10 GHz downlink has to get through the heavy rain showers which attenuate the signal.

After a few tests conditions improved and Farid heard his signal coming back from the satellite and by 07:50 GMT it was possible to make a two-way contact. Rene PE1CMO was the first to receive Farid and the first who Farid received but it was Remco PA3FYM who made the first complete contact exchanging signal report, call and locator, after which Rene has a QSO with Farid. Unfortunately the signal in Indonesia then dropped due to clouds and rain but later it came back and YC1HVZ made six more contacts. Farid hopes to try that location again or go to a location on the beach on the west coast of Java for a DXpedition.

Congratulations to Farid, Remco and Rene.

See a translation of the ORARI report at https://tinyurl.com/IndonesiaORARI

QO-100 information https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geo/eshail-2/