May 4 2020

Spring Issue of OSCAR News Available

E-members of AMSAT-UK can now download the March 2020 edition of OSCAR News, issue 229, here.

The paper edition edition is being sent to postal members and should arrive in the coming week.

In this issue:
• From the Secretary’s Keyboard
• QO-100 Wideband Transponder – 2020 Operating Guidelines and Bandplan
• AMSAT QO-100 NB Transponder Bandplan Update
• 5-watt 2.4 GHz amplifier kit for QO-100
• My experience with the AMSAT-UK 5W QO-100 Amplifier
• Review of the DJ0ABR 5W 2.4GHz Amplifier
• Under Development!
• AMSAT Files Comments Opposing Deletion of 3.4 GHz Band
• The eSatellite Award by eQSL
• Ad Astra!
• One Year of Operation for the Goonhilly WebSDRs for QO-100
• HuskySat-1
• How Phoenix went from a Paper Proposal to ASU’s First Student-Led CubeSat in Space
• The Qarman Cubesat
• The latest FUNcube Groundstation – in Antarctica
• From the Archives – An AMSAT-NA Symposium early this century

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch

Membership of AMSAT-UK is open to anyone who has an interest in amateur radio satellites or space activities, including the International Space Station (ISS).

E-members of AMSAT-UK are able to download the quarterly publication OSCAR News as a convenient PDF that can be read on laptops, tablets or smartphones anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Join as an E-member at Electronic (PDF) E-membership

PDF sample copy of “Oscar News” here.

Join AMSAT-UK using PayPal, Debit or Credit card at
http://shop.amsat-uk.org/

E-members can download their copies of OSCAR News here.

Apr 5 2020

Radio ZS ham radio magazine free download

The South African Amateur Radio League (SARL) is the latest national society to make their magazine freely available to all in the convenient PDF format.

The magazine features a QO-100 Dual Patch antenna article by David ZR6DLG and the ARISS Interoperable Radio System.

The SARL say:

The Council has decided that the April 2020 issue of Radio ZS is available for members and not yet members of the SARL. Click on the link on the front page of the League website to download a copy. Read on page 10 and 17 about My Project and how to win a membership to the SARL. On page 11 you can read about SARAH or Southern African Radio Active Ham.

You can download the PDF of the April edition of Radio ZS, published by the South African Radio League from
http://www.sarl.org.za/Web3/DocumentStore/20200331122728oXhxY0QQYg.PDF

The SARL website headlines the key presentation on The Future and Growth of Amateur Radio given by RSGB Director Kamal Singh M0IOV, see
http://www.sarl.org.za/

Mar 16 2020

AMSAT-BR QO-100 FT8 QRPp Experiment

AMSAT-Brazil is organizing a reverse beacon FT8 QRPp experiment/contest via the QO-100 geostationary amateur radio transponder.

The first 10 spotted stations with lower SNR will receive a Certificate of Accomplishment.The dead line will be May 1st 2020. To qualify, the SNR must be lower than -18 dB (as measured by the ft8 decoder). The receiver will be active on Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 UTC to 24:00 UTC and will be tuned to 10.489540 GHz with a 3.5 kHz bandwidth. All stations calling CQ will be logged.

The objective for the project is to incentive low power experimentation through the QO-100 narrow band transponder. Stations participating in the experiment are welcome to send a brief description of their setup, including information about RF power output, hardware and software setups, antenna type and gain, photos, etc. to the email address
py2sdr at gmail dot com.

73, Edson PY2SDR

You can listen to the QO-100 transponder downlink online at https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

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

Mar 1 2020

Project for school QO-100 amateur radio stations

DARC reports on a Practical Seminar about the amateur radio QO-100 geostationary satellite transponders. Part of seminar fees goes to the “School stations on QO-100” project.

A translation of the DARC post reads:

Top-class seminar in the DARC office in Baunatal: On February 28, experts from AMSAT-DL e.V. gave around 40 people a detailed insight into the possibilities offered by the QO-100 amateur radio transponders on the geostationary satellite Es’hail-2.

AMSAT-DL President Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, started with a keynote speech. Workshops with four lecturers dealt with different operating modes, different hardware concepts and readily available software solutions for the PC.

Part of the attendance fee will go to the joint project of DARC and AMSAT-DL “School stations on QO-100”. Together they want to equip ten schools that already have a training call sign with a complete reception system for the narrowband transponder.

DARC and AMSAT-DL want to motivate more young people for amateur radio through the possibilities that QO-100 offers.

Source DARC https://darc.de/

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

Feb 10 2020

5 watt 2.4 GHz Amplifier Kit for QO-100

5 watt 2400 MHz Amplifier Kit

The AMSAT-UK shop is now stocking a 5 watt 2.4 GHz amplifier kit for use with the QO-100 geostationary satellite.

The amplifier was designed by Kurt Moraw DJ0ABR and the kit was implemented by Arved Viehweger M0KDS.

The kit includes a single sided PCB on which is already mounted the PA transistor, there is a suitable heat sink on which to mount the PCB with the provided screws. All electronic components are included as are 2 SMA sockets. Assembly of the kits will require some surface mount components to be soldered to the PCB.

Note: It does not include a case for the unit and a separate 24 volt power supply will be required.

Kit details at https://shop.amsat-uk.org/QO-100_5W_Amplifier_Kit_designed_by_DJ0ABR_and_implemented_by_M0KDS/p3815740_20307881.aspx

Assembled PCB https://shop.amsat-uk.org/product/u-100ampassembled

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