es_hail-2_hams_get_first_geosynchronous_repeater

ES’HAIL-2: Hams Get First Geosynchronous Repeater

In the radio business, getting the high ground is key to covering as much territory from as few installations as possible. Anything that has a high profile, from a big municipal water tank to a roadside billboard to a remote hilltop, will likely be bristling with antennas, and different services compete for the best spots to locate their antennas. Amateur radio clubs will be there too, looking for space to locate their repeaters, which allow hams to use low-power mobile and handheld radios to make contact over a vastly greater range than they could otherwise.

Now some hams have claimed the highest of high ground for their repeater: space. For the first time, an amateur radio repeater has gone to space aboard a geosynchronous satellite, giving hams the ability to link up over a third of the globe. It’s a huge development, and while it takes some effort to use this new space-based radio, it’s a game changer in the amateur radio community.

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES The new satellite, Es’hail-2, was built for Es’hailSat, a Qatari telecommunications concern. As satellites go, it’s a pretty standard machine, built primarily to provide direct digital TV service to the Middle East and Africa. But interestingly, it was designed from the start to carry an amateur radio payload. The request for proposals (RFP) that Es’hailSat sent to potential vendors in early 2014 specifically called for the inclusion of an amateur repeater, to be developed jointly by AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation.

The repeater was engineered with two main services in mind. The first is a narrowband transponder intended for phone (voice) contacts, continuous wave (CW) for Morse contacts, and some of the narrow bandwidth digital modes, like PSK-31. The other transponder is for wideband use, intended to test Digital Amateur Television (DATV). The wideband transponder can carry two simultaneous HD signals and a beacon broadcasting video content from QARS. Both transponders uplink on the portion of the 2.4-GHz reserved for hams, while downlinking on the 10.4-GHz band.

Es’hail-2 was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral on November 15, 2018. The satellite was boosted to a geosynchronous orbit in the crowded slot located at 26.5° East longitude, parking it directly above the Democratic Republic of Congo. After tests were completed, a ceremony inaugurating the satellite as “Qatar OSCAR-100”, or QO-100, was held on February 14, 2019, making it the 100th OSCAR satellite launched by amateurs.

LISTENING IN Sadly for hams in the Americas and most of eastern Asia, QO-100 is out of range. But for hams anywhere from coastal Brazil to Thailand, the satellite is visible 24 hours a day. The equipment to use it can be a bit daunting, if the experience of this amateur radio club in Norway is any indication. They used a 3-meter dish for the 2.4-GHz uplink, along with a string of homebrew hardware and a lot of determination to pull off their one contact so far, and this from a team used to bouncing signals off the Moon.

Receiving signals from QO-100 is considerably easier. A dish in the 60-cm to 1-meter range will suffice, depending on location, with a decent LNB downconverter. Pretty much any SDR will do for a receiver. An alternative to assembling the hardware yourself — and the only way to get in on the fun for the two-thirds of the planet not covered by the satellite — would be to tune into one of the WebSDR ground stations that have been set up. The British Amateur Television Club and AMSAT-UK, located at the Goonhilly Earth Station, have set up an SDR for the narrowband transponder that you can control over the web. I used it to listen in on a number of contacts between hams the other night.

Source article: https://hackaday.com/2019/03/18/eshail-2-hams-get-their-first-geosynchronous-repeater/

new_scrd_antennas

SCRD Antenna Upgrade Installation

The upgrade of the SCRD Emergency Operations Centre Radio Station is nearing completion with the installation of a new set of commercial grade antenna to replace the amateur GP3's and GP6. We selected Comprod Inc. wideband dual 144/440 MHz Folded Dipoles - 3 single VHF/UHF element antennas for data and communications. For improved simplex operations a dual element folded dipole was installed atop the tower offering 5.5db gain. 1000 feet new LMR400 coaxial cable was used. The HF inverted vee was checked and new LMR400 feed line installed.

The antennas arrived. They are robustly constructed.	Wall mounted using Unistrut channel.
All new LMR400 feed lines tidied up and rerouted to central busbar.	Busbar and Polyphaser/Alpha Delta surge suppression. Two more duplexers still to be added

SCEP in Rob's office (VHF)
Comms 1 (VHF/UHF)
HF inverted V (80m - 10m)
Comms 2 (VHF/UHF)
Data 3 (VHF/UHF)
Data 4 (VHF/UHF)
Health Emergency Management BC (UHF)
Marine Radio
SCEP in Radio Room (VHF)

Above (9) is the 911 Fire Dispatch Paging, Comms to an Island repeater, and IMERS 2C.

The station upgrade is currently 90% complete as of April 2019, with the addition of 4 dual band duplexes and radio room cable management outstanding. Next phase will include the replacement of the HF inverted vee with the EMBC standard Barker Williamson Terminated Folder Dipole, back up battery power and distribution in the radio room, and upgrade of the portable HF Comm/Pactor radio system.

Sun Coast Amateur Radio Club Society - blog:2019-03-30

es_hail-2_hams_get_first_geosynchronous_repeater

ES’HAIL-2: Hams Get First Geosynchronous Repeater

new_scrd_antennas

SCRD Antenna Upgrade Installation

Sun Coast Amateur
Radio Club Society - blog:2019-03-30