HB9RYZ - Swiss Amateur Radio Station - QO-100 - Remote DX-Station Rigi Scheidegg

LEO/MEO/GEO Satellite Groundstation

LEO/MEO/GEO-Satellite Groundstation

The goal is to install a satellite 2m/70cm Groundstation at home in order to make active radio contacts with the current and future LEO/MEO/GEO satellites and ISS.

There are currently a few LEO satellites and one MEO-Satellite (IO-117) in the space which you can work with SSB or FM or Packet-Radio.

The challenge is the operation in one LEO SAT cycle (5-15 minutes) with the doppler shift. The MEO SAT is up for almost 1 hour per cycle and with a huge footprint.

I'm using the EA4TX ARS-USB or the S.A.T Tracking Box to control my YAESU G-5500DC AZ/EL Rotor using the Microsoft Satellite Tracking and the SATPC32 SAT-Tracking Software.

LOTW DXCC Status

DXCC Satellite Status 15-Dec-2024: 153

LOTW DXCC Status

Satellite Worked All States (WAS) Status 3-Sept-2024: 44

In January 2024 I managed the IO-117 (Greencube) QSO from HB9 to Clipperton Islands TX5S.
Satellite QO-100 Presentation [11’001 KB] in German (Sept. 2022) and my Portable QO-100 [1’282 KB] SAT-Setup with a 35cm portable Dish.

Satellite Information:
Satellite Overview - SSB with strong signals are: RS-44
Satellite Overview - FM with strong signals are: ISS, Satellite Overview [137 KB] and Satellite Description [1’288 KB] by HB9RYZ
Great website about satellites from FG8OJ , current AMSAT SAT Informations and planned Satellites.

Whether you're on a DXpedition, a park activation, or just home in the shack, sometimes it can be hard to drum up a scheduled contact on the birds.
Great SAT activation site

LOTW DXCC Status

NEWS 14-09-24: Greencube IO-117 MEO-Satellite is not working anymore and is in silent mode

Current LEO/MEO Satellite Groundstation

Microsoft Windows Satellite Tracking Software written by KarhuKoti

This Windows Satellite Tracking App is a great software to track all known satellites including control of your Transceiver such as IC-9700 and AZ/EL Rotator such as the YAESU G-5500DC.

Koti gives you a great support, if you have any feature request or changes in handling the serial COM ports. I'm using now this Windows App for RS-44, ISS, etc.

Please find here [4’618 KB] a complete documentation about my Satellite Groundstation Setup.

DXCC Satellite Certificate No. 401 - June 2022

Good SAT Links:
Download my SAT Konzept in German [2’025 KB]
Overivew of current Ham-Radio satellites by FG8OJ
SatBlog from DK3WN
AMSAT Satellite Status
N2YO Amateur Radio Satellites
SAT Live Tracking
AMSAT Communication Satellites
AMSAT Linear Staellite Frequency Summary
SAT-Match for Sked
SatNOGS Satellite Tracking Project
AMSAT planned Satellites
AMSAT launched Satellites

Products
ARS-USB Box for AZ/EL with Raspberry Pi from EA4TX Pablo
Microsoft Windows Satellite Tracking App
SATPC32 Tracking Software
remoteRotator Software from DH1TW Tobias
S.A.T. Box from CSN Technologies for SAT-Tracking
Sequence Controller FSC52000
ICOM IC-9700 PTT Multiplexer
Pstrotator Sat Tracking Software

Online DXCC SAT-Status

Es’hail 2 Geo-Satellite QO-100 / QRV since 6.3.19

Qatar’s Es’hail-2 Satellite 2019 - OSCAR 100

Es'hail-2 - Successfully launched into orbit (15. Nov. 2018)
The eagerly awaited start of the Es'hail-2 took place on 15/11/2018 at 20:46 as planned and successfully. This is the beginning of a new era in satellite broadcasting for us radio amateurs.

OSCAR 100 (QO-100) is QRV since February 14. 2019.

Qatar’s Es’hail-2 satellite will provide the first amateur radio geostationary communications that could link amateurs from Brazil to Thailand. The satellite is positioned at 25.5 degrees East.

Es'hail-2 coverage areaEs’hail-2 will carry 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.

Live QO-100 ans SAT WebSDRs
Live Es'Hail-2 OSCAR 100 SAT WebDR from England
Live Es'Hail-2 OSCAR 100 SAT WebSDR from Italy

QO-100 Live Cluster 1 and 2
Join the QO-100 DX Club
SatNOGS Projekt for Raspberry Pi

Good QO-100 Links:
Monitor for SG-Lab Power Amplifier
SG LABS 20W PA V3
Adalm Pluto modified with TCXO 0.5 ppm
QO-100 Dish Pointing online
AMSAT-DL Forum
ISS live Tracking

QO-100 with Heil Pro 6 Headset and EQ from UR6QW

Home QO-100 Setup (JN47FE)

QO-100 Home Configuration
- Gibertini 1.2m Offset Dish
- SDRPlay RSP2 for Downlink 739 MHz (LNB with 25 MHz Ref-In)
- SDR Radio Console v3.x
- VSPE (Virtual Serial Port Emulator, 64-Bit) with Omnirig v1.20
- IC-9700 as Transceiver for the Up-Link 431 MHz
- QO-100 duplex Transverter from PE1CMO max. 20 Watt
- VARA SAT and Winlink to send e-Mails over the QO-100
- JTDX to use FT8/FT4 over the QO-100

Omnirig RIG-INI File [8 KB] for the IC-9700 Transceiver
Where to buy the GooBay 67269 Single LNB?
You need to install the the ExtIO_SDRplay_RSP2.dll for the SDRPlay RSP2

QO-100 Portable Station (2022)

QO-100 Portable SAT-Station

35cm Camping Dish
Pluto SDR TCXO modified by DG9BFC
Modified LNB with 0.2 ppm and POTY Antenna
SG-LABS 20W PA V3
PA-Driver TQP 3M9008 (+ 20dB)
DC-DC Step Up Converter (12V > 24V)
DC-DC Step Down Converter (12V -> 5V/3A)
LTE 800 MHz Blocking Filter (RX)
SDR Console v3.1.x with the beacon synchronization
USB Sennheiser Headset for Notebook

QO-100 Audio Test with 35cm Dish 1st Set

First QO-100 Portable Kit sold to 8Q7QC (2020)

First QO-100 Portable SAT-Station with 35cm Camping-Dish

The QO-100 portable SAT-Station is approx. 9kg incl. travel case and 11kg incl. tripod.

MEGASAT Camping dish 35cm
Pluto SDR TCXO modified and in metal case by DG9BFC
Patch-Antenne and LNB TCXO modified by DG9BFC
10-15W Amplifier with skyworks 65017 as preamp (20 dB gain)
mw4ic2230 (30-31 dB gain) as amplifier
old Notebook Power Supply 19V and 4.74A
DC-DC Step Down Converter (19V > 5V) for the Pluto SDR
SDR Console v3.0.22 with the beacon synchronization
No GPSDO necessary to stabilize the frequency
USB Sennheiser PC3 Headset for Notebook
Griffin PowerMate USB VFO Knob
4-Port USB Hub

Thanks to SIGI DG9BFC, who built the main parts and helped me to setup the solution with SDR Console v3.0.22 via a Teamviewer session online.

Complete Documentation [3’988 KB] of the QO-100 portable SAT-Station

8Q7AO, Maldive - Vilamendhoo 2021, South Ari Atoll from Jan 25th - Feb. 7th 2021 by HB9WDF. I'm happy that I was able to hand over my portable QO-100 SAT kit to Michi for his Scuba Diving and QO-100 DX-Expedition. The portable QO-100 station will stay in the Maldives at 8Q7QC Ibrahim, thanks to Charly (DK3ZL).

Next SAT & ISS flight over Hünenberg (JN47FE)

Lens Test

Download LNB Lens Test 1 May 27. 2019 Results [881 KB]
Download LNB Lens Test 18. November 2019 Results [1’151 KB]

Download [8 KB] [IC-9700-DATA-RIT.ini] the modified IC-9700 INI-File in order to use your IC-9700 as an external Radio within SDR Radio Console v3.0.x. with additional RIT feature from DL3HM.

First OSCAR 100 Beacon Contact (March 2019)

Launch of es'Hail 2 Satellite SpaceX (Nov. 2018)

OSCAR 10 1984-1986

Oscar 10 Satellite Operation 1984 - 1985

These are some impressions from my OSCAR 10 SAT-Operation between 1984-1985. I used the ICOM IC-211 E for 2m (10 Watt) for the Downlink and the KENWOOD TR-9500 70cm (10 Watts) with a Home-Made Amplifier (50W) for the Uplink. I used the 14-element Yagi antenna from Tonna for (2m) and the 23-element Yagi for (70cm).

A self developed Commodore C64 application was managing my home built automatic SAT Antenna-Moving solution which was able to follow the OSCAR 10 at any time. A home made Pre-Amp controller unit for 20m and 70cm was managing the RX/TX flow for SAT operation.

OSCAR 10 Satellite QSO Samples - Recorded 1986 by HB9RYZ
Uplink 70cm (438 MHz) and Downlink 2m (144 MHz)

List of all OSCAR Satellites
OSCAR 10 Information and live Tracking
Video - Integration and Start of OSCAR 10
Video - Die OSCAR 10 Story