Es'hail 2
Es'hail 2 is a Qatari satellite, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on November 15, 2018. Es'hail 2 was built by Japan's Mitsubishi Electric company, and will operate at 26° East longitude along a geostationary orbit to provide direct-to-home television services in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The satellite will feature 24 Ku-band and 11 Ka-band transponders to provide direct broadcasting services for television, government and commercial content distribution. In addition to commercial services, the payload of Es'hail 2 includes a linear transponder with a bandwidth of 250 kHz and 8MHz for the amateur radio satellite service, with uplink on 2.4 GHz and downlink on 10.45 GHz.
Amateur radio transponders
"NB" Transponder (narrow band)
Linear Transponder for low power narrow bandwidth voice, morse and digital communication- preferred modes: narrow band modes like SSB and CW, PSK
- 250 kHz allocated bandwidth
- non-inverting bent-pipe transponder
- Assumes 50 simultaneous 2-way carriers to serve 100 Users
- X-Band Downlink :
- * 90 cm dishes in rainy areas at EOC like Brazil or Thailand
- * 60 cm around coverage peak
- * 75 cm dishes at peak -2dB
- Downlink Polarisation on X-Band is Vertical !
- Uplink Polarisation on S-Band is RHCP
- Uplink transmitter 5-10W PEP
No transmissions should be made beyond the nominal edges of the transponder passbands. In particular, no operation should take place below the lower beacon nor above the upper beacon.
No uplinks should result in downlink signals that are stronger than these beacons. In the event that such signals are detected, they will be marked by a “LEILA” siren. When they have been marked by “LEILA”, operators should immediately reduce their uplink power.
No FM transmissions should be made to Es’hail-2 as these would use excessive power and bandwidth.
Although there is no formal bandplan, the following details are provided for initial guidance.
Uplink | Downlink | available Bandwidth | Notes |
10489,550 – 10489,555 | do not transmit | Lower Beacon, 400 Bit/s BPSK or CW | |
2400,055 – 2400,100 | 10489,555 – 10489,600 | 45 | CW Only |
2400,100 – 2400,120 | 10489,600 – 10489,620 | 20 | narrowband digimodes |
2400,120 – 2400,140 | 10489,620 – 10489,640 | 20 | digimodes |
2400,140 – 2400,190 | 10489,640 – 10489,690 | 50 | mixed modes |
2400,190 – 2400,295 | 10489,640 – 10489,795 | 105 | SSB only |
10489,795 – 10489,800 | do not transmit | Upper Beacon, 400 Bit/s BPSK or CW |
"WB" Transponder (wide band)
Linear Transponder for Digital Amateur Television and other highspeed data transmissions. First DATV transponder in space.- 8 MHz bandwidth
- Uplink Polarisation on S-Band is RHCP
- Downlink Polarisation on X-Band is horizontal
- Beacon sending video from launch at 10.492500 GHz DVB-S2 QPSK 2MS FEC 2/3
- DVB-S2 is used as standard in all amateur transmissions
- 5 channels for 333 kS transmissions, 2 channels for 1000 kS
- Typical amateur data streams are between 400-1200 kbit
- Internet spectrum monitor and chat for transmission coordination
- Receive equipment on downlink:
- * 90 cm offset dish
- * standard Ku-band LNB
- * F6DZP MiniTiouner, Octagon SF4008 or SDR software decoders
- Uplink equipment:
- * 120 cm dish
- * Minimum 30W of output power
- * SDR
Amateur Radio Operators