Difference between revisions of "Es'hail-2 Basic Information"

Latest revision as of 10:11, 12 May 2022

Oscar 100 is 2 amateur radio transponders hosted on the Es’hail-2 Direct Broadcast TV satellite owned by Es’hailSat in Qatar and is the first ever amateur payload on a commercial geostationary satellite

The satellite was built by Mitsubishi Electric Company ( MELCO) in Japan and is a collaborative project with Es’hailSat / AMSAT-DL / Qatar ARS

For more details see this presentation given by G8GTZ and G8GKQ at the RSGB AGM 2019.

File:RSGB AGM V2.pdf

Aligning your dish

The original step by step guide to setting up and aligning your dish to receive Es'hail-2 appeared in CQ-TV 261 contains good advice on setting up your dish and the direction of satellite and is available for download here: Getting ready for Es'hail-2

However, now Oscar 100 is "on air" the advice about aligning your dish on BADR4 etc can be used alongside aligning the dish on the narrow band transponder.

More details on LNBs, including modifying the Octagon units for external lock can be found here: Es'hail-2_LNBs_and_Antennaes

Narrow band transponder

Use some SDR hardware (and a £10 RTL dongle will do) and something like the SDRconsole or SDR# programs set for 1 MHz bandwidth centered on 739 / 740MHz. Supply 12v to the LNB and look for a bump of around 500 kHz bandwidth.

This is the easiest way as there are no other signals in that band, set the elevation to ~ 26 degrees and gently scan across in Azimuth until you see the bump.

Aligning for DATV

The easiest way to align your dish for TVis to follow the guide below - note the BADR4 transponder containg BBC Arabic is Horizontal and requires 18v to the LNB - same as the Oscar 100 WB transponder - can be received on a MiniTiouner by tuning to 2246MHz with a 27500 SR.

You can then use the TV beacon to tweak for maximum signal - the types of MER you should receive depending on dish size are listed on the bottom of this page: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Receiving_Oscar_100_DATV_signals

Receiving Oscar 100 DATV signals

A guide to receiving the DATV signals in the wideband transponder can be found here Receiving Oscar 100 DATV signals

Transmitting DATV on Oscar 100

A guide to transmitting DATV in the wideband transponder can be found here Transmitting Oscar 100 DATV signals

List of Current Active Users

QO100 DATV Users DG4DC JO41CO Bad Sassendorf Deutschland Adam Pluto UMTS PA 80 Watt Dish: 125cm

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-To receive Es'hail-2 at 26E you can use standard satellite LNBs. These can also be modified. (Note there are other standards and new wideband LNBs. We are talking about traditional ones available in 2019). This is intended to be a basic guide, there is more details information on how to modify equipment to improve performance.
+Oscar 100 is 2 amateur radio transponders hosted on the Es’hail-2 Direct Broadcast TV satellite owned by Es’hailSat in Qatar and is the first ever amateur payload on a commercial geostationary satellite
-===Satellite Location===
+[[File:seperation.JPG|400px]]
-Es'Hail-2 is nominally located on the geostationary arc at 26 degrees East. Here [LINK] is a calculator to work out where to point your dish, or use one of the many web pages like this: http://www.satsig.net/maps/satellite-tv-dish-pointing-uk-ireland.htm or https://www.dishpointer.com/ and many others.
+The satellite was built by Mitsubishi Electric Company ( MELCO) in Japan and is a collaborative project with  Es’hailSat / AMSAT-DL / Qatar ARS
-Aligning in the UK based on TV signals is difficult as the adjacent signals from Sky 2 degrees to the East are very strong. The easiest method is to use these strong signals, align and peak on Sky and then move the dish an appropriate amount, in the UK typically ~2 degrees to the South and ~0.5 degrees higher in elevation.
+For more details see this presentation given by G8GTZ and G8GKQ at the RSGB AGM 2019.
-For example in London Es'Hail-2 (26E) is at Azimuth 147.9° and Elevation 26.2° and Astra (28E) is at Azimuth 145.4° and Elevation: 25.4° so having found Astra, turn the dish 2.5 degrees to the South and increase the elevation by 0.7 degrees. The simplest way to do this is using geometry, so for example if the feed arm is 100cm long it needs to move 100 sin(2.5) = 4.4cm to the right and 100 sin(0.7) = 1.2cm up. This approximation will be close enough and generally easier to measure than with a protractor.
+[[:File:RSGB AGM V2.pdf]]
-The EsHail-2 satellite currently has two operational beacons on 10.706 GHz using Horizontal polarisation and 11.205 GHz using vertical polarisation that can be used for peaking and setting the polarisation offset. The latter is adjusted by rotating the LNB ~20 degrees to look for a null in the beacon on the opposite polarisation.
-===DC Supply===
+==Aligning your dish==
-The basic LNB requires a DC supply fed up the coax. This powers the internals and also selects polarisation. A 12V supply selects Horizontal polarisation, an 18V supply Vertical polarisation. Standard LNBs like the Octagon range have two local oscillator frequencies, 9.75 GHz and 10.6 GHz. The higher is selected by adding a 22kHz signal to the DC supply. For EsHail use the lower LO is used and this 22kHz tone is not required. Some newer wideband LNBs intended for SkyQ are different, so beware.
+The original step by step guide to setting up and aligning your dish to receive Es'hail-2 appeared in CQ-TV 261 contains good advice on setting up your dish and the direction of satellite and is available for download here: [[:Media:Getting ready for Es'hail2.pdf|Getting ready for Es'hail-2]]
-===Connecting to the LNB===
+However, now Oscar 100 is "on air" the advice about aligning your dish on BADR4 etc can be used alongside aligning the dish on the narrow band transponder.
+More details on LNBs, including modifying the Octagon units for external lock can be found here: [[Es'hail-2_LNBs_and_Antennaes]]
+====Narrow band transponder====
+Use some SDR hardware (and a £10 RTL dongle will do) and something like the SDRconsole or SDR# programs set for 1 MHz bandwidth centered on 739 / 740MHz. Supply 12v to the LNB and look for a bump of around 500 kHz bandwidth.
+This is the easiest way as there are no other signals in that band, set the elevation to ~ 26 degrees and gently scan across in Azimuth until you see the bump.
+====Aligning for DATV====
+The easiest way to align your dish for TVis to follow the guide below - note the BADR4 transponder containg BBC Arabic is Horizontal and requires 18v to the LNB - same as the Oscar 100 WB transponder - can be received on a MiniTiouner by tuning to 2246MHz with a 27500 SR.
+You can then use the TV beacon to tweak for maximum signal - the types of MER you should receive depending on dish size are listed on the bottom of this page: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Receiving_Oscar_100_DATV_signals
+==Receiving Oscar 100 DATV signals==
+A guide to receiving the DATV signals in the wideband transponder can be found here [[Receiving Oscar 100 DATV signals]]
+==Transmitting DATV on Oscar 100==
+A guide to transmitting DATV in the wideband transponder can be found here [[Transmitting Oscar 100 DATV signals]]
+==List of Current Active Users==
+[[QO100 DATV Users]]
+DG4DC
+JO41CO
+Bad Sassendorf
+Deutschland
+Adam Pluto
+UMTS PA 80 Watt
+Dish: 125cm