QO-100: SSB contacts on 10489.700 MHz, voices from the whole footprint

What you hear

Voices in upper sideband, mostly in English, with German, Italian, Spanish, Arabic and others mixed in: ordinary amateur contacts, signal reports, descriptions of dishes and amplifiers, long chats between regulars. The segment below the middle beacon runs from 10489.650 to 10489.740 MHz and the one above it from 10489.755 to 10489.850, and the catalogue entry lands you in the lower one; turn the dial along it, because on a weekday evening there are a dozen conversations going at once. Every station sounds as steady as a local, with no fading and no Doppler, which is the strangest part for anyone used to shortwave.

Who transmits and why

Radio amateurs anywhere in the footprint of the geostationary satellite described in the main article, sending up on 2.4 GHz and listening to themselves come back on 10 GHz. Operating custom says a signal should never be louder than the PSK beacon, so the voices sit at a civilised level and nobody drowns the others.

When and where to listen

Around the clock. European evenings are the busiest, European nights the quietest, with the Middle East and India filling the morning hours. Special event stations and contests bring crowds; a weekday afternoon brings leisurely conversation.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → QO-100: the Es’hail-2 satellite → QO-100: SSB contacts 10489.700. The program picks a public receiver with a dish on the satellite, does the converter arithmetic and sets USB; no dish, receiver or account of your own is needed.