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What to listen to · QO-100: the Es’hail-2 satellite

QO-100: the emergency frequency on 10489.860 MHz, kept clear for a reason

The emergency frequency of the QO-100 transponder at 10489.860 MHz: silent on an ordinary day, used by amateur emergency groups in exercises and real disasters, when the satellite is the link that still works.

Frequency10489.860 MHz
ModeUSB

What you hear

Usually nothing, and that is the point. The channel sits just above the upper SSB segment of the transponder described in the main article, and the band plan keeps it free of routine contacts. When something is on it, it is either an exercise, with net control stations calling the roll in a formal, slow, repeat-everything style, or a real emergency net passing traffic for a region whose telephones and internet have failed.

Who transmits and why

Amateur emergency communication groups from the countries inside the footprint, which stretches across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India. A geostationary satellite is attractive to them because it needs no infrastructure on the ground beyond a dish and a battery, works the same at any hour and reaches a third of the planet. The frequency was reserved in the transponder's band plan for this use and is listed as the one not to use for ordinary conversation.

When and where to listen

Exercises are announced in advance by the groups that run them and tend to fall on weekends; real activations follow earthquakes, floods and storms. The rest of the time, a quiet channel is the normal state. If you hear traffic, listen and do not interrupt; the program only receives in any case.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → QO-100: the Es’hail-2 satellite → QO-100: the emergency frequency 10489.860. 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.

More stations

QO-100: SSTV on 10489.620 MHz, pictures through a geostationary satellite

10489.620 MHz · SSTV

Slow-scan television in the mixed-mode segment of the QO-100 transponder, 10489.580 to 10489.650 MHz, most often near 10489.620: pictures from across the footprint, built line by line by the program's SSTV decoder.

QO-100: the upper CW beacon on 10490.000 MHz, the top edge of the transponder

10490.000 MHz · CW

The Morse beacon that marks the upper limit of the QO-100 narrowband transponder at 10490.000 MHz. Above it the satellite relays nothing; below it, the last SSB and mixed-mode channels of the band.

QO-100: the lower CW beacon on 10489.500 MHz, the bottom edge of the transponder

10489.500 MHz · CW

The Morse beacon at the lower edge of the QO-100 transponder, sent up from the AMSAT-DL ground station in Bochum: an endless CW text that marks where the band begins and gives everyone a frequency and level reference.

QO-100: FT8 on 10489.540 MHz, decodes from the whole footprint every fifteen seconds

10489.540 MHz · FT8

The FT8 spot of the QO-100 transponder at 10489.540 MHz: digital contacts through the geostationary satellite, decoded every fifteen seconds into callsigns and locators from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India.

FT8 on 12 metres: 24915 kHz, a WARC band for sunny years

24915 kHz · FT8

Between 15 and 10 m sits a quiet band that opens only when the sun is active: no contests, few stations, long daylight paths. FT8 on 24915 kHz tells you within minutes whether 12 m is awake.

Radio Mi Amigo on 6085 kHz: offshore-era oldies from Kall in the Eifel

6085 kHz · AM

Radio Mi Amigo, in the spirit of the 1970s offshore pirates: 6085 kHz from a 1 kW transmitter at Kall in Germany's Eifel, daily from 07:00 to 17:00 UTC. Sixties to eighties music, Dutch and English presenters.