Qatar OSCAR 100 the first geostationary amateur radio satellite

Most of the amateur radio satellites are deployed in low earth orbits (LEO) so that they pass above you more than once a day. You have to track their location using online trackers as discussed previously. They are available for contact in a particular location only for a short period during each pass. Geostationary satellites on the other hand have a fixed location and are accessible throughout without having to track them. They are located at a much higher altitude than the usual low earth orbit satellites.

Qatar OSCAR 100 was the first geostationary amateur radio transponder, which became operational in 2018. It is a joint project between the Qatar Satellite Company, the Qatar Amateur Radio Society (QARS), and AMSAT Deutschland which provided the technical lead. Qatar  OSCAR-100 is hosted on Es’hail-2, a Broadcast Transponder Satellite owned by the Es’hailSat Qatar Satellite Company. It is now in a geostationary orbit at 25.9° E.

Qatar OSCAR 100 covers a wide area from Brazil to Thailand. Uplink is in the 2400 MHz and downlink in 10450 MHz band. 250 KHz bandwidth linear transponder is intended for conventional analogue operations. 8 MHz bandwidth transponder is for experimental digital modulations and DVB amateur television. One can hear the activity on the Qatar-OSCAR 100 Web Receiver Project at https://eshail.batc.org.uk/.