After hearing the German Antarctic research station, DP0GVN on 28 MHz WSPR yesterday, it reminded me of a recent story I saw about how that station is also operational on ATV (Amateur Television) on the QO-100 Geostationary satellite.
The QO-100 geostationary satellite is located over central Africa and it is allowing radio amateurs the opportunity to experiment on the microwave bands. The uplink to the satellite is just above 2.4 GHz while the downlink is just below 10.5 GHz.
The footprint of the satellite with 5 degree and 10 degree elevations is shown above. For the DP0GVN station in Antarctica, the elevation of the satellite is about 7 degrees above the horizon.
AMSAT-DL recently paid for a new antenna and radome to be installed at the station as shown above. This happened at the start of January 2022.
This is the new radome in place to protect the antenna from the harsh Antarctic weather.
This video clip from Vale, IZ5ILX in Italy dated the 31st of January 2022 shows the ATV signal from DP0GVN via the QO-100 satellite.
Excellent DVB-S2 tests from NEUMAYER STATION
— IZ5ILX Vale (@iz5ilx) January 21, 2022
ANTARTICA VIA P4-A - QO-100 GEOSAT
QRG: 10497.750 GHz 1,5 MSr -2/3 Fec#DP0GVN @amsatdl #QO100 #ANTARCTICA
📡📺📹🛰️ pic.twitter.com/DF1Hr6Hwv8
While I'm not that interested in Amateur TV or satellite operations, I did find this story interesting because it shows how a geostationary satellite like QO-100 is opening up a lot of possibilities for experimentation on the microwaves bands and with Amateur TV.
For someone outside the footprint like in North America, these experiments are impossible unless they live near others active on those bands or modes.
There has been a lot of talk of late about how to get more people interested in Amateur Radio. I'd suggest that experiments like this are going to appeal a lot more to a younger generation than say making SSB contacts on the HF bands which is rather dated at this stage.
