3 beginner tips I've learned the hard way for operating the QO-100 ham radio satellite

I have to admit I do rush in with aspects of the ham radio hobby, I do try to jump the learning curve like an excited geek.
With the QO-100 ham radio satellite I saw the DX Patrol groundtstation and thought I could just buy a bunch of gear and begin to operate the satellite. I am learning as I go along especially focusing on the specs and details of the equipment I buy to work in the microwave bands. It's far less tolerant of cheap gear and sloppy practice.
I thought it would be useful to share my progression.
I'm a licensed amateur radio operator from the United Kingdom. My KZbin channel features videos focusing on operating portable radio from various locations plus how to videos, tutorials, insights and conversations in the hobby.

[@garyclark4930]

Thank you, Carl, for sharing Your adventure into Satellite Radio. Also for sharing the some of the problems you have encountered as well as things that need to be considered when purchasing equipment. I was glad you shared your contacts at the end. It is good to see you have been able to get it up and working. 73's Gary KF6EWO

[@wayneskiba1237]

Very good video, Carl, some great advice in setting up a ground satellite station, and great job in making your first satellite contact, I have learned a lot about this facet of amateur radio, I think think the best way to learn is by doing it and learn by your mistakes,thank you for sharing.

[@RookieLock]

As some one looking at getting into sat operations, this video was really helpful and greatly appreciated. Thank you for the inspiration !

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Congrats on your first QO100 QSO Carl! The first one is the most exciting knowing how your signal is getting there and back! 2 Points to mention, 1) Defo a larger dish, maybe try a portable 85cm dish where the arm folds back for transport 2) Use the BEST coax you can afford for the transmit feeder. The loss @ 2.4 GHz is tremendous. I personally use Formula Zero from Moonraker, about 1 metre of it from the amp to the helix. The new version of the DX Patrol Ground station will be full duplex, unfortunately the first version was not. You will need a second source for receiving while transmitting. Maybe an ipad with Goonhilly websdr when portable? Nice work Carl and look forward to seeing your progress! I'm moving home in a couple of months which will give me clear view of the sat from home, then I will jump from NB to DATV on QO100! Hope to work on the NB sometime and always here if you wanna ask a questions. Cheers! Matt, M0DQW

[@teleprinterdotnet]

Hi. also bought the groundstation a couple of weeks ago and now doing my first steps on transmit mode. Also puchased the DXpatrol helix antenna, which was a mistake as I needed to experience... Had one very weak QSO with it. After a QSO with an experienced operator on the satellite I did following changes immediately: swapped the feeder H155 cable against only 5m long Hyperflex 10 (or any other low loss 10mm coax, as short as possible) and bought a 3,5 turn helix antenna from eBay Germany. Immediately I had a strong signal and worked all accessible continents on ONE day. :-) 1,5 turns for a helix are not enough for 60 or 80cm dishes. Using a 80cm dish now. 73, Henning DF3OE

[@philkennedy342]

My experience of working with other satellite’s a lot of people use totally separate Rx/Tx setups most use transverter for Tx with a beam and separate dish and a suitable lnb and as bigger dish as possible for Rx skew is important as well…. Your certainly up there.. Nice work…

[@dxscotland5901]

Great work Carl! Looking forward to catching you on the satellite soon 👍

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

Good to follow your progress Carl and thanks for your honesty... to many KZbin hams edit so everything is right first time! It's good to see the real world version and for you to share problems that other newbies like me, will encounter. Looking forward to following your satellite journey.

[@M0SZT]

Thank you!

[@M0JHN]

Awesome video love the sat work and thanks for sharing those challenges.

[@brianfields4479]

Very interesting side to the hobby Carl, and any first qdo on a new mode is always exciting, well done. It seems a very expensive side to the hobby, far beyond my pockets, especially this week as a huge storm took out my wire ants, and new ant wire is unaffordable at the moment. You are a very lucky person to have a lot of great toys. Good luck 73.

[@IrishHamRadio]

I’m interested in getting onto this type of sat operation in the near future….. So thanks for learning everything the hard way for us!! 🫣😊.

[@m7cov]

Thank you for sharing this Carl. Found it very interesting to watch. Look forwards in seeing more on this soon. 73 🤙🤙🤙

[@M0SZT]

Thank you

[@matknight]

Well done Carl, Steep learning curve mate but you got there in the end. heres to many more contacts via Sat in the future. 73 fella.

[@Ei2iP]

There are mixed comments about the DX patrol ground station, because it is not full duplex. Working satellites, key thing is listening to your down link, it's fundamental. QO-100 equipment is not difficult to understand.. But be prepared to work the same stations over and over again. I tried it, but novelty wore off after a few months

[@RTSRetroTechShed]

Hi Carl. Good video. I use DX Patrol kit also for QO-100, but separate Upconverter, Downconverter, GPSDO and Power Amp into an 80cm offset dish (see videos on my channel) with an IC-9700. I like the look of the DX Patrol Groundstation, but not being able to check the downlink is a bit of a problem. That said, even to calibrate a full duplex system, I tend to use the Goonhilly WebSDR initially to compare the RX frequency of the beacon on my equipment vs the Goonhilly WebSDR. Then I put a TX signal up to the bird and look for it on the Goonhilly WebSDR. There is almost always a delta between the RX and TX, so I adjust for this delta and confirm I can hear my signal on the downlink. Then I lock onto the middle beacon and save this in a memory on the transceiver. I find it can take up to 10 minutes to get a stable GPS fix, so on power on I select the middle beacon I have set in memory, then wait until I hear the beacon - as the GPS gets a fix. After that, I am usually good to go - first time, every time, but still tend to make very small adjustments to RX/TX frequencies as required; not so easy if operating half duplex, but then most operators will tune up or down a few Hz - so not a major problem. It's worth noting that Leila tends to run on for a brief period (something like 0.5 seconds) after you stop TX, so if you're quick, even running half duplex you can hear Leila (although on a 60cm dish Leila is not likely to be a problem). That said, it is of course good practice to always confirm your downlink is on frequency 🙂- 73

[@stevenyemc]

Well done fella! Yep, just a gnats dingus off makes one hell of a difference. I have a dish analyzer tucked away that could help you swing it in. Its firmware will need updating a bit as I don't think I have used it for 20 years. You are welcome to it. Cheers for the shout-out. Name is pronounced Yemps BTW. nobody ever gets it even close but randomly Lord Callum did and that vagabond Kevin L.

[@andy2E0JIU]

Look forward to more of this out on the hills :) good luck carl 👍

[@MarkPentler]

Just got my receive chain set up! Tx by year end is the goal now

[@davel8558]

Thanks for this Carl. In the process of building a QO100 station and your tips & advice have really helped. Sorry about your steep learning curve, but I would have made the same mistakes as I was tempted by the Groundstation option before I watched your video. Probably going to go for a more modular option: SDRplay for receive, then upconverter, power amp & helix antenna for transmit, and put it all together in a box!

[@mahargkp]

So so interested Carl... Following with great interest..Thanks for the fantastic video...M1bsz..Graham..

[@kevinmatthews2620]

Hi Carl i do remember watching video from the national radio centre when the icom 9700 was launched, and the bod from Icom did mention that the 9700 was capable of full duplex for the OQ100, which is why i originally purchased it, @ my club there is a member that does a lot of portable work on the OQ100 he uses 2 yaesu 815 i think1 as a rx only and 1 for tx and i am sure he said he uses a standard 60cm dish as well on a small tripod as he is into activating trig points so he always has plenty of sky to point @ so uses a small dish setup, i know he uses kuhne & nagel hardware,i do know that 9700 has a dedicated 10mhz reference port on the back to lock the freq via a gps add on gadget to stop frequency drifting, hope this helps, just as a added thought there is a youtube video featuring Henri in switzerland using a ft991 on OQ100 most of it is in german(but understanable nonetheless) and he is also a mateur radio shop as well and sells the Kunhe & Nagel hardware (a quick google should find his shop website)

[@ManuelPinner]

You can Use a Adlam Pluto

[@desbelfastireland9982]

THANK YOU, NICE WORK DES IN BELFAST,,IRELAND

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Carl, that's a great effort on a small dish. I run a 1m dish and the aim must be precise as the width of the signal is so pinpoint. Stick with it and if I can assist with your station give me a call. Keith - G0FEA

[@steveroberts3512]

Hiya. Very informative video. I'm about to try a different approach. A Bullseye LNB with POTY tx/rx antenna attached. SDR attached to the LNB via 25m of 75ohm coax for reception. FT-847 at 70cm feeding a mixer with additionally a GPS locked local oscillator input giving a 2.4GHz output. Bandpass Filter on the mixer output. This feeds a modified wifi amp (3W) feeding 25m of RG213 coax leading to a DX Patrol 12W PA feeding to the POTY. The attenuation of the RG213 should be sufficient to reduce the signal adequately for the PA input. POTY and LNB attached to a 85cm offset dish. Fingers crossed!!!

[@Markg8awo]

If you get the right 80cm you can do a vertical cut down the face that you can then store it away and bolt it up tight on site. You may need to brace it from behind but it will work

[@M0SZT]

Ok that sounds doable, dishes are quite cheap to allow me to experiment

[@F5VMJ]

@@M0SZT There are available foldable sat tv dishes. If you go to the AMSAT-DL page and choose "second qo-100 user meeting with many guests" (pic is about half way down) you will see one which was given as a prize at Friedrichschafen this year. Don't know make/model, but might be worth you chasing up some info on it. 73 de F5VMJ

[@RedSquirrelRebel]

Very interesting vid. Best of British luck. 73

[@josephcooksley3219]

Hullo Carl mmm great Progress for yourself ... Yes what didnt mention last time was my two sat access one via the now defunct Eliptical orbital Ham Sat was monitoring a QSO between a Cardiff Station and a station based on the north Slope of Alaska back in about 95/96 via 1/4 whip on the down link ... so not really applicable to your situation other than the sat because of orbit for a period was stationary for a period S it traveled away and bck to earth .. 2 earlier 89/90 i was testing A meteo sat down load picture signal trying to locate signal trial and error lol the difference between a noise free picture and something that was well waste of time recording as you suggest is so small ... A satellite dish alignment meter would be useful for you as you can quickly peek your signal ... .. Additionally a mesh segmented dish can be made relatively easily but calcuting the focus point the tricky bit but bigger dish there's more room more Additional Lnb's Good effort I correct myself lol re 50/75 cable so i stand corrected lol G1XZL/ZL2SCI

[@2e0txe]

I also have the QO-100 Ground Station. My LNB RX I run through a splitter and then a DC Block into a RTL-SDR dongle on the laptop. That way I can monitor my TX on the SDR without the need for websdr's in the field. I run mine with a 80cm dish and the IC-705. Give it a few minutes to 'warm' up and it gets super stable.

[@M0SZT]

Brilliant Ok so I need a splitter and DC block, where is the best place to get these?

[@F5VMJ]

@@M0SZT No... The DX PATROL (version 1) LNB is disabled when you transmit. So it can't receive at the same time as you transmit. 73s de F5VMJ

[@theradiorover]

Well done! It's a complex system to get right. Thanks for sharing your trials and tribulations. Maybe you need to lock your LNB using a GPS frequency reference to improve stability? 73, Fraser MM0EFI

[@M0SZT]

Thank you, the Groundstation has GPS which I didn’t mention on this video

[@theradiorover]

@@M0SZT that's pretty handy. It's covered all the bases then, except duplex, as you say.

[@mrtonicsvls3624]

When you transmit with Icom IC 705 how you go on air? Do you transmit to the satellite?

[@vernoncopper3872]

Hi Carl nice to speak on 40 metres from braunton and nice for quick meet at coop will send you pics of our contact when you get home to stafford

[@M0SZT]

Nice one, I’ll get a video edited for the week after next

[@6079__Smith__W]

Haha.. antenna graveyard and crap ... yes, we can all relate to that :)

[@rgcsc]

Great video Carl where did you buy the sat equipment looking to have a go thanks Rob G0WSC

[@M0SZT]

Hi I would use google search for the DX patrol Groundstation as suppliers can change over time

[@F5VMJ]

The 60cm dish looks good enough to get you comfortably into the bird. Many portable operators use 35 or 40cm camping dishes and although they are weaker they still have a reasonable signal if everything is pointed correctly (including skew) and short cables. Actually smaller dishes are easier to point. Small dish=Less gain=Wide beamwidth, Big dish=More gain=Narrow beamwidth. So a small dish is more forgiving to point which can be handy when faffing around camping portable. If you will be mostly in a car I would get the largest that will fit comfortably in the boot. Also... your tripod looks a bit crapola. Get one with wider feet distance. Mount the dish lower (as long as it still sees QO-100 it's ok) to avoid it acting like a sail and blowing over. I found a nice proper one....Email me if you want details/source. 73s take care F5VMJ

[@PhilG0BVD]

Carl, l been thinking about getting into QO-100 as I have a IC-9700 is it expensive to set up? may I ask what the ball park figure is? 73 Phil G0BVD

[@Dr-T]

Hi Carl as I mentioned in my post on your previous satellite portable operation video, Duplex is an absolute MUST for satellite work. A larger dish will give you greater gain but also narrow the beamwidth -- as with any 'gain' system. Everything becomes MUCH more sensitive to mechanical rigidity. You seriously need to think about how you 'steer' a larger dish. (Think gears and motors) The Armstrong method will be 'extremely' frustrating and may not work at all 73 Bruce G4ABX

[@MrVertigo1971]

Great Video, thanks! May I ask, what type of cable you are using for the sending part (from the Helix to the Ground Station), and how long it actually is? Thanks.

[@M0SZT]

I had it made up, it’s 3m LMR coax but can’t remember the exact spec, it was relatively low loss but flexible 50ohm

[@J1mbo888]

Really interesting and very informative. This is on my "Next Project" to do list. Did you have to pay any extra duty on the kit ?

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

For the price it should be full duplex

[@stuart0604]

Wife calls it crap....🤣Yup heard similar

[@paulsharp5473]

Probably not many hams on this one ….rich American hams and the makers are using it. What I think would be better is another OSCAR 13.

[@QSkyLive]

Great video Carl, I'm on a very similar mission to you right now. Glad you got to make some contacts this time! 73 de GU7DAI (Jason)