Folks,
Apologies for this message, I will probably repeat some of it as the event gets closer....
The 3rd full weekend in October, 18-19-20 october 2019, Scouts all over the world will use hamradio to meet other scouts in an annual event called JOTA (Jamboree On The Air).
Now that QO100 is functional and easy to use, a number of JOTA stations are planning to be QRV on the bird that weekend.
In my area, JOTA is a big thing (with almost 15 JOTA stations in our city alone!) and I know that several of them are working on getting gear ready for QO100 for that weekend.
QO100 has a lot of advantages for us. We don't depend on solar activity for propagation on the bird (condx are normally poor in October, no solar activty means that even 20m is a challenge), QO100 has an impressive range and "talking radio over satellite is cool".
With a dynamic range of 20dB and signals roughly the same strength we might be able to do QSO's that non-experienced ears may be able to listen into and enjoy.
One of the objectives, apart from connecting scouts world-wide, is to interest young people in technology. We normally have several stations to make contacts (which is always under control of a licensee), but we also do games with radio, children solder an electronic kit, it is lots of fun. Stirring interest works, in our group alone we have a few licensees, people who got inspired to get their license as a result of JOTA.
For the regular users of the bird, you may find that things are a bit more busy that weekend. I hope we can all co-exist in harmony, QO100 has plenty of bandwith. We will use temporary stations, so perhaps something might not be quite right; if our signals are have issues, please point it out and be patient, these weekends are quite chaotic.
You may find an operator who does not have as much experience as a regular user, please have some patience and consider that it is likely that some future licensee is listening in on the QSO.
We also want to make contacts with many and far locations so we can show what fun hamradio is. If you hear us call CQ, please do answer, and perhaps have a few questions for the scouts ready.
This is also a great opportunity to make children aware of what satellites are. I hope the artwork people of AMSAT-DL will be able to provide high-resolution images of some of the cool pictures on the website so we can use them for posters and show-and-tell.
I look forward to meet you all that weekend and hope it will be fun and inspirational to all.
73, Geert Jan PE1HZG