QO100 and JOTA

  • 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

  • sbout jota in the coming days what frequency should you use QO-100?

    Is there a list of Jota stations operating on qo-100 ??

    Please see this link for a discussion on the Dutch hamradio forum:

    http://zendamateur.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=21287


    From the thread I see PA6PSG/J, PA1PTP/J, PE2AAB/J, PE6SBW/J, PA3RVG/J, PE1NIL/J, PA4AGO/J, PI4ADH/J, PA6SHB/J (tree issues), so that's 9 stations already (that's 5% of the JOTA stations registered for the event in the Netherlands).


    Unless the forum thinks otherwise, I was planning just to call CQ jamboree and see who answers. Note that we are also interested in non-JOTA stations, especially in foreign locations.


  • pe1hzg How high is the tower?

    In final configuration, 44m, measured by the remaining length of the coax cable on the ground. At the time the picture was taken, the middle tower was still being constructed. Once constructed, the centre pole gets the antennas and rotor installed, then hoisted up, so the final config is higher than shown in the picture.


    Construction starts tonight, will complete on Friday morning, dismantling starts Sunday afternoon and tower is completely dismantled Sunday night; we are in the city and need to consider vandalism so we cannot leave stuff "out".


    I feel privileged to be able to support this group. Call us via PA1PTP/J!

  • But this tower not exclusively for QO-100, I suppose.

    For QO-100 just a small tripod with 60cm dish would be sufficient.

    The tower pictures are from previous year. But I agree, I won't use the tower for QO100 use.
    For one, because a tower like this is always moving a bit because of wind and temperature changes, which will play havoc with the small opening angle of the dish (new PA3FYM QO100 term: "tower QSB").
    Secondly, because adding a large dish at height will seriously add to the wind load of the mast, which will be substantial because the dish will need to peek over the row of trees

    Thirdly, because adjusting the dish at height is awkward and frankly I rather let the builders deal with the climbing procedure (*not* trivial - everybody has double security!)


    The tower will sport HF dipoles and quad antennas, 2m (beam and vertical), 70cm, 23cm, and ATV on 23 and 13 cm.


    I think we'll be around .740 as a frequency suggested earlier by Remco. Note that it is likely you will find another operator: there are several licensed scouts in our group and as none of them have used QO100, I'd like to given them the opportunity to experience the bird.