Es'hail-2 beacon frequency (non-amateur)

  • Hello,


    I just joined the forum. Just replaced my (unmodified) OCTAGON LNB with the DB6NT LNB and it is a difference like day and night concerning the frequency stability listening to the beacons. After 30 min no relevant drift, thus 100% suitable for "normal" users. The Qctagon LNB was always drifting a little bit even after 24h on power supply and no significant change in temperature.

    I used the Octagon LBN to adjust my 85cm offset dish to BADR 4 postion (near the final Es Hail Sat postion 26°). Unfortunately the TV transponders of BADR 4 which are not "covered" by same QRG-transponders of Astra 2 can not be received (with my receiver) with the Kuhne LNB (these transponders start just below 12 GHz). (I reveive a few strong "lower frequency" transponders from ASTRA 2 even pointing on 26° E but that's due to my "small" dish)

    The beacons in the moment seem to TX in H and V polarisation simultaniously (is this right ?) , thus I could not realy adust the skew angle right now (took -13 degree like for BADR4). But when the Amateur transponder beacons with H or V polarisation are online. the fine tweaking can begin.


    73 de Johannes DL5RDI / AC2TR

  • Hello ON4BHM (I do not kano your name - sorry),


    this a link to the BADR4 trasponders in 26 E postion.


    https://de.kingofsat.net/sat-badr4.php


    If you see transponders with other data then in the list above, they are probaly from Es Hail 2.

    With your 1,8m dish you should not receive ASTRA 2 or other sat-postitions, when pointing to the ES Hail 2 postion in the moment (26.28°).


    Pse tell me if there are any "new" transponders active.


    73 de Johannes

  • After a while you start to recognize the spectral impact of the Es'hail-2 beacons but a rough 'sanity check' could be:


    Point the dish to 'satellite X', check if you've BOTH beacons (10706 and 11205), then you're aiming at Es'hail-2. If one of the beacons is missing (or disproportionally weak) you've not the right satellite.

  • Hi all, today I installed my simple RX equipment.


    I am using just a 60cm Dish, the Octagon OSLO single LNB without modification, and the RTL-SDR Dongle.

    Because of the very good information of this forum, I could find the beacon a few minutes after installation.


    I think the signal looks not so bad…. but the question is how strong will be the signals from the AMSAT transponder ??


    Are there any information available compared with the present beacon signals we see ??


    Interesting for me is that after about 30 to 45 minutes the frequency drift of the Octagon OSLO single LNB is also not so bad as expected and very slow here…



    73 de Carsten



    • Official Post

    Hi Rolf and all,

    just as a reminder, most position reports are results of tracking software extrapolating the latest kepler elements. The current TLE for Es'hail-2 are 2 days old and probably not relevant anymore as the control center will have stopped the drift by now with thrusters. Actually doppler measurements by EA4GPZ point to a possible maneuver a few hours into the year 2019 (UTC).


    https://twitter.com/ea4gpz/status/1080226034480541696

    • Official Post

    Are there any information available compared with the present beacon signals we see ??

    Hi Carsten,

    the ham radio NB and WB transponder will use a complete different beam/antenna compared to these engineering beacons.

    The signals are not comparable..

    However, from what we have seen so far.. the downlink is within our expectations and a 60cm dish should work fine. 80cm is probably optimal and everything above that may not increase Signal-to-Noise ratio.. at least not here in Europe. But it's always a good idea to hear better... ;)

    However, In-Orbit testing is not yet finished.. things may vary.

    We will have to wait for testing from our groundstations in Doha and Bochum before making final conclusions regarding the link budget.

  • I think the signal looks not so bad…. but the question is how strong will be the signals from the AMSAT transponder ??


    Are there any information available compared with the present beacon signals we see ??

    When the transponders were tested (the weekend before christmas) the signals were 10-20dB stronger here than the beacons at that time. Of course, as DB2OS explained, that does not tell the whole story as the patterns are different and also different patterns have been used on the beacons.

    However, it does not look like there will be receive issues.

    The next question of course is: what will the situation be on the uplink. We do not know yet.


  • Maybe a hint how to integrate a Kuhne DB6NT with an uplink antenna: 4 two element yagi's making LHCP in order to achieve RHCP via the dish reflector. Will probably work fine in California weather. Prototype is functional but needs weather improvement...

  • Beacons 10706 H and 11205 V.

    Wow, what antenna are you using?

    From the screenshots, one gets about 36 dB S/N @ RBW = 250 Hz for the 11205 MHz beacon carrier (upper image), and 41 dB S/N @ RBW = 100 Hz for the 10706 MHz beacon carrier (lower image). That translates to S/N = 50 dB and 51 dB, respectively, at RBW = 10 Hz, which is what most people here seem to be using (although mostly not specified). Typical values from other postings seem to be around 35 dB to 38 dB for RBW = 10 Hz. So I am wondering what your set-up is!