<div dir="ltr"><h1 style="box-sizing:border-box;font-size:16pt;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Ham radio geostationary satellite transponders launch today</h1><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px">Florida Today reports the SpaceX launch from Kennedy Space Center will achieve &#39;dream&#39; of amateur radio enthusiasts <br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">The newspaper says: <br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">“November-Alpha-One-Sierra-Sierra, this is Kilo-Six-Whiskey-Alpha-Oscar.”<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">That call could be the start of a conversation between a licensed amateur radio operator on the ground and an astronaut aboard the International Space Station.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">But the contact would only be possible for up to 10 minutes of the station&#39;s orbit as it whizzed 250 miles overhead at 17,500 mph.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">Ham radio communication through the space station and other satellites has always been limited to low orbits offering short windows for communication within a spacecraft’s coverage area as it passes by.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">That is set to change with SpaceX’s planned Thursday afternoon launch from Kennedy Space Center of a Qatari communications satellite, Es’hail-2, to an orbit high over the equator.</p><p align="center" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><img src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/46288147_2117754814914693_5602763182406893568_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&amp;_nc_ht=scontent-lhr3-1.xx&amp;oh=dc72f2a54fd29bf59c00378d97cdec2c&amp;oe=5C85C83D" width="100%" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><br style="box-sizing:border-box"><font color="#666666" size="2" style="box-sizing:border-box">AMSAT-DL/BATC team at the Kennedy Space Center</font></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px">“We’ve never gotten a transponder up in geostationary orbit,” said Joe Spier K6WAO, president of the nonprofit Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, or AMSAT, in North America. “It’s this repeater station in the sky that stays overhead all the time, and that has long been a dream of radio amateurs.”<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">Read the full story at <br style="box-sizing:border-box"><a href="https://floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2018/11/14/spacex-launch-ksc-achieve-first-ham-radio-communications/1997718002/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,51,102);text-decoration-line:none">https://floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2018/11/14/spacex-launch-ksc-achieve-first-ham-radio-communications/1997718002/</a><br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">Further information on Es&#39;hail-2 satellite transponders at <br style="box-sizing:border-box"><a href="https://amsat-uk.org/2018/11/05/eshail-2-geostationary-transponders/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,51,102);text-decoration-line:none">https://amsat-uk.org/2018/11/05/eshail-2-geostationary-transponders/</a></p></div>