Cambodia (XU) active for the first time via QO-100!

During a training event, the club station XU7AMO at the Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia is active for the first time in training mode via the geostationary amateur radio satellite QO-100 / Es’hail-2.

XU7AMO QRV

From March 13 to 17, 2025, Mikio JA3GEP and Paulo F5VMJ will conduct radio communication training via amateur radio satellites at the Telecommunications Department of the Electronics Faculty of the National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia (NPIC) in Phnom Penh.

In order to enable practical training, the Cambodian Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) kindly granted the amateur radio club station XU7AMO an exemption to use higher frequencies and operate via amateur radio satellites for the first time. This is the first time that Cambodia will be activated with the prefix “XU” on the QO-100 satellite.

Mikio and Paulo each brought a QO-100 amateur radio station, which they set up together with the students on the flat roof of the NPIC building. This gave the students the opportunity to gain practical experience of making contact via the QO-100 narrowband transponder.

The training program includes both theoretical lectures and practical exercises. Here are some of the planned program items:

• Lectures on the basics of satellite orbits, communication protocols and the structure of the ground station.
• Practical exercises such as setting up a 120cm ground station, antenna alignment and fine tuning as well as test QSOs for demonstration purposes.
• Practice sessions on communication with stations in Germany and Antarctica (Q&A sessions for practical exercises and information exchange).
• QSO practice where participants can improve their skills in CW, SSB and digital modes.
• Closing activities such as data and logbook entry, QSL card creation including error prevention and troubleshooting.

During the activation periods from March 13 to 16, 2025, the callsign XU7AMO will not only be active for scheduled contacts with selected stations for Q&A and practice QSO sessions, but will also try to make numerous contacts to represent the activities of the NPIC and Cambodia.

On March 14th from 04:00h UTC the students had a planned Q&A session with Nina DL2GRC, Florian DF2ET and Matthias DD1US. The three were happy to answer the numerous questions from the students, especially about the conditions in Germany.

Three hours later, on March 14 at 07:00 UTC, the students successfully made contact with DP0GVN in Antarctica. Alex DL2ALY, who is currently spending the winter at Neumayer Station III and operates the amateur radio station DP0GVN, readily answered the questions of the interested students.

Recordings of these two QSOs can be found on the website of Matthias DD1US at www.dd1us.de in the “Sounds from Space” section. Here is the direct link: https://www.dd1us.de/spacesounds%202h.html

Further information about the planned course of the radio communication training is available for interested radio amateurs on the website of the Cambodian Amateur Radio Group (CAMRG) at the following link: https://camrg.com/

As this is primarily for student training, the organizers ask for your understanding that no responses to pile-ups or scheduling on the frequency are possible. It must also be remembered that Phnom Penh is at the edge of the footprint of QO-100 with an elevation of only 2 degrees, so the radio operators often have to contend with a lot of signal fading and changing conditions (QSB).

This project was made possible by the support of the NPIC management, the involvement of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Cambodia (MPTC) and the TRC authorities. The project was initiated by JA3GEP Mikio-san of JAMSAT with technical support from F5VMJ Paulo and AMSAT-DL.

16.3.2025, Nina DL2GRC, Florian DF2ET and Matthias DD1US