Oléron (EU-032)

On 7th May 2023 a French radio amateur, Alan F6BFH whose home is on île d'Oléron, made contact via the Qatar-OSCAR 100 satellite transponder with John MR5AML near Derby in the English Midlands. John was using a special callsign to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles III.

The transponder has an uplink on 2.4GHz and a downlink on 100GHz and was a joint project between the Qatar Satellite Company, Qatar ARS and AMSAT (Deutschland). It is on board the Es-hail-2 satellite which was launched in 2018. The satellite is in geo-stationary orbit above the equator at 26 degrees East.

Both Alan and John were clearly heard via the WebSDR hosted at Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall. The WebSDR allows anyone around the world to listen to satellite transponder downlink.

Oléron is a small island off the west coast on the southern shore of the Pertuis d'Antioche to the West of Rochefort. The island is 8km wide and 30km and has an area of 174 square kilometres which means that it is the second largest island of Metropolitan France.