Launched announced for Es’hail-2 carrying ham radio transponders

Es’hailSat has tweeted their geostationary satellite Es’hail-2 is expected to be launched by SpaceX in the 4th quarter of 2018.

Qatar’s Es’hail-2 satellite will provide the first amateur radio geostationary communications and is capable of linking amateurs from Brazil to Thailand.

Es’hail-2 will carry two “Phase 4” amateur radio transponders operating in the 2400 MHz and 10450 MHz bands. A 250 kHz bandwidth linear transponder intended for conventional analogue operations and an 8 MHz bandwidth transponder for experimental digital modulation schemes and DVB amateur television.

On August 2 the company tweeted the launch information in response to a question about the launch date from Eric Ralph https://twitter.com/eshailsat/status/1024898547165093890

On July 31, 2018 Michael Baylor @nextspaceflight tweeted:
A new #SpaceX Falcon 9 arriving at the Cape. The most likely scenario is that it is B1050.1 for the Es’hail mission. @13ericralph31 is reporting that B1046.2 will launch Merah Putih, making B1049.1 the most likely choice for Telstar 18V.
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/93guev/falcon9_booster_headed_through_mount_dora_this/

Es’hail-2 https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geosynchronous/eshail-2/

Source:AMSAT