All Amateur Radio Licenses in Equatorial Guinea re Temporarily Suspended

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All Amateur Radio Licenses in Equatorial Guinea re Temporarily Suspended

The decision was adopted in a meeting chaired by the Vice President of the Republic in charge of Defense and State Security, H.E. Nguema Obiang Mangue, together with the Prime Minister and representatives from the sectors of Security, Defense, Finance, Transport, Treasury, and the Telecommunications Regulatory Office (ORTEL). The suspension stems from a breach in the established protocols for granting licenses.

The measure was taken following the discovery of a case in which a foreign national, operating as a radio amateur, accessed sensitive areas such as Annobón and Batete using unauthorized telecommunications equipment. This individual had obtained licenses in 2018 and again in 2025, paying a total of 531,000 F.CFA, without proper verification of the equipment’s legality or the compliance of the assigned frequencies with national regulations.

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FCC Grants Limited Use of Amateur Bands to AST Spacemobile

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The Federal Communications Commission approved limited use of amateur frequencies for 20 satellites to be deployed by a Texas broadband company.

The FCC's Space Bureau said in a statement that it was giving permission to AST SpaceMobile to use frequencies between 430 and 440 MHz on an emergency basis only, The regulator said its move was in direct response to overwhelming concerns raised by amateur radio operators.

Citing potential interference among their issues, member societies of the International Amateur Radio Union, AMSAT, the ARRL and individual amateurs worldwide also argued that alternate UHF allocations exist for the satellites' telemetry, tracking and command functions. More than 2,500 comments were submitted to the FCC .

The FCC's action gives use of the amateur frequencies to the satellites for no more than a 24-hour period. The amateur radio 70cm band is used by hams worldwide for such applications as mobile FM voice, analogue and digital TV, digital data transmission, amateur radio satellites and weak-signal communications on SSB and CW.

AST SpaceMobile ultimately plans a full constellation of 248 satellites for broadband service from space.

A Lightweight M17 Hotspot

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Until now, CC1200 Hat users had to operate their M17 digital data/voice hotspot using the rpi-interface software on the command line, for example. To change this, Jim N1ADJ and I have spent the last few days developing a lightweight M17 hotspot based on the CC1200 and a Raspberry Pi. The heart of the hotspot is Jim’s m17-gateway, which he has now brought to a stable release. In the meantime, I have completely rebuilt the rpi-dashboard, started by Wojciech SP5WWP, and adapted it to Jim’s m17-gateway.

The following things can now be done via this dashboard:

  • Monitor incoming and outgoing calls

  • Read text messages

  • Edit the configuration of the dashboard

  • Edit the configuration of the m17-gateway and thus

  • Changing the reflector

  • Changing the module

  • Changing the hotspot frequency

  • and much more

  • Updating the M17 hosts file

  • Starting/stopping the m17-gateway

  • It offers all the essential functions you need for daily use while more features are already planned. Jim is also developing his m17-gateway further, whereby we both involve each other, as gateway and dashboard go hand in hand.

It is not a ready-to-use, downloadable Raspberry Pi image, but we provide an installation script, which I have already presented here. In the meantime, this has been adapted so that it no longer installs the rpi-interface but the m17-gateway.

If there are any problems with the installation or if you have any other questions, you can find us on the M17 Discord Server.

More Information - https://rz01.org/cc1200-m17-hotspot/?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter