Author Archives: trango

March 31, 2013
16:54
by: trango

Good Friday Sonde Hunt

Another great day for Sonde Recovery here in sunny California. The winds are good, the weather is nice and the sun is still up at landing time giving plenty of light. This Sonde was originally predicted to land near Rancho … Continue reading →

Posted in Sonde Tagged ,

March 10, 2013
20:29
by: trango

SP5T Microwave Switch

Too many signals on different bands and tired of manually changing feed lines? Mini-circuits has a nice line of RF Matrix Switches that are USB controlled. I recently acquired a USB-4SPDR-A18 and have now finally gotten around to mounting and … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects Tagged

March 8, 2013
16:28
by: trango

First Weather Sonde of 2013 Recovered

Spring is nearing and so is the 2013 Sonde season. Landings are still in the dark so not too good for video or pictures but that will soon change. This is Sonde #4 (SN 7037645), it was launched from Oakland … Continue reading →

Posted in Sonde Tagged ,

February 28, 2013
21:48
by: trango

Mobile Sonde Receiver & SDR

Another winter project! Mobile Sonde hunting is difficult enough without having to worry about the radio moving around in the back seat as one drives. In the past, my R8500′s power or IF would disconnect depending on how fast a … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Sonde Tagged ,

February 26, 2013
17:02
by: trango

Rack Mount SSB Preamp Controllers

Well, it’s wintertime and indoor projects are plentiful. This little project takes some rather small SSB Preamp Controllers and mounts them in a standard 19″ rack panel using a CNC. Click on the image below for more details. Tweet

Posted in Projects Tagged

February 25, 2013
17:26
by: trango

C-Band Downconverter Project

A new C-Band downconverter has been designed and constructed to receive interesting signals of terrestrial nature. Click the image below for more details. Tweet

Posted in Projects Tagged ,

February 25, 2013
16:32
by: trango

US NAVY E-6B Mercury TACAMO Intercept

The Boeing E-6 mercury is an airborne command post and communications relay platform. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. The E-6B missions often involve flying into Travis AFB, here in California. Occasionally the E-6B will be active somewhere … Continue reading →

Posted in Milair Tagged ,

February 19, 2013
00:44
by: trango

Operation Deep Freeze Medivac

Operation Deep Freeze coordinating a Medivac with ICE 38. POR 263.6250 on 02-16-13: POR 263.6250 on 02-17-13: Tweet

Posted in SATCOM Tagged

January 14, 2013
05:34
by: trango

Ruggedized Mobile EMCOM System

This is a mobile emergency communications setup, it is primarily used to support the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run at one of the remote locations. I have ruggedized everything as a result of some bad weather last year. Lots … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects Tagged

October 14, 2012
19:48
by: trango

Dragon Telemetry Active on UHF

The Dragon capsule has been relatively quiet on S-Band after docking. Last mission, S-Band remained active while docked, this has not been the case this mission. However, Dragon has been transmitting on UHF (400.5 MHz) sending telemetry using it’s COTS … Continue reading →

Posted in Spacecraft Tagged