Author Archives: trango

2014-12-09
00:50
by: trango

AirSpy working with Inmarsat Decoder

My new AirSpy SDR arrived last week. The goal this weekend was to make a small application to stream the IQ over Ethernet and then test it with one of the Inmarsat decoders that I have previously developed. The API … Continue reading →

Posted in Inmarsat, Projects Tagged ,

2014-12-07
00:14
by: trango

RF Selection for AOR AR2300

In an serious effort to reduce patch panel management, another Mini-Circuits USB 4SPDT-A18 RF Switch has been added. Now, along with the original RF Switch, selections can be made from up to 10 different RF sources, including various dishes, yagis, … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects

2014-11-10
02:01
by: trango

Blue Force Tracking on Inmarsat

Blue Force Tracking is a GPS-enabled system that give US Military the location of “friendly” military forces. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. Inmarsat is one of the commercial satellite providers that has a contract with the the … Continue reading →

Posted in Inmarsat Tagged

2014-11-10
01:17
by: trango

Inmarsat Antenna Distribution

Inmarsat L-Band signals from both CONUS and POR need to be routed to various receivers and SDRs, this distribution system is a pretty simple solution (as shown below). It’s based on taking an L-Band signals from a dish, where pre-amplification … Continue reading →

Posted in Inmarsat, Projects Tagged , ,

2014-11-03
14:28
by: trango

XM-1 S-Band Signal

Need to check dish alignment on S-Band? The 12.5MHz XM-1 signal is a great test signal. XM-1 is a much more interesting signal to look at than Sirius. The signal below is using a 1.8m dish.

Posted in SATCOM Tagged

2014-10-27
14:30
by: trango

Chang’e 5-T1 and new 1.8m dish online

New spacecraft and new dish were tested this weekend. The spacecraft is the Chinese Chang’e 5-T1, an experimental unmanned lunar mission that was recently launched by the CNSA. The dish is a 1.8m Prodelin offset and is inverted for ease … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Spacecraft Tagged

2014-10-17
02:34
by: trango

Aero Decoding and Full Support for HackRF One

After some work it is now possible to fully support HackRF One with my Inmarsat Aero decoder. In the past, the Inmarsat Aero decoder used two SDRs (each covering 2MHz) to cover up to 4MHz of L-Band spectrum as well … Continue reading →

Posted in Inmarsat, Projects Tagged ,

2014-10-11
03:34
by: trango

Adding External Reference to HackRF One SDR

The HackRF One SDR is a great value but it’s frequency stability leaves something to be desired. Using the Si5338 clock generator from Silicon Laboratories is an easy way to address the problem (if it’s really a problem for your … Continue reading →

Posted in Inmarsat, Projects Tagged ,

2014-10-05
23:57
by: trango

HackRF One and Decoders

I’m always looking for opportunities to reduce the costs associated with high quality decoding tasks. The HackRF One is intriguing because it’s not very expensive, has a wide band receiver (10MHz – 6GHz) and an SDR that is capable of … Continue reading →

Posted in Inmarsat, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged , ,

2014-10-02
21:41
by: trango

Aero Coverage of POR and CONUS

The diagram below illustrates the current Aero coverage that is possible here at USA-Satcom. As you can see there is quite a bit of IQ bandwidth to deal with and consequently at least two i7 hex core machines are needed … Continue reading →

Posted in Inmarsat, Projects, SATCOM Tagged , ,