Posts by 5B4AKV

  • QO - 100 CW and BSK low amplitude / power ? almost at the noise floor.(RESOLVED)

    Dear DD1US ,



    I would like to know if its possible for my station to take the role of the CW beacon since its staying unused(I am not currently operating since I am at work ) . for the time being will that be possible ?

    If that its possible , who is the one in charge to get such authorization ? or to orchestrate such temporary operation ?

    Thanks

    73 DE 5B4AKV

  • What TX amplifier do you plan to use?

    Dear All ,
    I would like to know if anyone experimented with the following transistor for 2.4Ghz ( the data sheet does not give any positive reinforcement that's why I am bothering the group .. )
    BLF8G20LS-200V
    Thank you in advance
    5B4AKV

  • Double/Dual commercial feed horns for 10GHz and 2.4 GHz

    Quote from VE4SW

    There are commercial 10GHz antennas, but I am aware of nothing that has been combined with 2.4GHz. At this point, I would recommend waiting until we know the exact frequencies available with the IC-905. There are enough brilliant people out there that will be excited and ready to make a combination antenna for use with QO-100 once we know more about the IC-905. Until then, save your money (a lot) for the IC-905 :) Remember, the amateur radio frequencies available are 10.0 to 10.5GHz and the NB transponder is at 10489.5 to 1049.0. Let's just hope Icom will make the full amateur radio band available. Should be common sense. :)


    73, Stefan VE4SW

    Regarding antena building , I prefer to use as much as commercial / ready made parts. To have a robust system/ be able to get the ability to move forward with other SATs in the future

    Thanks again :D

  • Double/Dual commercial feed horns for 10GHz and 2.4 GHz

    Dear Stefan ,


    Yes I am aware that I am looking too far ahead to the future ,


    BUT , having intricate knowledge and ability to decide what antena would be able to be used best in this setup regardless of transmitter its a plus.

    Regardless the ICOM is safe to assume that uses an down-up-converter because it plus in the 144/430 port and also get the 10mhz ref out from the main box ... so its safe to assume / say that its just a 144/430 down-up-converter from 10ghz or other freq. ( i saw that you can swap other antenas besides the 10GHz ones. )

    But again in general in case something drops off a truck ( ;) ) that can go up to 10GHz it could be fun to experiment natively on that band.

    nevertheless Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question :D

    73 DE 5B4AKV

  • New DXpatrol "Groundstation" now Full-Duplex !

    Quote from HB9SKA

    Have you looked on eBay with "QO-100" ?

    Dear Sir ,

    Yes at the time I had a look with not much success I saw there is one AMSAT downconverter for sale. (still same stuff online )
    the rest are just DIY PAs and some LNBs non modded.
    and 1 up converter.

    So yeah again quite limiting and of unknown working condition especially with so many sensitive components you can never be sure that indeed everything is ok.

    Thanks

    5B4AKV.

  • New DXpatrol "Groundstation" now Full-Duplex !

    Dear all ,


    regarding this being so expensive it's a matter of supply and demand ...

    AMAST does not sell it own full package(anymore? at least I couldn't find it , if its sold somewhere else feel free to point me to it ( some friends what to get into QO-100 and don't want to bother with all the down and up converters.) for some reason , same goes with the downconverter I bought a year ago ,
    so with that said people that don't want to experiment but just get it up and running to make QSOs, are forced to just pull the trigger.

    For me at the beginning was the lack of the full package from AMSAT that made me buy the downconverter with the GPSDO and the ready-moded LNBs etc etc .. because I knew things would work from the first try. and that is why you (and I payed a) pay a premium.

    although yes 1K is a bit far fetched but now are difficult times.

    I hope things will be back to normal sooner than later because I loved the downconverter / full duplex station setup of AMAST-DL and I hope it will be back in stock at some point.

    Thank in advance
    73 DE 5B4AKV

  • Double/Dual commercial feed horns for 10GHz and 2.4 GHz

    Dear all ,


    I would like to know IF there are commercial antennas/dual feed/double for QO-100 , ( in essence what the commercial ground stations use to communicate / monitor the space craft )


    I tried to find something but my search got complicated fast , and I am in need of some help with this subject.

    My reason of asking this is as time goes on more radios come into play for 10GHz and you guessed it I am talking about the new ICOM IC-905 that has a 10GHz up/down converter. ( how broad the 10GHz will be or if the radio will be dublex thats is a whole other story. )

    But I would also want to go down the rabbit hole to also eliminate any need for downconverters and external references to make the most rock solid setup. Since everything will be native to each other I will only have a need for a single radio with a single reference. ( aka if it will work as expected with a good GPSDO the ICOM IC-905 and Lime SDR LMS8001 Companion

    I hope you can help me in my endeavour for knowledge and fun ,

    Thank you in advance


    MUDr.Alexandros
    73 DE 5B4AKV


    P.S.: If this question has being answered already I am sorry in advance for asking again.

  • What can I use my setup other than voice/data/CW while I am not using it ?

    Dear Sir,


    All precautions have being taken into consideration. I was/am well aware of these requirements before even going online / forward with the building / commissioning of the station.

    My station fulfils all these requirements.

    I have a master power shut off PLC that at any moments notice via GSM/LTE ( SMS text ) or LAN ( I always have complete control via VPN of the whole network ) I can kill power to the whole box.

    the station belongs to the operator himself --> YES

    operated at his own location (MY QTH) --> ALSO YES

    I am the sole user ? --> YES


    The rest about automated stations I need to find out how useful my station will be ( what will be its purpose ) and then I can go down the rabbit whole for asking for permission for automated and completely un-maned station.

    Hence why I made this post. and asked the question before hand.

    Thank you in advance

    MUDr.Alexandros

    p.s I don't share my ground station. It's solely for my personal use.

  • AMSAT Downconverter board 40MHZ ref out.

    Dear all ,


    I've posted also on the other forum/part part with adalm pluto and the 40 Mhz ref and I still get drift on my TX and RX ...

    So is there a definite way to know what part could be of issue ?

    Maybe my signal is "hot" ?

    Thank you in advance


    5B4AKV

  • New operational mode

    Okay so in esence is mostly operator practice and keeping the TX ON all the time , and since both stations use Full dublex ( aka monitor their own TX signal) you can just make it much faster and harmonized .. and just talk right after the other person ?
    Right ?
    well its an interesting mentality given that most of the times the conversation between 2 stations its almost crystal clear audio it could be done :D
    thanks


    Alex

  • New operational mode

    Dear All ,


    Hello ,

    As far as I understood is to use split operation. and there for full dublex
    So
    station A constantly RX (Freq A-20khz) and TXs (FREQ. A) on a split frequency (constantly)

    and station B does the same inverse split and also RX (FREQ A) and Tx's (FREQ A-20KHz) at the same time. (constantly)

    So both stations allegedly will talk full duplex at the same time BUT occupying double the bandwidth aka 2 TX stations on 2 channels of 2.6KHz for 1 QSO !

    This is not a mayor problem as its done in situations where crazy pileups happen. So its possible but Whether or not It is worth to be implemented because you will have half the bandwidth to operate ( in regards to, other stations IF everyone employs this very "mode" / "type" of operation ) the bandwidth of the SAT is finite and not infine.

    This is my understating of what everyone is trying to do I suppose if my understating is wrong feel free to correct me :D

    Thank you in advance


    73 DE 5B4AKV

    Alex

  • Adalm PLuto external ref 40Mhz from Down converter and now I drift a lot.

    Dear All ,


    I know this was answered before too ( tried to find something but to no avail) , But I am a bit perplexed so if someone can shed some light on things I would be happy. (rev C possibly )


    I have the Amsat down converter with the 40mhz output. I measured it all good. I made my cable(2 pin header to hoax to sma ) and directly connected it to the Adalm Pluto(external ref in port). But now it seems even more unstable than before.

    When I type this :


    # fw_printenv ad936x_ext_refclk <--

    ## Error: "ad936x_ext_refclk" not defined <--I get this ( what ? )


    I tried to enable external reference for the pluto.


    # fw_setenv refclk_source external
    then
    fw_setenv ad936x_ext_refclk „<40000000>”
    then

    fw_setenv ad936x_ext_refclk_override 40000000
    then
    fw_setenv xo_correction 40000000

    then reboot.

    and now my transmission is drifting like crazy even with the external reference. and I can even see it before with the TSXO ( default config on the adalm Pluto I had no issue. ) (very rarely I was drifting that much )
    something like this :



    and at some points even worse.

    I hope someone can drop me a hint ,


    Thank you in advance


    5B4AKV , Alex