Back in January 2021 we posted about the release of the SATRAN product, which is a low cost automatic motorized satellite antenna rotator kit. The rotator is deigned to be used for pointing high gain directional antennas such as a Yagi or satellite dish at low earth orbit satellites which can move across the sky quickly. They also supply an Android App for easily controlling the rotator.
Recently SATRAN MK3 (version 3) has been released a few days ago and costs € 175,00 for the kit, but does not include the plastic parts which need to be 3D printed. Unfortunately the kit appears to already be sold out, but we suspect they are working on getting more kits soon. Also of note is that they are based in Sweden and cannot ship to the US or Canada.
The email announcement reads:
"There's a new Satran in town!"
I'm glad to announce the newest Satran MK3 Rotator which is now available in the shop. The former cast aluminum version has been abandoned since the production was way too time-consuming and expensive.
The new MK3 has taken all the advantages of both older versions and returned to a more open source and 3D-printable design. This cuts the price by two thirds, while still getting a really user-friendly, compact and able device.
...and there's a new app!
Some users have reported issues with their Android app crashing, so today a new version of the app (2.3) has been finished and will be available in a day or two. If you don't get an update notification automatically in your app, visit Google Play to check for the latest version.
The app also have a more extensive list of satellites and the possibility to search for a satellite by its Norad ID.
SATRAN MK3 Antenna RotatorSATRAN MK3 plastic parts that need to be 3D printed.
If you weren't aware of it, KrakenSDR is our RTL-SDR spinoff project and is a 5-channel coherent RTL-SDR that we have successfully crowdfunded for over on Crowd Supply. KrakenSDR is the successor to our previous 4-channel coherent product called the KerberosSDR. With a radio like KrakenSDR that is capable of coherence between channels, interesting applications like direction finding and passive radar become possible. You can also use it as five independent RTL-SDRs should you chose to.
We wanted to note that all units preordered through the Crowd Supply crowd funding campaign are now at the Crowd Supply / Mouser warehouse, and the majority have already been shipped out to customers!
The KrakenSDR with 5x Krakentenna's for Radio Direction Finding
Additional units for new purchasers are in a mixture of production and freighting and will be available for fulfillment as soon as we can. We are constrained by supply and production time, so if you're interested in a KrakenSDR, please get your order in so that you have an earlier place in the queue.
KrakenSDR ProductionKrakenSDR Boxes
Other Recent KrakenSDR Updates
Wiki Manual: Our Wiki manual and guide is up at https://github.com/krakenrf/krakensdr_docs/wiki. It covers topics from what you need to get started, radio direction finding theory and background, antenna array setup, KrakenSDR Web-GUI software guide, Android App guide and a Passive Radar guide.
Install Scripts, VirtualBox Images, Docker: For general vehicle based direction finding, which is the most popular application, we recommend using our premade Raspberry Pi 4 image for easy almost plug and play setup. But to ease installation on other computing devices (especially as the Pi 4 stock is non-existent at the moment due to the supply chain crisis) we've now created an automatic Linux install script and a Virtual Box image which can be run on Windows or Linux host machines. Third parties have also released a Docker container. See this page on our Wiki for more information.
Customer Feedback: We've also had some great customer feedback so far with one user submitting examples of his success in locating transmitters like a 162 MHz NOAA weather station, and various fox hunt beacons.
KrakenSDR Direction Finding with Android App
Arrow Antennas: For fixed site direction finding installs, Arrow Antennas is now shipping their 5-element dipole antenna array.
If you're interested in the latest KrakenSDR updates, please follow us on the Crowd Supply mailing list, and keep an eye out for our official krakenrf.com website releasing soon.
Thank you to Samual Yanz (N7FNV) for submitting a guide that he's created about tracking and decoding NOAA weather satellites. The guide can be downloaded from this link as a PDF.
Currently there are three operational polar orbiting NOAA weather satellites that transmit image data in the APT format at 137 MHz. When one of these satellites pass overhead, it is possible to use an RTL-SDR with appropriate satellite antenna and software to receive the satellite weather images they transmit.
Samual's guide focuses on the software and shows how to setup Virtual Audio Cable for piping audio between programs, SDR# for receiving the signal, Orbitron for tracking the satellite and WXtoIMG for decoding the image.
Thank you to Joel Moser who has submitted news about his teams scientific research work at Soochow University in Suzhou, near Shanghai, China which makes use of RTL-SDR Blog V3 dongles in their research to replace bulky and expensive analysis equipment such as a lock-in amplifier, a vector network analyzer, or a spectrum analyzer. Their results show that an RTL-SDR can produce results as good as those more traditional pieces of equipment.
The researchers have also provided a summary video, which helps explain the science in an easier way. In a nutshell, as far as we understand it, they first use a laser optical interferometer to measure the graphene nanomechanical resonator, and then connect the output of the interferometer to the RTL-SDR, where the signal can be measured on a PC, and then easily put forward to further DSP processing in GNU Radio.
One interesting result is that they were able to recover very clear audio from the graphene nanomechanical resonator using the RTL-SDRs. This is highlighted in the video from around 4:25. Also provided via their website are two audio files demonstrating a clear reading of a Shakespeare sonnet, and a musical.
Our project is about detecting weak vibrations in nanomechanical resonators based on graphene drums. Graphene is an atomically thin membrane of carbon atoms. Graphene drums are made by suspending the membrane over an array of cavities nanofabricated in silicon oxide. Vibrations of the membrane are driven using a capacitive force at frequencies ranging from 10 to several hundreds of MHz. The detection of vibrations is done by optical interferometry, with the electrical output of our photodetector connected to a radio frequency measuring instrument. Usually, the measuring instrument is a lock-in amplifier, a vector network analyzer, or a spectrum analyzer, which are all rather bulky and expensive systems.
In our work, we demonstrate that graphene nanomechanical vibrations can be adequately measured with RTL-SDR v3 dongles. We find that the quality of our dongle-based measurements is as good as that of measurements made with a low noise spectrum analyzer, provided the driving force is not too small.
We take full advantage of your dongles by measuring the amplitude of two vibrational modes in parallel. For this, we split the output of the photodetector and connect it to two dongles. Measuring multiple modes in parallel is very valuable for nanomechanical sensing applications, as more information can be extracted compared to single mode measurements. However, this is a challenging task that requires several instruments collecting data in parallel. Here, we demonstrate that a composite of SDR dongles offers an alternative that is remarkably simple and inexpensive per frequency channel.
Finally, we show that our software-based instrument can be employed to demodulate human voice encoded in nanomechanical vibrations. For this, we drive vibrations with a frequency modulated force. As a baseband signal, we alternatively use a Chinese song performed by one of us, poetry by Shakespeare, and an excerpt from a musical.
We are now improving our measurement setup by synchronizing the clocks of several RTL-SDR v3 dongles to measure vibrational modes coherently. We are also greatly interested in employing your KrakenSDR for even better and cleaner multimode nanomechanical measurements.
A recent paper about our work can be freely accessed here:
Audio files for our demodulated nanomechanical signals can be found at the same address, but they are buried in a supplemental material (media) folder. Alternatively, the paper and the audio files can be found here:
Thank you to Sasha Engelmann for letting us know about the release of the Open-Weather community's web browser based NOAA APT decoder. The decoder allows for easy NOAA satellite decoding by allowing you to upload a wav file recording of a NOAA satellite pass, and it will decode it into an image within the browser.
The project emerged from a desire to understand the process of decoding APT audio recordings into NOAA satellite images, and a need for an accessible browser-based decoder for new practitioners during open-weather DIY Satellite Ground Station workshops.
While we were inspired by Thatcher's APT 3000, we felt accessibility, documentation and features could be expanded and improved. open-weather apt allows you to select an audio file on your computer, choose a demodulation method, add histogram equalisation and download images. The website does not store your personal data, including your location or any files you upload.
Over on the usradioguy.com blog, Carl Reinemann has highlighted a very impressive remote off-grid radio satellite image receiver setup by Manuel Lausmann (DO3MLA). The setup consists of two Raspberry Pi's, two RTL-SDRs and a QFH satellite antenna connected to an antenna splitter and bias tee. It is able to receive APT and LRPT images from NOAA and Meteor satellites which transmit at 137 MHz. The received images are then uploaded to the internet via a mobile LTE router.
The system is located a remote part of Northern Norway and is powered by a dual solar and wind turbine system with battery storage. Being so remote with little interference, the system is able to receive very clean images, and with the location being so Northern, it can even glimpse the north pole.
Manuel has uploaded a YouTube video where he shows each part of the system. It is in narrated in German, however the YouTube caption auto translate feature can be used.
He notes that in the future he hopes to install a web SDR like KiwiSDR on the site too.
The SunFounder TS7-Pro 7-Inch Touch Display is a portable high resolution 1024x600 7-inch touch screen with space on the back for a Raspberry Pi 4 to be mounted. It is also possible to mount an optional 2.5" SSD and 'PiPower' battery mount. The price of the TS7-Pro is currently reduced to $79.99 on Amazon and $89.99 in their direct store.
Last year in October we reviewed the 'RasPad 3.0' another SunFounder product that is a portable tablet enclosure for the Raspberry Pi 4. The RasPad is a more complete setup offering a full enclosure and built in battery. We reviewed the RasPad as we were curious to see how easy it would be to integrate a RTL-SDR on the inside. With some minor modifications we were able to successfully do this and create a portable RTL-SDR station. The RasPad 3.0 is a more costly device at US$259 on Amazon and $219 on their direct store.
This year SunFounder reached out to us again and asked if we wanted to test their TS7-Pro display, and see if it is possible to integrate an RTL-SDR.
Unboxing and General Assembly
SunFound TS7 Pro Boxed
The TS7-Pro comes packed well with foam. Inside is the manual, acrylic cover, 2x HDMI and 2x USB cables, 2x USB-USB bridge adapter (one for the Pi 4 and one for the Pi 3), 2x Micro-HDMI to HDMI bridge (one for the Pi 4 and one for the Pi 3), various M3 screws, a screwdriver and the LCD screen itself. The cables are designed for people who want to use the screen as a suppletory PC screen, so we did not end up using them.
SunFounder TS7 Pro Unboxed
The rear of the LCD screen contains all the LCD driver circuity as well as speaker and mounting points for the Raspberry Pi to connect it's GPIO header. The required HDMI and USB connections between the Raspberry Pi and LCD screen are handled by small bridge connectors.
SunFounder TS7 Pro LCD Rear PCB
The assembly process is very simple. Just mount the Raspberry Pi on the back, connect up the HDMI and USB bridge adapters, and screw on the acrylic backing plate.
There is also a very useful metal kickstand on the back which allows the screen to sit almost upright for easy viewing when placed on a surface.
RTL-SDR Modifications
The acrylic backing plate is designed to be able to mount a 2.5" SSD and/or a 'PiPower' battery module. Instead of using these accessories we decided to see if we could instead fit an RTL-SDR Blog V3 and our own USB battery pack on the back.
The acrylic plate has several screw and venting holes which we made use of to simply zip tie the RTL-SDR onto the back. We then used a short USB extension cable with a right angle connector between the RTL-SDR and Pi 4. There is plenty of space on the inside between the PCB and acrylic plate, so the RTL-SDR can be hidden away with the antenna port still easily accessible.
The USB battery pack is a bit larger, so fits on the outside of the enclosure also via zip ties.
Portable RTL-SDR with SunFounder TS7 ProShowing how much space is available between the PCB and acrylic plate.
After tightening down the zip ties, and hiding away the excess cabling, the whole construction is stable and not likely to fall apart easily.
Operating and Testing
Both the LCD screen and Pi 4 need to be powered separately. So you will need a battery pack that can support at least two outputs, and one that can support the required power draw of the Raspberry Pi whilst also powering the LCD screen.
We also initially connected a simple whip antenna to the RTL-SDR, but had to change that later as we will discuss.
RTL-SDR and Battery Pack Zip Tied to the TS7 Pro
For software we installed the Pi64 version of DragonOS, which is a ready to use Pi 4 image that has many RTL-SDR compatible programs built into it. A reminder that any software issues we discuss are unrelated to the SunFounder hardware.
The touchscreen works as expected, however we did notice that there is an initial bug on boot where the onscreen keyboard won't work unless you try to log in once with an empty password first. However, as we discovered in the RasPad review, most SDR programs like SDR++ are not very well suited to touch screens, so in the end we ended up connecting a wireless keyboard for ease of use.
Using a keyboard ended up also being a requirement in our tests, because the way we mounted the RTL-SDR meant that the screen was upside down. Using the screen in this 'upside down' orientation was preferred as the kickstand makes it sit a bit more upright and keeps the antenna more vertical. To get around the upside down screen we had to flip the screen in Ubuntu settings. Unfortunately flipping the screen does not also flip the touch screen inputs, so our touch inputs became inversed. There seem to be ways to fix this but we did not look further into the issue.
One other minor annoyance is that we found that the LCD screen would not get recognized by the Pi 4 when the keyboard's USB dongle was connected at boot. This may just be a Pi 4 issue, or an issue with our power pack unable to provide enough current at boot, as we have encountered similar issues in the past with Pi 4's used in other projects. Once the first text appears on the screen, connecting the keyboard USB dongle is possible.
With a keyboard connected, SDR++ opened and ran smoothly, and looks great on the 7 inch screen. We note that we did have to apply a small configuration fix in the Ubuntu sound settings in order to get the built in speakers to work. The fix is the same one used in the RasPad review, so please see that review for more information.
With it's somewhat open back, cooling doesn't seem to be an issue and we never noticed the Pi 4 throttling, or the RTL-SDR overheating.
RTL-SDR TS7-Pro with Wireless Keyboard
LCD Screen Interference
Again as we noted in the RasPad review, LCD screens are known to be big sources of RF interference and having the dongle and antenna this close to the screen electronics is not ideal. The image below shows what interference from the LCD screen looks like on the spectrum. Interference on the TS7 screen appears to be more pronounced when compared to the RasPad, possibly due to a different driver PCB with more exposed ribbon cables.
RF Interference from the TS-7 Pro LCD Screen
This interference is not present on all bands, and once an external antenna is used with a few meters of coax distance away from the LCD the problem reduces, but it doesn't go away fully. With an antenna disconnected there is almost no interference seen at full gain, so most of the interference appears to come through the coax cable and antenna. So we recommend using high quality shielded coax, as well as getting the antenna away from the LCD screen too.
Using a directly connected whip on a band with no LCD RFI
Conclusion
The SunFounder TS7 Pro is a nice and low cost product that allows you to easily connect a Raspberry Pi 4 to a touchscreen. Unlike the RasPad it does not come with a battery or enclosure, but this allows for a smaller form factor. The LCD screen itself is high quality, bright and with good viewing angles.
Hacking an RTL-SDR and battery pack onto the back of the SunFounder TS7 LCD display is easily possible and does result in a very nice portable form factor. However, there are still wires hanging out the sides which make it a little less neat to carry around and store away, although all the connections seem secure. Mounting the assembly into a 3D printed enclosure could help neaten things up.
LCD interference remains an issue, but by using an external antenna with a few meters of good quality shielded coax the problem can be managed.
Overall we think the product is an excellent starting point for any RTL-SDR Pi 4 project that requires a screen.
Disclaimer: We do not receive any compensation for this review apart from a free TS7 Pro.
SDRSharp (SDR#) is one of the most popular SDR programs that is used often with Airspy and RTL-SDR devices. Recently Youssef, the developer of Airspy products and the programmer behind SDR# has again been adding new enhancements to the software that allow AM DX listeners to easily receive channels that are even on top of each other in frequency.
The Co-Channel Canceller has been in SDR# since 2020, but recently enhanced for better performance and easier use, and a 'micro-tuner' feature has been added, allowing users to easily select the overlapping channel that needs to be cancelled.
Earlier in the year the noise canceller was also improved with a 'NINR' (Natural Intelligence Noise Reduction) algorithm that appears to be one of the best noise cancellers available in SDR software today.
Youssef's twitter @lambdaprog contains several videos demonstrating the effectiveness of the updates.
Playing around with a new feature of the Co-Channel Canceller. Still a lot of polishing, but it already shows some improvement over the old version. #airspy#sdrsharppic.twitter.com/CGfLHn9oZH
