SignalsEverywhere tests our RTL-SDR Blog Active L-Band Patch Antenna
Sarah from the SignalsEverywhere YouTube channel is back this week with a video review and demonstration of our RTL-SDR Blog Active L-Band patch antenna, which is designed for receiving Inmarsat and Iridium satellites between 1525 - 1660 MHz with an RTL-SDR or other bias tee capable SDR.
In the video Sarah demonstrates the patch antenna in action running in SDR++, discusses some of the features and compares it against another patch antenna. She goes on to briefly show JAERO receiving and decoding an 8400bps AERO voice channel.
If you're interested, this antenna has also been reviewed by Frugal Radio, Tech Minds, and Mike from SDRplay.
The patch is currently in stock in our store for $49.95 shipped worldwide, or on Amazon USA for US customers. We note that previous problems (as explained in our earlier post) with cracks in the plastic in the latest batch with grey enclosures have been resolved now, and units shipping now are without defect.
What can you do with this antenna?
- Inmarsat STD-C EGC
- AERO Satellite ACARS
- AERO C-Channel Voice
- Iridium Decoding
- GPS and GNSS Experiments
I’m interested but can’t see myself using it in a mobile environment, and my house is surrounded by trees. That said I do have a 50′ tower for amateur and monitoring antennas. Are there any recommendations for mounting this antenna in such a manner, hardware, etc., and obviously LMR400 or an equivalent low loss cable would be a must. Before I fabricate something myself, looking for any ideas. Thanks.
How sharp is the filtering at the high end of the frequency range? Would this antenna work reasonably well to receive weather ballon radiosondes at 1676 – 1682 MHz?
Yes, I use this antenna indoors to track such weather balloons. The NOAA launch site is about 50 miles away.
Thanks! I’m a little further away from the Buffalo NY NWS office but downwind, so their balloons come this way often.