Tagged: inmarsat

IEEE Spectrum Article on Discovery Dish

Electrical engineering magazine IEEE Spectrum has recently posted an article about our Discovery Dish product, which was successfully crowd-funded on CrowdSupply and delivered to initial backers early this year. Discovery Dish is a 70-cm aluminum satellite dish with an active filtered feed. It is designed for receiving real-time weather data from GOES HRIT, GK-2A LRIT, FengYun LRIT, NOAA HRPT, Metop HRPT, Meteor M2 HRPT, and other weather satellites that operate around 1.69 GHz. There are also feeds for Inmarsat satellites, Hydroden Line observation, and S-band satellites.

In the article, Stephen Cass introduces the Discovery Dish, highlighting its practical uses and the convenience of disassembling it for easy packing in a suitcase during travel. He also shares his experience using the Discovery Dish to successfully receive images from the GOES-East satellite from the rooftop of his New York City apartment.

Finally, he mentions how he tested the hydrogen line feed as well, successfully seeing a hydrogen line peak when pointing at the galaxy.

Image from the IEEE Spectrum Article on Discovery Dish
Image from the IEEE Spectrum Article on Discovery Dish

Tech Minds: Testing an Inmarsat L-Band Helix for Offset Satellite Dishes

In his latest video, Matt from the TechMinds YouTube channel tests out an LHCP L-band helix feed designed for receiving Inmarsat satellites. Matt pairs the feed with an 85cm satellite dish, an L-band LNA, and an Airspy Mini.

The L-band helix feed comes from a small German engineering company called nolle.engineering. The feed is priced at 94.70 Euros (incl. VAT) (~$102 USD), plus shipping costs. It is a passive antenna so it needs to be combined with an LNA to be usable with a typical SDR.

In the video Matt shows that the reception with the LHCP helix + dish setup is better than expected. He also compares it to a previous test he did with a longer RHCP helix antenna also produced by nolle.engineering. The RHCP antenna is used to be used without a dish, however, as expected the SNR is less than the dish + small LHCP feed setup. Matt then shows some Inmarsat signals being decoded including STD-C and Aero voice.

This L Band Helix Antenna Gives Amazing Performance

Decoding Inmarsat STD-C with Command Line Decoder STDCDEC and SigDigger

Over on his YouTube channel Aaron has uploaded a video showing how to use SigDigger and a C based command line Inmarsat STD-C decoder called 'stdcdec' together on his DragonOS SDR based Linux OS image.

STD-C is a marine satellite service that broadcasts messages that typically contain text information such as search and rescue (SAR) and coast guard messages as well as news, weather and incident reports. With the right software, an RTL-SDR and an appropriate L-Band satellite antenna like our 'Active L-Band 1525 - 1660 Inmarsat to Iridium Patch Antenna Set' these signals can be received and decoded.

The stdcdec software provides a way for command line only systems to receive and view STD-C data. In his video Aaron shows an example setup that uses SigDigger to determine the audio frequency offset, and receive the audio which is then passed to the stdcdec software. We note that SigDigger is a GUI based program but could probably be replaced with another CLI based program, in order to run on a headless system (as long as the tuning and audio center freq is determined before hand). Aaron is hoping to explore solutions for this in the future.

DragonOS Focal Rx and Decode Inmarsat-C Messages w/ SigDigger + STDCDEC (RTLSDR)

Nils Reviews our RTL-SDR Blog L-Band Active Patch Antenna

Over on his blog Nils Schiffhauer (DK8OK) has recently uploaded a review of our RTL-SDR Blog Active L-Band Patch Antenna (original site is down - archive.org link). This is a satellite patch antenna designed for experimenters who want to receive Inmarsat, Iridium, GPS and other GNSS signals. It covers 1525 - 1660 MHz. (Please note it does not cover GOES or other L-band weather satellites as these are much weaker signals that require a dish). The antenna comes as a set with mounting hardware and extension cable and can be purchased on our store for $49.95 including free worldwide shipping to most countries.

In his review Nils tests the patch antenna with his wideband BladeRF software defined radio showing a wide 60 MHz of bandwidth being received. He then goes on to show it being used to receive AERO, via the JAERO decoder, and STD-C via the Tekmanoid decoder.

We want to take this opportunity to pre-announce that due to rising shipping costs the price of this antenna set will be going up by $10 in early 2022. Before the price raise we will put out another post, but if you are interested in one we'd recommend picking one up soon.

Nils tests the water resistance of the antenna.

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?

The Best L Band Antenna for The Money PERIOD

RTL-SDR Blog Active L-Band Patch Antenna for Inmarsat, Iridium, GPS Back in Stock

Just a quick note to say that the second batch of our Active L-Band Patch Antenna for receiving Inmarsat, Iridium and other L-Band satellites is now in stock, available to be shipped from our warehouse in China from early next week. Amazon will be stocked within the next 1-2 months as the freighter will take time to arrive.

Please see our store for ordering details.

Apologies as we've had to temporarily suspend sales of this product as a manufacturing defect has been discovered in this batch. The defect is that on a number of units the plastic around the screws is cracking, and this was caused by a factory worker over torqueing a pneumatic screwdriver.

The antenna itself will work fine, and it probably won't even affect weather tightness, but it is certainly a defect. If your unit already shipped out and your unit has these cracks, please let us know at [email protected] and we will get the factory to ship you a replacement enclosure. For unshipped units we will be issuing a refund within the next few days.

Update: The units have been repaired and are available for shipping again.

Pricing remains the same at US$49.95 including free worldwide shipping to most countries. A reminder to EU customers: please order from our Aliexpress or eBay stores as due to the new IOSS laws we need to now use those marketplaces to collect and remit VAT upon your purchase, instead of upon import at the border.

This second batch comes in a gray color as feedback from the previous batch indicated that a lighter color is preferred to avoid excess heating from the sun.

If you are hearing about this patch antenna for the first time, please see our original release post for more information. In short this is an amplified patch antenna designed to be used with bias tee capable SDRs that can provide 3.3V - 5V power, such as our RTL-SDR Blog V3 dongle, Airspy, SDRplay or HackRF.

The antenna allows for reception of L-band satellites that transmit between 1525 - 1660 MHz, such as Inmarsat, Iridium and GPS. Please note it is *not* for receiving weaker signals like HRPT and GOES which require a dish antenna.

The patch comes with useful mounting accessories including a window suction cup, bendable tripod and 3M RG174 coax cable. The patch and active circuitry is enclosed in a weather proof enclosure.

What can you do with this antenna?

Frugal Radio: How To Decode L band Satellite ACARS and CPDLC messages with JAERO and your SDR

In the latest episode of his YouTube series on Aviation monitoring Rob explores how to decode L-band satellite ACARS (Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System) and CPDLC (Controller Pilot Data Link Communications) messages using JAERO, an SDR like an RTL-SDR, and a appropriate L-band antenna such as our RTL-SDR Blog Active L-Band Patch (currently out of stock).

In the video Rob shows examples of what you might receive such as CPDLC ATC instructions, digital ATIS information, arrival information and suggested landing data configuration instructions. He goes on to show satellite coverage maps, what hardware is required to receive these signals, and finally how to setup the receiving and decoding software.

How To Decode L band Satellite ACARS and CPDLC messages with JAERO and your SDR

Frugal Radio: A Review of the NooElec Inmarsat Patch Antenna Bundle

In his latest video Rob from Frugal Radio has reviewed the NooElec Inmarsat Patch Antenna Bundle. The US$79.95 bundle includes a PCB patch antenna, Inmarsat SAWBird LNA, SMA DC Block, SMA Barrel adapter and SMA pigtail. In the video Rob tests the bundle out on various AERO signals using the JAERO software, before moving on to compare the bundle with our own RTL-SDR Blog Active L-Band Patch antenna. The comparison results show that our $49.95 L-band antenna is better by about 5-6dB in SNR.

Our RTL-SDR Blog Active L-Band Patch antenna set is available on our store. However, please note that this antenna is currently in short supply due to the global electronics supply chain shortage. We expect to be sold out within a few days but we are aiming to be able to restock within 1-2 months from now.

Review : NooElec L Band Inmarsat Patch Antenna Bundle