Tagged: limerfe

August 22, 2019

Uplinking to QO-100 with a LimeNET Micro and LimeRFE

The LimeNet Micro is a is a $329 board that combines a Raspberry Pi 3 (compute module) together with a LimeSDR radio. The LimeRFE is an amplifier and filter board accessory designed to be used with LimeSDR units. When a LimeNET Micro and LimeRFE are used together, it is possible to create a transmit capable radio system that can be used for amateur radio.

Daniel Estévez has recently been doing several experiments with the LimeRFE, and this time he's managed to create an uplink capable ground station for the QO-100 amateur radio geostationary satellite. The LimeRFE can output 1W at 2.4 GHz and Daniel writes that with a low cost 2.4 GHz WiFi parabolic grid antenna this is more than enough power to work QO-100.

In terms of software, Daniel is using a Python script that communicates with the Limesuite API for PTT control. For transmitting IQ data generated by GNU Radio he uses limesdr_send. So far he's been able to successfully test a CW beacon, SSB voice and waterfall text generated by gr-paint.

LimeNet Micro + LimeRFE + 2.4 GHz WiFi Antenna = Full QO-100 Solution

August 5, 2019

LimeRFE WSPR Tests

The LimeRFE is a power amplifier and filter bank solution designed for the low cost TX capable LimeSDR software defined radios. It has multiple bands from HF all the way up to 3.5 GHz, and is capable of putting out about 2W on the HF bands. Currently LimeRFE is crowdfunding over on CrowdSupply with a cost of US$599 or alternatively there is now a cheaper unit for US$449 without support for the cellular bands. The campaign is active for 4 more days from the time of this post, and after that the price is due to rise by another US$100.

The team at LimeMicro sent a unit to Daniel Estévez (EA4GPZ) for testing, and he has recently posted about his results and thoughts when using the LimeRFE for WSPR transmission with a 15m long wire antenna. Daniel connected his LimeRFE to his LimeSDR and used WSJT-X piped into SDRAngel via Pulseaudio to transmit WSPR on the 10m band. He notes that for lower bands, the LimeRFE will still need additional low pass filtering to attenuate harmonics. SDRAngel cannot yet control the LimeRFE so he also created a simple Python script for this purpose.

Unfortunately Daniel's unit only achieved 25dBm instead of the advertised 33dB, but in LimeMicro's post they note that they believe that this is due to shipping damage. However, even with only 0.3W power, Daniel's transmissions from Madrid were able to be picked up in the Canary Islands, Netherlands and Northern England.

WSPR Range with a LimeRFE (reduced 0.3W output)

April 17, 2019

LimeRFE: A LimeSDR RF Front End for Ham, Cellular and Wideband Networks

Over on CrowdSupply LimeMicro are currently preparing to crowdfund their next project called 'LimeRFE'. LimeRFE is an RF front end power amplifier with filtering. It is designed to be used in conjunction with a LimeSDR or LimeSDR Mini. The LimeSDR and LimeSDR Mini are 12-bit TX and RX capable SDRs that were crowdfunded in the past. The LimeSDRs appear to be mostly aimed at cellular/industrial/commercial use cases, but there have been efforts (mostly from Marty Wittrock) to make the LimeSDR useful for ham radio.

For ham radio usage the LimeRFE front end module contains band filters for the HF band (1.6 - 30 MHz), the 2m band (144 - 146 MHz), the 70cm band (430 - 440 MHz), the 23cm band (1240 - 1325 MHz), the 13cm band (2300 - 2450 MHz) and the 3300 - 3500 MHz band. They do note that for HF use, additional filtering may still be required. On these bands the power amplifier is capable of boosting the power up to a P1 point of 35 dBm on the lower bands down to 26.5 dBm at 3 GHz.

The LimeRFE is not yet available for CrowdFundng as it is still in the prototype stages, but they note that the board is close to being finalized. You can sign up to be notified of when the board is ready on the Crowd Supply page.