Es,hail-2 beacon

Latest News and Discussion about the use of the DATV transponder on Es'hail-2
G3VZV
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:38 am

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by G3VZV » Sun Dec 30, 2018 12:32 pm

Ok it is not Goonhilly but....I have done some tests this morning with the 10706 MHz beacon from Es'hail-2.
The big dish is a VERY cheap 1.8 metre steel petal dish..it seems to work but I guess the profile is not perfect at 10GHz. Hopefully it will be good enough for the 2.4GHz uplink (eventually). The Hughes dish has been re-purposed from commercial installation in N Wales. It has nice adjustment bolts for az and el and measures 90x65cm..
IMG_20181230_110736red.jpg
IMG_20181230_110736red.jpg (463.68 KiB) Viewed 6454 times
Here are some screen shots taken with a standard DRO LNB in the big dish, a Kuhne LNB and an Octagon LNB in the Hughes dish ..
StandardLNB_1.8metre_dish.png
StandardLNB_1.8metre_dish.png (868.86 KiB) Viewed 6454 times
KuhneLNB_Hughes dish.png
KuhneLNB_Hughes dish.png (789.92 KiB) Viewed 6454 times
OctoganLNB_hughes_dish.png
OctoganLNB_hughes_dish.png (900.82 KiB) Viewed 6454 times
Some times there are more subcarriers and data modulation visible on this beacon.

g8vpg
Posts: 381
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:35 am

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by g8vpg » Sun Dec 30, 2018 5:27 pm

Graham,
Is your 1.8m dish the one that has been listed on Ebay for a long time, about £125, from a furniture supplier in Hull? I have been tempted myself, but don't know anyone who has one. If it is a parabola, it should work for any frequency?
73 Shaun.

g0mjw
Posts: 2329
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:15 am

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by g0mjw » Sun Dec 30, 2018 5:37 pm

Hi Shaun

How well a dish works depends on how accurate that parabola is. The rule of thumb is it needs to be accurate to within 0.1 wavelengths to be good. So a good C-band dish at 3-4 GHz (<10mm inaccuracy) is not necessarily good at 10.7-12.5 GHz (<3mm inaccuracy). This is also why you need a finer mesh at Ku band GHz than at C-band. For all practical purposes, 10.49 GHz is going to need dishes that work well at Ku band.

It is not hard to stamp out a parabola accurate to 3mm these days and those dishes claim to be designed for Ku band and are probably quite good if correctly assembled. I think the only question I would have over them is their ability to withstand high winds. The force on a 1.8m dish in high winds is pretty high.

Mike

G8GKQ
Site Admin
Posts: 2798
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:21 pm

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by G8GKQ » Sun Dec 30, 2018 9:11 pm

Hi Shaun

Noel and I have (£20) 1.2M dishes from the furniture retailer in Hull. I have had mixed results at Ku, but the dish did need adjusting (bending back into shape) before I got anything sensible even though it did not seem to have been damaged in transit. It is very flimsy.

I am hopeful that it will be good enough for uplink at 2.4 GHz, but I would not recommend the 1.2 M dish from there for downlink.

Dave

g8vpg
Posts: 381
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:35 am

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by g8vpg » Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:16 am

Mike & Dave,
Thank you for your helpful replies. They usually list the 1.2m dish as collection only, otherwise I might have bought one at the price. There are lots of dishes at reasonable cost up to about 1m, but bigger than that they are a bit less common. 1m is probably going to be big enough for solid downlink capability.
73 Shaun.

G3VZV
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:38 am

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by G3VZV » Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:57 pm

Hi Shaun,
Yes it was an ebay purchase at least a couple of years back...it looks identical to the current offering https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-8M-Satelli ... 2753916077
I assembled it upon arrival and it has been outside since then. I would probably replace the bolts with stainless ones, but the panels themselves have not, yet, corroded at all. I cannot speak for the accuracy of course. The main problem has been the noise of the acorns dropping from the oak tree above...they make a VERY loud twang and I am surprised not to have had complaints from the neighbours...I actually resorted to covering it with an old sheet during the late autumn...
73 & HNY
Graham
G3VZV

g8gtz
Posts: 1733
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:26 pm

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by g8gtz » Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:17 am

Easy answer to that one - chop down the oak tree!!

It would solve some of your other RF problems but may end in a divorce :-)

73 and HNY
Noel

on4aol
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:49 am

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by on4aol » Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:11 pm

Good Newyears day to all.

Like many others i've tried to capture the beacon this morning but i am not sure of this is the correct signal .
I' m correctly on the spot , because i can receive BADR well and the latest info about the position is :

Current Orbital Position: 25.85°E (+0.36°E/day) - TLE Epoch: 31/12/2018 14:37:00

Workingsconditions at the moment : Offset dish with a LNB of 0.6dB NF.
18 m coax with F connectors.
T-bias ( SDR receiver to set de LO and Pol.)
SDR stick with TXCO ( cheap internet item)
SDR#

This is what i get
eshail2Tel.jpg
eshail2Tel.jpg (614.12 KiB) Viewed 6128 times

Can someone confirm this as the telemetry signal from Es'Hail 2 ?
Why do i see every 3 sec or so a jump to a higher frequency that comes back more or less exponential ?
You can see this on the picture as little " hooks"

Tnx in advance for any replies and HNY
73 Luc on4aol

g6alu
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2018 4:38 pm

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by g6alu » Tue Jan 01, 2019 6:14 pm

Hi,
Got one of these (1.8m dish) a few weeks back, now doesn't come with the center or LNB bracket, also got badly damaged by the courier but seller sorted that OK for me.

I can't imagine its good at 10GHz, very lightweight, but I got it for a TX dish....
Steve G6ALU

OK1PHU
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:28 pm

Re: Es,hail-2 beacon

Post by OK1PHU » Thu Jan 17, 2019 5:55 pm

Very strong signal on NB transponder today from 6:00 to 14:41 UTC sometimes with CW transmitting of pirates. I used 60cm dish and pll LNB without mods. You can compare your reception with IS0GRB web sdr on http://217.133.56.150:8901/.

It will be repeated tomorrow, I hope.

73 de Pavel OK1PHU
eshail.jpg
eshail.jpg (857.13 KiB) Viewed 5880 times

Post Reply

Return to “Es’hail-2 - DATV Transponder”