Es,hail-2 beacon
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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.. 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 .. Some times there are more subcarriers and data modulation visible on this beacon.
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.. 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 .. Some times there are more subcarriers and data modulation visible on this beacon.
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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.
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.
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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
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
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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
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
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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.
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.
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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
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
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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
It would solve some of your other RF problems but may end in a divorce
73 and HNY
Noel
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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
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
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
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
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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
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
Re: Es,hail-2 beacon
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
It will be repeated tomorrow, I hope.
73 de Pavel OK1PHU