Hi all,
It would solve a lot of problems for me to put all the equipment required to tx /rx via 1.25 m dish to Eshail2 at the dish which is mounted low to the ground.
So I need some help and advice to set this up assuming it is possible.
I can run mains and Ethernet to the dish location.
I am using limesdr Mini2 on the portsdown4 and a pico rx,
The tx is the lime plus a little booster into an 80 watt pa.
Hoping it’s been done before, I am hoping for total control.
I am fairly new to ATV.
Cheers
Chris
G6ihn
Remote operation of Portsdown4 system
Re: Remote operation of Portsdown4 system
For RX, it is simply a Bullseye LNB and a cable to the receiver - e.g. Picotuner in the shack or at the dish.
For TX I can't think of a solution with the Lime except for the Portsdown 4. This will limit you to H264 but it does have a web control, can drive the PTT etc. A Portsdown 4 without a local screen is effectively just the PI and some GPIO interfacing. See the Wiki.
My preference though would be for a Pluto or LibreSDR connected via ethernet. This will allow H265, SDR-Console for the narrow band transponder, SDR-Television if you want to use that. You will need a PTT relay, but if you can run ethernet you can surely run a multicore cable alongside it. Even another ethernet cable used as a multicore. Do not, under any circumstances, even think about, using WiFi.
You may want monitoring, but that's all up to you in all cases. Analogue via a cable or digital with Pi or a Pico or Arduino or STM32 or Modbus or whatever, over ethernet with your own monitoring software. Some people have used Node Red for this, e.g. DATV-Red. There is no ready made option as such.
For TX I can't think of a solution with the Lime except for the Portsdown 4. This will limit you to H264 but it does have a web control, can drive the PTT etc. A Portsdown 4 without a local screen is effectively just the PI and some GPIO interfacing. See the Wiki.
My preference though would be for a Pluto or LibreSDR connected via ethernet. This will allow H265, SDR-Console for the narrow band transponder, SDR-Television if you want to use that. You will need a PTT relay, but if you can run ethernet you can surely run a multicore cable alongside it. Even another ethernet cable used as a multicore. Do not, under any circumstances, even think about, using WiFi.
You may want monitoring, but that's all up to you in all cases. Analogue via a cable or digital with Pi or a Pico or Arduino or STM32 or Modbus or whatever, over ethernet with your own monitoring software. Some people have used Node Red for this, e.g. DATV-Red. There is no ready made option as such.
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chrissifer
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:37 pm
Re: Remote operation of Portsdown4 system
Thank you for that,
The learning curve gets steeper, hi.
Yes to Bullseye, already running one on narrow band so I guess the pico can change volts to lnb for atv rx.
I have a second dish that I will use for the tx Atv, a mate emailed me this , after admitting he asked an Ai engine, it may as well be in Russian for me!!
Portsdown 4 may be fully used remotely by combining VNC for GUI control, SSH for command-line access.
Soldier on
Chris
The learning curve gets steeper, hi.
Yes to Bullseye, already running one on narrow band so I guess the pico can change volts to lnb for atv rx.
I have a second dish that I will use for the tx Atv, a mate emailed me this , after admitting he asked an Ai engine, it may as well be in Russian for me!!
Portsdown 4 may be fully used remotely by combining VNC for GUI control, SSH for command-line access.
Soldier on
Chris
Re: Remote operation of Portsdown4 system
Hi Chris
One correction. Portsdown remote control uses Web,, not VNC. Full details here: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_4_Web_Control
Dave
One correction. Portsdown remote control uses Web,, not VNC. Full details here: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_4_Web_Control
Dave
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chrissifer
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:37 pm
Re: Remote operation of Portsdown4 system
Thank you Dave,
I may have found a solution, I’ve had an excavation of my junk box and found a pair of Icron usb extenders, they are usb 2 and allow 4 usb devices to be connected at upto ((300)) via cat 5, ft I think.
So keeping the ports4 and pi4 and screen in shack I will hook up the lime and pico at the dish and see if they will talk to each other?
I am Sure I have an pair of icron starling devices but may have sold them (it’s an age thing) lol, they are much better spec.
Many thanks
Chris
I may have found a solution, I’ve had an excavation of my junk box and found a pair of Icron usb extenders, they are usb 2 and allow 4 usb devices to be connected at upto ((300)) via cat 5, ft I think.
So keeping the ports4 and pi4 and screen in shack I will hook up the lime and pico at the dish and see if they will talk to each other?
I am Sure I have an pair of icron starling devices but may have sold them (it’s an age thing) lol, they are much better spec.
Many thanks
Chris