GOES 16 GRB downlink vs GVAR

[Martyn]

Be carefull on Amazon, got a clone 6303 that would not switch polarity.
Make that a 6903.

Was that from China? I see a couple that ship from there and another retailer in the UK, which claims to be a distributor for TBS.

 

[N6BY]

Be carefull on Amazon, got a clone 6303 that would not switch polarity.
Make that a 6903.

The seller used to be 'dvbforfun', but I see that some other company is selling in their place on Amazon.

'dvbforfun' is still on eBay and I know that they are TBS. So it sounds like we need to use eBay now instead of Amazon.

 

[ghulands]

Hi,
I have been capturing the HRIT signal using goestools to decode and process it. I wanted to give the GRB signal a go and have found a 12ft Precision Parabolics E200 dish. I'm not sure of the specs as I can't find anything online, but looks like it might be a C Band one. Could someone confirm if this would work?
Thanks in advance.

 

[N6BY]

Hi,
I have been capturing the HRIT signal using goestools to decode and process it. I wanted to give the GRB signal a go and have found a 12ft Precision Parabolics E200 dish. I'm not sure of the specs as I can't find anything online, but looks like it might be a C Band one. Could someone confirm if this would work?

The dish is big enough but you would need a new feed for GRB. The C Band feed won't work. GRB uses L-Band with dual circular polarity. Half of the data is RHCP (right hand circular polarity) and the other half is LHCP. For GRB, those polarities share the same frequency of 1686.6 MHz.

You could either build your own septum feed as described in this thread or try to buy a different type using a can and a custom designed splitter/combiner circuit made by Ed Murashie at Pro Engineered Solutions. I have tried both and I get much better results with Ed's feed.

The reason I said (in the above paragraph) "try to buy" Ed's feed is that he is only making them in small batches at a time. He is busy and I don't know if or when he will have time to build more. So I would recommend contacting him through his website and see what his schedule is.

The other critical resource is a TBS6903 DVB receiver. They are still available on eBay and Amazon. If you pay $290 on Amazon you can get one overnight via Amazon Prime. Otherwise they ship from China. I don't know how long it will take as many parts of China are locked down right now due to COVID. Also, it was reported a little earlier in this thread that someone buying through Amazon got a defective "clone". Maybe that was an isolated instance or he just happened to get a defective unit?

Be sure not to get a TBS6903X. This is because the "X" version uses a different chipset that I have not yet been able to get working well with GRB. I'm seeing a high packet error rate. Could be that is because of the different chipset or that I am not programming it correctly? It is an extremely complex chip used in the TBS6903X,

As for software, you can either use CSPP Geo from the University of Wisconsin / Madison which is a complex Linux program that is very CPU intensive or GRB Imager from me for $100 plus shipping for the Program CD-ROM.

If you go with CSPP Geo you'll need my GRB Streamer Program to read the GRB data from the TBS6903 DVB card and stream it via ethernet (UDP protocol) to CSPP Geo for processing. That would involve a Windows PC running GRB Streamer and a Linux PC with 12 cores and about 32 GB of RAM that are necessary to run CSPP Geo.

GRB Imager requires a Windows 7 or 10 PC with a 4 core CPU and 8 GB of RAM (or more).

So GRB is more expensive to setup than HRIT, but the result is much higher resolution images and more of them.

Brett

 

[ghulands]

Hi Brett,
Thanks for all the great info. Did you ever make any headway with the streamer running on linux? I was thinking for my situation that I would put a small SBC (a RockPro64 as it has a PCIe 4x slot looks like the best candidate) close to the dish and power it with PoE so I can reduce any cable losses, and then have the big machine somewhere else in my network. I read in a later post that you removed the streaming functionality from GRB Imager, but just wondering if it can still receive a stream from udp?

I could only see the TBS6903X on amazon last night, so I think i'll go the eBay route or direct from tbs. I'm guessing dvbforfun on eBay is just TBS itself.

 

[N6BY]

Hi Brett,
Thanks for all the great info. Did you ever make any headway with the streamer running on linux? I was thinking for my situation that I would put a small SBC (a RockPro64 as it has a PCIe 4x slot looks like the best candidate) close to the dish and power it with PoE so I can reduce any cable losses, and then have the big machine somewhere else in my network. I read in a later post that you removed the streaming functionality from GRB Imager, but just wondering if it can still receive a stream from udp?

I could only see the TBS6903X on amazon last night, so I think i'll go the eBay route or direct from tbs. I'm guessing dvbforfun on eBay is just TBS itself.

TBS 6903 cards are still available on Amazon. When you search you have to put a space between "TBS" and "6903" -- Amazon product ASIN B01LVYWG50View: https://www.amazon.com/TBS-Professional-Satellite-Demodulator-Broadcasted/dp/B01LVYWG50/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2AEKUFGB18HYW&keywords=tbs+6903&qid=1651786372&sprefix=tbs+6903%2Caps%2C136&sr=8-1


I have not made a Linux version of GRB Streamer.

Back when I tried it, GRB Imager did not reliably receive a UDP stream, so I took out that capability. I think it has to do with the overhead of running on Windows, and UDP packets get discarded before they have a chance to reach my program.

 

[DarrylZ]

Hi Brett,

Would like to purchase you $100.00 GRB imager software..

Thanks , Darryl Zimmer

 

[DarrylZ]

Hello,

Installed the TBS6903 card into a Win10 computer that has no other programs just GRB Streamer.

I get the message , after clicking the icon , “ No DVB found. Unable to continue”..

Is there any other software needed to activate this card ?

Thanks for any and all help.

Darryl Zimmer

 

[N6BY]

Hello,

Installed the TBS6903 card into a Win10 computer that has no other programs just GRB Streamer.

I get the message , after clicking the icon , “ No DVB found. Unable to continue”..

Is there any other software needed to activate this card ?

Thanks for any and all help.

Darryl Zimmer

Did you install the TBS6903 device driver? You may download it at the following URL: TBS 6903 Driver

 

[DarrylZ]

Hello All,

Have GRB Streamer 2.11 operational..

Issues I had dealt with Digital Signature and W10. Defeated the Digital Signature an all is good now.

Also went to the TBS tuner web page and down loaded the W10 drivers.. Thanks Brett..

Looks like all that is left is the following : I have the coax installed on the bottom “F” connector , tuner 0..

I am seeing : Not Locked —— SNR = 1.42 to 2.30.. S=48. Q=0….

I see : “0” on sync error , circuit error and Frames Received..

Is the SNR a good number to have.. ?

What do I need to do to get : Frames Received, Start Streaming to function.

Thanks for any and all help, Darryl. Z.

 

[DarrylZ]

PM sent. To initiate a "conversation" (PM) click on the user name in the Avatar and a box opens with options. One is for conversations.

J

Hello All,

Have GRB Streamer 2.11 operational..

Issues I had dealt with Digital Signature and W10. Defeated the Digital Signature an all is good now.

Also went to the TBS tuner web page and down loaded the W10 drivers.. Thanks Brett..

Looks like all that is left is the following : I have the coax installed on the bottom “F” connector , tuner 0..

I am seeing : Not Locked —— SNR = 1.42 to 2.30.. S=48. Q=0….

I see : “0” on sync error , circuit error and Frames Received..

Is the SNR a good number to have.. ?

What do I need to do to get : Frames Received, Start Streaming to function.

Thanks for any and all help, Darryl. Z.

 

[DarrylZ]

Could this issue , post 691 , be the , “Would not switch polarity” , issue from post # 681. I did purchase the 6903 from Amazon.. Thanks , Darryl. Z..

 

[N6BY]

Hello All,

Have GRB Streamer 2.11 operational..

Issues I had dealt with Digital Signature and W10. Defeated the Digital Signature an all is good now.

Also went to the TBS tuner web page and down loaded the W10 drivers.. Thanks Brett..

Looks like all that is left is the following : I have the coax installed on the bottom “F” connector , tuner 0..

I am seeing : Not Locked —— SNR = 1.42 to 2.30.. S=48. Q=0….

I see : “0” on sync error , circuit error and Frames Received..

Is the SNR a good number to have.. ?

What do I need to do to get : Frames Received, Start Streaming to function.

Thanks for any and all help, Darryl. Z.

1.42 to 2.30 is too low. You need at least 7 to lock the frequencies and receive GRB.

As for the polarity switching polarity issue from post #681 - it doesn't matter since you are not using voltage to switch polarities. You should have one separate line of coax from each of the two outputs on your dish feed. Each line should go into a separate tuner in the TBS6903.

I need to ask you some questions to figure out why your SNR is too low.

What is the size of your dish? What type of feed are you using? Ed Murashie's feed or something else?

If you could post a photo of your dish and feed it might help.

 

[tgro870]

They (Novra) got the GRB box working better. They fixed the problems I reported back in June.

Later I reported some bugs with Novra's GUI interface but have not heard back about any fixes for it.

The Novra box sent to the Department of Homeland security worked for a while and then could no maintain a signal lock. I think they went back to using a TBS DVB card on a Windows PC running my 'GRB Streamer' program while they are searching for a fix, possibly with the amplifiers.

I haven't been doing any further development of GRB Streamer (doesn't need it) or GRB Imager (could use it) because of injuries/illnesses I have had over the past 11 months. But I thought I would post here to help keep the thread from being closed due to lack of use.

Also, if anyone wants GRB Streamer or GRB Imager please let me know and I can direct you to the latest version (it's currently offered at no charge).

I have temporarily given up my attempts to get the TBS6903X to work well with GRB. Part of the problem is that my code to read and write to the STiD135 registers is flaky -- sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know why.

The best performance that I have gotten out of the TBS6903X is about 1 error per 400,000 baseband frames. That may sound good on paper, but compares poorly vs. the older TBS6903, which has an error rate of about 1 in 40 million.

Another problem is that my TBS6903X does not work after a cold start. It requires a cold start followed by a restart in order to work.

The older TBS6903s are still available on Amazon. So hopefully they will remain available for a very long time.

Hows it going, I am working on getting a GRB station set up. What is the best way to get ahold of you for the GRB Software?

 

[N6BY]

Hows it going, I am working on getting a GRB station set up. What is the best way to get ahold of you for the GRB Software?

You can download GRB Streamer at: http://www.naturalgfx.com/GRBStreamer211.zip

Once you get your GRB station able to receive GRB reliably (with an SNR above 7 in GRB streamer), let me know via a private message and I can tell you how to get GRB Imager.

 

[tgro870]

Hey thanks for the reply, is this link broken? Can you paste the HTML link?

 

[FTA4PA]

Hey thanks for the reply, is this link broken? Can you paste the HTML link?

I think this is what you are looking for.

http://naturalgfx.com/GRBStreamer211.zip

 

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

Hi again everyone,
Thanks Brett for continuing work of the hardware side of this. It's frustrating that there are several DVB-S2 Generic stream cards out there but only one works, and it's no longer being made anymore. Figures.
Brett, did you tell TBS that the chipset in that card is not as good or that much different then the old 6903 card?
Or they (TBS) really don't talk to you?
My GRB station is not up and running. We got a new location here in the small town and I don't plan to put up any satellite dishes here. The internet is fast and I get my imagery on the web now. It's not as good with my direct reception station but it does what I need it to do.
I'm glad to see this post got seen by NOAA and was acknowledged, there's big $$$ in the selling of these stations to commercial vendors. We likely got some eyes opened, heads turned that this could be done much cheaper then anything on the commercial market could even hope for. It may not have all the tools that the commercial software has but many of these, we (hobbyist) never use. In reality this is what NOAA wanted and was hoping for.
You could never do this with GVAR due to the hardware availability and software availability.

have found a 12ft Precision Parabolics E200 dish. I'm not sure of the specs as I can't find anything online, but looks like it might be a C Band one. Could someone confirm if this would work?

Yes that dish should work fine but you will need to remove the C Band feed and weather cone at the center and put the GRB L band feed in it's place. Try to allow the feed to be moved towards and away from the dish so that you can peak the signal for best level. See my past posts and pictures to do this. Also you have to aim the dish at the satellite and peak it for best signal. 12ft dish should work very well.

Hows it going, I am working on getting a GRB station set up. What is the best way to get ahold of you for the GRB Software?

The link downloads the file GRBStreamer211.zip
I tried it and it works fine.

 

[N6BY]

Hi again everyone,
Thanks Brett for continuing work of the hardware side of this. It's frustrating that there are several DVB-S2 Generic stream cards out there but only one works, and it's no longer being made anymore. Figures.
Brett, did you tell TBS that the chipset in that card is not as good or that much different then the old 6903 card?
Or they (TBS) really don't talk to you?
...

Hello Timothy,

The TBS 6903 card is still available for sale at the mfrs. website, Amazon, and eBay. I thought they were going to discontinue it but fortunately I was wrong.

The newer TBS 6903X card is also for sale but I never was able to get it to perform with an acceptable error rate. I don't support it in my software. I gave up and stopped working with it a long time ago.

AFAIK, Ed Murashie is still making batches of GRB frontends (can feeds plus splitter combiners and amplifiers). So it is still possible to build a working GRB earth station if you can find a 10' dish.

Interest in setting up GRB stations remains very low. I would estimate about 3-5 people per year contact Ed and myself.

But the good news is that the original TBS 6903, Ed's Can feed, and my software are still available for anyone who wants to setup a ground station.

Brett

 

[N6BY]

Just an update: NOAA changed the format of the GOES-16 (GOES East) data stream enough to require changes to receiving software.

I have updated GRB Streamer and GRB Imager to handle the changes. If you need a software update please contact me.