S band. Anyone here try it?

[hank123]

Found this and homeboy has S band set up.
http://www.keplerian.com/dish/4.5m_dish.html

I know its old. Anyone messed around with S band satellite crack?

 

[N6BY]

Thats quite a project he undertook. His amplifier is the size of a refrigerator! Love that dual axis motor setup.

For me, I would need a down converter to bring the S-Band's 2-4 GHz signal down to my SDR's range of 0.1 to 2 GHz. I have no idea of what I would find on S-Band?

 

[KE4EST]

You might get some stuff from the ISS but I am sure it is encrypted. AMSAT used to have a bird up there on S-Band, but I don't know anymore, I have not messed with that in awhile. I used to enjoy doing packet through a couple of AMSAT birds and coping the stuff that ISS would transmit in 1200 baud packet.

 

[KE4EST]

I used to enjoy doing packet through a couple of AMSAT birds and coping the stuff that ISS would transmit in 1200 baud packet.

I suppose I should add this was on 2 meters and 70cm, not 2.4GHz.....I was just adding that I enjoyed it and kept up with what birds were up there at the time.

 

[Cham]

Guess one would have to do a scan of each sat and see what's out there... Can't find much documented other than GPS satellites.

 

[spongella]

Think Sirius/XM uses some of the S band. Built a circular polarized antenna for S band several months ago and got some spectral scans from Sirius/XM using the HackRFOne. For more information on this check out http://www.uhf-satcom.com/sband/

I used their list as a roadmap of what is out there, but not sure how dated the info is.

The Sirius/XM signal is pretty strong, just pointed the antenna straight up and got signals.

If you have one of those SDR dongles with the E4000 tuner you would be able to receive some of the lower end of the S band.

 

[N6BY]

Think Sirius/XM uses some of the S band. Built a circular polarized antenna for S band several months ago and got some spectral scans from Sirius/XM using the HackRFOne. For more information on this check out http://www.uhf-satcom.com/sband/

I used their list as a roadmap of what is out there, but not sure how dated the info is.

The Sirius/XM signal is pretty strong, just pointed the antenna straight up and got signals.

If you have one of those SDR dongles with the E4000 tuner you would be able to receive some of the lower end of the S band.

I am fascinated by the Sirius/XM orbits and the ingenuity of whoever came up with a system of 2 satellites where one of them is always over north central US or southern Canada. Here is a link showing the orbit: http://www.tiger-usa.com/sirius-xmorbitanim.gif

Thanks for the UHF Satcom link. Lots of other data from space on S-Band, but I would think you would need a dual-axis motorized dish for some of the weaker signals? Would be cool to find a surveillance satellite and see the photos its sending down.

 

[spongella]

Here's the homebrew S band antenna (from UHF-satcom site plans) mounted on a window with suction cup gooseneck.

N6BY - great idea about surveillance satellites but might cause the fellows with dark glasses, suits, and tinted-window SUVs into paying a visit......

 

[N6BY]

Here's the homebrew S band antenna (from UHF-satcom site plans) mounted on a window with suction cup gooseneck.

N6BY - great idea about surveillance satellites but might cause the fellows with dark glasses, suits, and tinted-window SUVs into paying a visit......

I like your antenna build. Questions: What are those coil support tubes made out of, and how did you attach them to the ground plane?

As for the men with dark glasses and suits -- if the surveillance satellite pictures are easy enough for me to download, then I'm sure the Russkies and Chinese guys already have them too. .... Then again, if those are foreign satellites spying on US, then the guys in the dark suits might want to hire me!

 

[spongella]

The coil supports are thick plastic drinking straws and they are attached to the ground plane with JB Weld epoxy. I first epoxied them to a piece of scrap Plexiglas, then attached the Plexiglas with the epoxy. The straws have holes drilled in them at specific distances to maintain a spacing between the coil windings. Hot glue was dabbed where the coil wire goes through the straws to stiffen it up.

The antenna was made for casual use, not for permanent mounting outside. It was coated with spray paint to spruce it up.

F connector was attached to ground plane with center pin soldered to coil end.

 

[spongella]

One slight error in the above, it was not JB Weld, it was just another brand of two-part epoxy, sorry about that! But JB Weld would work fine too.

 

[hank123]

Here's the homebrew S band antenna (from UHF-satcom site plans) mounted on a window with suction cup gooseneck.

N6BY - great idea about surveillance satellites but might cause the fellows with dark glasses, suits, and tinted-window SUVs into paying a visit......

What are you able to pull out of the sky?

 

[spongella]

Will follow up with some screenshots. But also found some weird sounding signals that sound like ROS, but think it's some kind of MFSK.

Can we attach sound files? I am not sure. File size might be a problem though.

 

[N6BY]

Will follow up with some screenshots. But also found some weird sounding signals that sound like ROS, but think it's some kind of MFSK.

Can we attach sound files? I am not sure. File size might be a problem though.

What does ROS stand for? (I know MFSK is multi-frequency shift keying).

For files that are large, I usually just put them on my website and post the link here.

 

[hank123]

Will follow up with some screenshots. But also found some weird sounding signals that sound like ROS, but think it's some kind of MFSK.

Can we attach sound files? I am not sure. File size might be a problem though.

Youtube.... I think.

What does ROS stand for? (I know MFSK is multi-frequency shift keying).

For files that are large, I usually just put them on my website and post the link here.

Wow nice guy!

 

[N6BY]

Youtube.... I think.




Wow nice guy!

Not that nice. The web host plan for my business has 'unlimited bandwidth'. So I am quite willing to take them up on it.