RevRadio

Project RevRadio
Status	In progress
Contact	User:Bertrik_Sikken
Last Update	2013-09-29

Introduction

Roof is looking much better now

This project consists of several small sub-projects related to radio reception at RevSpace. Reception is based (so far) on DVB-T dongles using an RTL2832 chip to do SDR (software-defined-radio).

Hardware

HF (0 - 30 MHz)

To receive signals from the relatively low frequency "HF" band, we have a ham-it-up board. The ham-it-up converts signals from 0-30 MHz up to 125-155 MHz, this makes is possible to use an RTL2832-based dongle to receive them.

Things that can be received with this setup:

• morse and rtty beacons;
• amateur radio voice;
• amateur radio SSTV (slow-scan TV);
• number stations such as the buzzer;
• commercial AM broadcasts
• etc.

Stuff we should can implement

• Put it in a box!
• Experiment with different (home made) antennas such as the mini whip
• Hooking it up to our main SDR computer. Requires antenna on the roof

Generic VHF/UHF (24 - 1700 MHz)

Still installing

For generic radio reception in the VHF/UHF bands, we have a setup consisting of a discone antenna (ICOM AH-7000) on the roof of RevSpace and an RTL2832 dongle (R820T tuner). A simple filter (1/4 wave open stub) has been built to suppress very strong pager signals.

Things that can be received with this setup:

• Citizens Band radio, 27 MHz
• 10 meter amateur band, 28-29.7 MHz
• 4 meter amateur band, 70-70.5 MHz
• broadcast FM stereo, 88-108 MHz;
• air traffic (voice);
• P2000 paging traffic at 169.650 MHz;
• weather images from the NOAA-15/18/19 weather satellites, at around 137 MHz;
• APRS traffic;
• weather info from weather balloons, at 400-410 MHz;
• ads-b/mode-s airplane transponders, at 1090 MHz
• etc.

Todo:

• Get rid of the massive broadcast FM band, it's worth the trade between doing FM DX and broadcast FM noise.

HAB tracker (434-435 MHz)

The colinear

For tracking high-altitude balloons, we have a setup consisting of a Diamond X-50N antenna on the roof of RevSpace, a so-called hab-amp (bandpass filter for 430-440 MHz and low noise amplifier) and an RTL2832 dongle (FC0013 tuner). For more information, see the dedicated page at HAB_Tracker_Station

Things that can be received with this setup:

• The complete 70 cm amateur band, 430-440 MHz
• 70 cm ISM band, ~433 Mhz
• high-altitude balloons, see spacenear tracker

Software

Currently one PC is dedicated to radio reception, called "habtracker". To start the PC:

• Windows XP, hostname "habtracker", IP 10.42.44.94 (MAC 00:21:70:02:62:0f)
• Start the machine with a magic WoL packet: 'wakeonlan -i 10.42.255.255 00:21:70:02:62:0f; ping habtracker'

Remote control

The PC can be remotely controlled as follows:

• Teamviewer, ID: 675540724
• VNC: geheim ;-)

AIS decoding

• COAA's shipplotter to APRS.fi
• Our APRS.fi page
• Heatmap of received ships

TODO

Stuff we are still planning to do:

• wait for proper cables for the ham-it-up
• think about an antenna for HF