HAB Tracker Station

Project page for the high altitude balloon tracking/listening station we are setting up in the space.

Done

"ezcap USB 2.0 DVB-T/DAB/FM" dongle, RTL2838U, Fitipower FC0013 tuner, Supported gain values (23): -9.9 -7.3 -6.5 -6.3 -6.0 -5.8 -5.4 5.8 6.1 6.3 6.5 6.7 6.8 7.0 7.1 17.9 18.1 18.2 18.4 18.6 18.8 19.1 19.7
VK5QI HABamp
Raspberry Pi
Test payload, RFM22b sending RTTY strings on 434.250MHz. Code here: https://github.com/costyn/rfmtest/blob/master/rfmtest.pde

Sending test payload --> works!
Sending data from rtl_tcp on RasPi over the network --> works! (1024000 samples/second seems to go fine when both are on a wired connection)
gqrx to listen to audio --> works!
dl-fldigi RTTY decoding --> works!
Testing VNC performance with gqrx and dl-fldigi --> usable with JPEG compression and 8 bits of color

Todo

revspace@habraspi:~$ rtl_tcp -a 10.42.43.20

Found 1 device(s). Found Fitipower FC0013 tuner

Using ezcap USB 2.0 DVB-T/DAB/FM dongle

Currently there is no lightning protection installed. We need to figure out how we are going to ground the antenna.
POE seems doable, also makes it easy to restart the setup.
Penetrating the roof would increase the risk of any leakage
- Our best option is to guide the UTP-cable down the drainpipe, in a separate PVC-pipe.

Site survey roof, check if there is already some sort of lightning protection system, and see if we can add some metal construction to it ourselfs
Currently we have no antenna. Well need some heavy duty (directional?) antenna.
- Do we make one or do we buy one?
- What kind of antenna? (keep in mind we only have line of sight towards south/southwest)
Find and buy IP56 enclosure: http://linitx.com/product/13265
Routing Ethernet (with PoE) towards the roof, possibly using (something like) this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200841109556
Your ideas, we love them!