Observation 3641325: AISTECHSAT-3 (44103) - calibration required?

Satellites & Observations Observations
1

Hello all,

Regarding Observation 3641325, I seem to not be able to detect any signal from either AIStechSat-3 or UNISAT-6 (other passes over the same station)…

I just set up the station but I’m having problems detecting anything so far. I used to run station 531 but I don’t recall having any problems setting it up so I’m at a loss… here’s my support information, anything helps!

I’ll try tracking other objects but I think the problem is on my side, there were quasi-simultaneous observations of AIStechSat-3 that caught it well.

-------[ copy here ]------------
{
“versions”: {
“satnogs-client”: “1.4”,
“satnogs-client-ansible”: “202012231828”,
“satnogs-flowgraphs”: “1.3-1”,
“gr-satnogs”: “2.2.0.0-1”,
“gr-soapy”: “2.1.3-1”,
“gnuradio”: “3.8.2.0-2”,
“satnogs-config”: “0.11”
},
“state”: {
“is-applied”: true,
“pending-tags”: null
},
“system”: {
“date”: “2021-02-16T08:07:16.768988+00:00”,
“distribution”: {
“DESCRIPTION”: “Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)”,
“RELEASE”: “10”,
“CODENAME”: “buster”,
“ID”: “Raspbian”
},
“pending-updates”: false,
“platform”: {
“system”: “Linux”,
“node”: “raspberrypi”,
“release”: “5.10.11-v7l+”,
“version”: “#1399 SMP Thu Jan 28 12:09:48 GMT 2021”,
“machine”: “armv7l”,
“processor”: “”
},
“memory”: {
“total”: 4013195264,
“available”: 3720728576,
“percent”: 7.3,
“used”: 148750336,
“free”: 3443478528,
“active”: 144613376,
“inactive”: 356659200,
“buffers”: 28622848,
“cached”: 392343552,
“shared”: 8888320,
“slab”: 38658048
},
“disk”: {
“total”: 31078248448,
“used”: 3763621888,
“free”: 25997496320,
“percent”: 12.6
}
},
“configuration”: {
“satnogs_antenna”: “RX”,
“satnogs_api_token”: “[redacted]”,
“satnogs_log_level”: “INFO”,
“satnogs_rx_samp_rate”: “2.048e6”,
“satnogs_soapy_rx_device”: “driver=rtlsdr”,
“satnogs_station_elev”: “55”,
“satnogs_station_id”: “2047”,
“satnogs_station_lat”: “59.350”,
“satnogs_station_lon”: “18.072”,
“satnogs_waterfall_max_value”: “-30”,
“satnogs_waterfall_min_value”: “-120”,
“sentry_enabled”: true
}
}
------------[ copy end ]--------

2

It looks like you haven’t set any gain. I’m unsure what the default setting is now, but I’m guessing its probably not good.

2 Likes
3

True! I will try this and update once I get results. Thank you.

4

I think that worked! Thoughts? This is the latest observation: https://network.satnogs.org/observations/3641698/

1 Like
5

It looks better! :slight_smile:

1 Like
6

Better, but it does look like you have a lot of local noise present. Can you explain your antenna setup a bit more?

7

Of course. It’s a UHF/VHF setup with a rotator. UHF (what I am testing at the moment) is 6m long. There is an LNA (inline but powered externally) and a BPF on the boxes next to the rotor. Then ~35m of coaxial to the rtlsdr, which is attached to an RPi.

Captura de pantalla 2021-02-16 a las 22.18.55
Captura de pantalla 2021-02-16 a las 22.18.55796×800 128 KB

8

Hi and great antenna setup…

It looks like you getting noise from the rotor while it’s tracking the sat but you can see some of the signal in the waterfall just not as much as you’d expect from the Antennas you have.

Karl.

9

I agree that it doesn’t seem to be performing as well as I would expect.

I suggest running some observations of the satellites in this list: https://wiki.satnogs.org/Omnidirectional_Station_How_To#Recommended_Satellite_Transmitters_for_Station_Performance_Benchmarking

These can be compared to observations from other stations. Note that the list might need to be updated, I’m not sure if all of them are still transmitting, but give it a go.

1 Like