Seeking help with UHF tracking ground station

Hey!

Here’s the support report:

------------[ copy here ]------------
{
“versions”: {
“satnogs-client”: “1.6”,
“satnogs-client-ansible”: “202109022142”,
“satnogs-flowgraphs”: “1.4-1”,
“gr-satnogs”: “2.3.1.1-1”,
“gr-soapy”: “2.1.3.1-1”,
“gnuradio”: “3.8.2.0-14satnogs2”,
“satnogs-config”: “0.12”
},
“state”: {
“is-applied”: true,
“pending-tags”: null
},
“system”: {
“date”: “2022-10-30T18:00:48.792617+00:00”,
“distribution”: {
“DESCRIPTION”: “Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)”,
“RELEASE”: “10”,
“CODENAME”: “buster”,
“ID”: “Raspbian”
},
“pending-updates”: true,
“platform”: {
“system”: “Linux”,
“node”: “ii-lab-satnog-uhf”,
“release”: “5.10.103-v7+”,
“version”: “#1529 SMP Tue Mar 8 12:21:37 GMT 2022”,
“machine”: “armv7l”,
“processor”: “”
},
“memory”: {
“total”: 968052736,
“available”: 693534720,
“percent”: 28.4,
“used”: 203833344,
“free”: 325009408,
“active”: 220110848,
“inactive”: 353509376,
“buffers”: 41594880,
“cached”: 397615104,
“shared”: 6483968,
“slab”: 51810304
},
“disk”: {
“total”: 31078248448,
“used”: 3332460544,
“free”: 26428657664,
“percent”: 11.2
}
},
“configuration”: {
“satnogs_antenna”: “RX”,
“satnogs_api_token”: “[redacted]”,
“satnogs_rf_gain”: “0”,
“satnogs_rot_model”: “Rot2Prog”,
“satnogs_rot_port”: “/dev/ttyUSB4”,
“satnogs_rx_samp_rate”: “2.048e6”,
“satnogs_soapy_rx_device”: “driver=rtlsdr”,
“satnogs_station_elev”: “347”,
“satnogs_station_id”: “2602”,
“satnogs_station_lat”: “33.417565”,
“satnogs_station_lon”: “-111.93322”
}
}
------------[ copy end ]-------------

Right now my SATNOGS_RF_GAIN is at 0 dB. I’ve been switching the SATNOGS_RF_GAIN around during passes to see how the system performs but I’m getting mixed results.

I am most confused on the SATNOGS_RF_GAIN how that interfaces with the LNA and rtlsdr. I have been reading through the setting the gain article and this forum post. However, when I would adjust the rtlsdr gain through satnogs-setup and checked the noise floor on CubicSDR or gqrx, I didn’t see the noise floor change. Is there an equation or expression I can use to calculate what my SATNOGS_RF_GAIN needs to be? I might be going about the process wrong…

Thanks!

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