Difference between revisions of "Es'hail-2 Ground Station"

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The BATC WebSDR & Spectrum Monitor are located at the iconic Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall (IO70JB).
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__NOTOC__
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The BATC & AMSAT-UK QO-100 (Es'hail-2) WebSDR & Spectrum Monitor are located at the iconic Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall (IO70JB).
  
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[[File:GH view.JPG|400px]]
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[[File:GH view.JPG|400px]] [[File:GH room.JPG|400px]]
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[[File:GH room.JPG|400px]]
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[[File:GHY200 Dish.JPG|400px]]
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 +
The equipment is housed in a room dedicated to amateur radio infrastructure in the workshops building for the now defunct GHY2 90 ft dish antennae, built in 1969. 
 +
 
 +
The station currently houses the following facilities available for use by anyone worldwide:
 +
 
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* Qatar Oscar 100 Narrow Band WebSDR - https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/
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* Qatar Oscar 100 Wide Band (DATV) spectrum monitor - https://eshail.batc.org.uk/wb/
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* AMSAT-UK Funcube ground station
  
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The equipment is housed in a room dedicated to amateur radio infrastructure in the original control building for the now defunct GHY2 90 ft dish antennae, built in 1969.
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* The Goonhilly VHF websdr https://vhf-goonhilly.batc.org.uk/
  
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As well as the Es'hail-2  (now known as Qatar Oscar 100) WebSDR and spectrum monitor, the amateur radio facility houses an AMSAT-UK Funcube ground station and an HF Kiwi WebSDR.
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* Kiwi HF WebSDR with GPS TDOA
  
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The Oscar 100 webSDR and spectrum monitor can be accessed at '''https://eshail.batc.org.uk/'''
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More recent photos of the equipment taken by M0DNY during a maintenance visit on 19 March 2021:
  
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== Current Status ==
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[[File:20210319 Dish.jpg|400px]] [[File:20210319 Equipment Room.jpg|400px]]
  
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The RF hardware was installed at Goonhilly Earth Station in August 2018 and installation was completed in January 2019.
 
  
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The service was launched on 10th February 2019, 4 days before Oscar 100 was commissioned.
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== RF System ==
  
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== Technical Details ==
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[[File:GHY RF System Block V1.jpg|800px]]
  
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===Dish===
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=== Dish ===
  
 
The original dish installed in August 2018 was a consumer model and suffered damage in strong winds during October 2018.   
 
The original dish installed in August 2018 was a consumer model and suffered damage in strong winds during October 2018.   
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This was replaced in January 2019 with a heavy duty Hirschmann 1.3m offset dish.
 
This was replaced in January 2019 with a heavy duty Hirschmann 1.3m offset dish.
  
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[[File:GHY200 Dish.JPG|400px]]
 
[[File:GH Dish.JPG|400px]]
 
[[File:GH Dish.JPG|400px]]
  
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The 25 MHz reference is fed to the LNB through a dedicated coax run, and 2 further coax runs are used to feed separate horizontal & vertical feeds back to the equipment room.
 
The 25 MHz reference is fed to the LNB through a dedicated coax run, and 2 further coax runs are used to feed separate horizontal & vertical feeds back to the equipment room.
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===Equipment room===
 
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The Qatar Oscar100 equipment shares the dedicated amateur equipment room with an AMSAT-UK Funcube ground station and an HF Kiwi SDR.
 
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[[File:GH shack.JPG|400px]]
 
  
 
=== Receivers ===
 
=== Receivers ===
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The GPS reference is a Leo Bodnar unit, running firmware version 1.12, programmed to produced 10 MHz (for the Airspys) and 25 MHz for the LNB.  The settings for the reference to produce these 2 frequencies were not straightforward (as the 2 outputs on the Leo Bodnar unit need to be linked) but are here for reference:
 
The GPS reference is a Leo Bodnar unit, running firmware version 1.12, programmed to produced 10 MHz (for the Airspys) and 25 MHz for the LNB.  The settings for the reference to produce these 2 frequencies were not straightforward (as the 2 outputs on the Leo Bodnar unit need to be linked) but are here for reference:
  
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[[File:GPS Config.jpg|325px]]
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* [https://wiki.batc.org.uk/images/b/ba/GPS_Config.jpg 10MHz & 25MHz Leo Donar GPSDO Settings screenshot]
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== Computer System ==
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 +
[[File:GHY Software Block V1.jpg|600px]]
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=== Hardware ===
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 +
The WebSDR & Spectrum Monitor both run off a single machine with the following hardware specification:
 +
 
 +
* Intel i7-2600 CPU
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* 16GB DDR3 RAM
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* Intel DQ67SW Motherboard
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* 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD
 +
 
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=== Software ===
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* Ubuntu Server 18.04
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* Nginx Web Server & Reverse Proxy ([https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/eshail-ghy-web github-webpages])
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* Narrowband resampler 2.5MS -> 512Ks ([https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/eshail-ghy-nb-resample-airspy github])
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* Narrowband WebSDR by PA3FWM ([http://www.websdr.org/ homepage], [https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/eshail-ghy-nb-websdr-cfg github-configuration])
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* Wideband Transponder FFT Spectrum Server ([https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/eshail-ghy-wb-fft-airspy github])
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* Chat Server ([https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/eshail-ghy-wb-chat github])
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== Networking ==
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Goonhilly Earth Station has 2x diverse redundant 10Gb links into London Datacenters through Next Connex. They have been kind enough to give us a dedicated IP address and access to >300Mb/s of up & down bandwidth for use by the station.
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 +
A pfsense firewall running on a PC Engines APU2D4 board is used as the station router & firewall.
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A high-bandwidth Leo Bodnar NTP Server provides NTP service to the station & the worldwide NTP Pool. Stats and graphs of this service can be viewed at https://eshail.batc.org.uk/ntp/
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[[File:GHY2 Desk.jpg|400px]]
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 +
==Using the Wideband spectrum monitor and Narrow band SDR==
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===Wideband monitor===
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The Wideband Spectrum Monitor can be accessed at '''https://eshail.batc.org.uk/wb/'''
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To log in, type the following in to the box at the bottom of the chat (replacing "my name" with your real name or callsign) and press return:
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/nick my name
  
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=== Host PC ===
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For example:
  
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The websdr and spectrum monitor are both hosted on a common PC platform, designed and developed by Phil M0DNY, with the following specification.
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/nick G8ABC_Fred
  
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===== PC Hardware =====
 
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i7-2600 CPU<br />
 
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16GB DDR3 RAM<br />
 
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Intel DQ67SW Motherboard<br />
 
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500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD<br />
 
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750W Corsair TX Power Supply<br />
 
  
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===== PC Software =====
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You will get a confirmation message that your name has changed and the text in the box changes to "Type a message here and press enter" - your name also appears in the list on the right handside of the page.
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Ubuntu Server 18.04<br />
 
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Nginx Web Server<br />
 
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airspy_tcp fork ([https://github.com/philcrump/airspy_tcp source])<br />
 
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narrowband WebSDR by PA3FWM ([http://www.websdr.org/ homepage])<br />
 
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wideband spectrum monitor (source coming soon)
 
  
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===== Network =====
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===Narrow band SDR===
  
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The network connection provided by Goonhilly provides a capability of < 250Mbit/s up and down stream.
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The Narrowband WebSDR can be accessed at '''https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/'''
  
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The networking infrastructure designed by Phil M0DNY consists of the following:
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This user guide written for the Farnham websdr gives a detailed description on how to use the web sdr http://farnham-sdr.com/WebSDR-User-Guide.pdf
  
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TBC
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The chat facility is actually an dedicated IRC channel and to access it, enter your name or callsign in the "nickname" box, tick "I am not a robot and press "connect"

Latest revision as of 11:17, 23 May 2021

The BATC & AMSAT-UK QO-100 (Es'hail-2) WebSDR & Spectrum Monitor are located at the iconic Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall (IO70JB).

GH view.JPG GH room.JPG


The equipment is housed in a room dedicated to amateur radio infrastructure in the workshops building for the now defunct GHY2 90 ft dish antennae, built in 1969.

The station currently houses the following facilities available for use by anyone worldwide:

  • AMSAT-UK Funcube ground station
  • Kiwi HF WebSDR with GPS TDOA

More recent photos of the equipment taken by M0DNY during a maintenance visit on 19 March 2021:

20210319 Dish.jpg 20210319 Equipment Room.jpg


RF System

GHY RF System Block V1.jpg

Dish

The original dish installed in August 2018 was a consumer model and suffered damage in strong winds during October 2018.

This was replaced in January 2019 with a heavy duty Hirschmann 1.3m offset dish.

GHY200 Dish.JPG GH Dish.JPG

RF Front End

A modified Octagon quad LNB is mounted on the dish and locked to the 25 MHz output from a Leo Bodnar GPSDO.

See https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Es%27hail-2_LNBs_and_Antennaes for more details on the locking modifications

The 25 MHz reference is fed to the LNB through a dedicated coax run, and 2 further coax runs are used to feed separate horizontal & vertical feeds back to the equipment room.

Receivers

2 separate AirSpy USB SDR Receivers, locked to a 10MHz output from the LeoBodnar GPSDO, are used for the WebSDR and Spectrum monitor.

MainTray2.jpg


RearPanel2.jpg

GPS reference

The GPS reference is a Leo Bodnar unit, running firmware version 1.12, programmed to produced 10 MHz (for the Airspys) and 25 MHz for the LNB. The settings for the reference to produce these 2 frequencies were not straightforward (as the 2 outputs on the Leo Bodnar unit need to be linked) but are here for reference:

Computer System

GHY Software Block V1.jpg

Hardware

The WebSDR & Spectrum Monitor both run off a single machine with the following hardware specification:

  • Intel i7-2600 CPU
  • 16GB DDR3 RAM
  • Intel DQ67SW Motherboard
  • 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD

Software

Networking

Goonhilly Earth Station has 2x diverse redundant 10Gb links into London Datacenters through Next Connex. They have been kind enough to give us a dedicated IP address and access to >300Mb/s of up & down bandwidth for use by the station.

A pfsense firewall running on a PC Engines APU2D4 board is used as the station router & firewall.

A high-bandwidth Leo Bodnar NTP Server provides NTP service to the station & the worldwide NTP Pool. Stats and graphs of this service can be viewed at https://eshail.batc.org.uk/ntp/

GHY2 Desk.jpg

Using the Wideband spectrum monitor and Narrow band SDR

Wideband monitor

The Wideband Spectrum Monitor can be accessed at https://eshail.batc.org.uk/wb/

To log in, type the following in to the box at the bottom of the chat (replacing "my name" with your real name or callsign) and press return: 

/nick my name

For example: 

/nick G8ABC_Fred


You will get a confirmation message that your name has changed and the text in the box changes to "Type a message here and press enter" - your name also appears in the list on the right handside of the page.

Narrow band SDR

The Narrowband WebSDR can be accessed at https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

This user guide written for the Farnham websdr gives a detailed description on how to use the web sdr http://farnham-sdr.com/WebSDR-User-Guide.pdf

The chat facility is actually an dedicated IRC channel and to access it, enter your name or callsign in the "nickname" box, tick "I am not a robot and press "connect"

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