Es'hail-2 Ground Station

The BATC WebSDR & Spectrum Monitor can be accessed at: https://eshail.batc.org.uk/

Current Status

The RF hardware was installed at Goonhilly Earth Station in August 2018 and installation was completed in January 2019 with the facility launched on 10th February 2019.

The dish has been pointed at 26 degrees East (the planned Es'hail-2 location) and tested by receiving signals from BADR-4.

Technical Details

Dish

The original dish installed in August 2018 was a consumer model and suffered damage in heavy winds during October 2018. This was replaced in January 2019 with a heavy duty Hirschmann 1.3mt offset dish.

RF Front End

The hardware consists of a 1.3 Metre offset-feed dish with a dual LNB.

LNBs are locked to 25MHz output from LeoBodnar GPSDO.

2x coax used for horizontal & vertical feed.

Receivers

2x AirSpy USB SDR Receiver, locked to 10MHz output from LeoBodnar GPSDO.

The indoor LNB Power Unit has been constructed:

The GPS reference is a Leo Bodnar unit programmed to produced 10 MHz (for the Airspys) and 25 MHz (for the LNB, but not implemented yet). 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:

Host PC

PC Hardware

i7-2600 CPU
16GB DDR3 RAM
Intel DQ67SW Motherboard
500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD
750W Corsair TX Power Supply

PC Software

Ubuntu Server 18.04
Nginx Web Server
airspy_tcp fork (source)
narrowband WebSDR by PA3FWM (homepage)
wideband spectrum monitor (source coming soon)

Network

TBC

More Photos

The equipment has been placed on a bench in our allocated room (with AMSAT-UK's FUNcube receiver).