Portsdown MeteorView
The Portsdown Meteor Viewer uses an SDRplay RSPdx and displays 10 kHz of spectrum in a waterfall. The RSPdx needs to be connected to the Portsdown 4 USB2 (black, not blue) socket. Other models of the SDRplay RSP family of SDRs may work.
Receiving Meteor Reflections from GB3MBA
This guidance is written specifically to help those who are using the Portsdown MeteorViewer capability. There is lots more information available on the GB3MBA website https://ukmeteorbeacon.org/Home, and even more will be provided as the project progresses.
The SDRplay RSPdx is particularly suited to receiving reflections of GB3MBA from meteors, because it includes a preamp for 50 MHz which (in the specific driver used by Portsdown) is enabled at frequencies above 50.0 MHz. The preamp is sensitive enough to receive local noise, and the positioning of the aerial needs to be carefully considered to maximise the reception of reflections whilst minimising local noise pickup.
As the most common altitude for meteor reflections is about 100 km, and the GB3MBA beacon points vertically upwards, aerials should be aomed at that volume in the sky for the striongets echoes. This table lists the optimum elevation angle depending on your distance from the beacon (which is near Mansfield at at 53d 06m 51s N 1d 13m 20s W IO93JC).
| Distance | Elevation |
|---|---|
| 100 km | 45 degrees |
| 150 km | 34 degrees |
| 200 km | 26 degreese |
| 250 km | 21 degrees |
| 300 km | 18 degrees |
| 350 km | 16 degrees |
| 400 km | 14 degrees |
Streaming Data to a Central Server
By default the Meteor Viewer displays the waterfall locally; however, it can also stream the IQ data to a central server for display with other streams as seen here: GB3MBA Server.
In this mode, MeteorView does not require a touchscreen display and can run totally headless.
Building an SD Card for Unattended MeteorView Streaming
Using a Raspberry Pi 4 with no screen connected, build a new Portsdown 4 SD Card using the instructions here: Portsdown 4 Build Instructions
Once the build has finished and the Raspberry Pi has rebooted, connect the SDRPlay to the USB2 socket. Then:
- Open a web browser and point it at the Raspberry Pi's IP address. The address line should look something like this: http://192.168.2.214. Alternatively, if there are no other Raspberry Pis on the network, you can simply enter http://raspberrypi .
- You should see a webpage with 2 buttons. Click the "Touchscreen" button.
- If a screen comes up asking about a LimeSDR, click anywhere to clear the message. Menu 1 should be displayed.
- Click M3 to get to Menu 3.
- Click on System Config to get to the System Configuration Menu.
- Click on the "SD Button Disabled" button to change it to "SD Button Enabled".
- Click on Start-up App. The Start-up Application Menu should be displayed.
- Click on "Boot to MeteorViewer", which should turn green.
- Click Exit to get to Menu 1.
- Click M2 to get to Menu 2.
- Click Reboot to check that system restarts in the correct mode.
- On restart, the MeteorViewer display should show a waterfall in "local" mode.
- Click "System" and then "Streaming Menu".
- Click "Set Client Number". A keyboard will appear.
- Using the mouse and on-screen keyboard, delete the existing Client Number and enter the desired Client Number. Press Enter.
- Then click "Local Display". The application should restart in "remote display" mode and you should see the waterfall on the GB3MBA web Server Client page.
- The gain can be adjusted using the "Remote RF Gain" and "Remote IF Gain" buttons on the "Settings", "Gain" menu.
- The centre frequency can be adjusted using the "Set Frequency" button on the "Settings" menu.