Im Amateurfunk gehört die Rufzeichen Datenbank von QRZ.com zu einem der wohl meist genutzten Dienste. Während oder auch nach einem QSO schauen viele sich Informationen zum entsprechenden Rufzeichen in der Datenbank an, auch viele der Logprogramme bieten eine direkte Anbindung an die Suche. Das Einzige, was ich persönlich bisher immer vermisst habe, ist eine gute Lösung auf dem Smartphone, denn die Website ist nicht wirklich gut bedienbar auf einem mobilen Gerät.
Deswegen habe ich kürzlich QRZio entwickelt:
Eine simple App um auf die QRZ.com Datenbank zuzugreifen – für den Preis eines Kaffees.
We collected and analyzed over 1.7 million performance measurements from Starlink users and I got the chance to present the results at the IEEE ICC 2024 conference in Denver, CO, USA in June.
Thanks to all Starlink users that participated in the project so far as well as my colleagues at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg that helped analyze the data and creating the scientific paper.
This might be the biggest detailed dataset of Starlink performance measurements so far!
Each of the data points includes a speed test, latency tests to different servers around the world, and information about dishy provided by the gRPC API.
Well...that happened...I really think they shutdown part of Dishys gRPC API because of me (and other people) using it, let me explain why i think this and what happened:
Dishy (user terminal for Starlink) has a gRPC based API that offers different methods to query data from it.
This API is also used by the web interface as well as the app to interact with the dish by a normal Starlink User. SpaceX doesn't offer any documentation about it, but in the past months, many people had a look at their Starlink hardware and were able to find out all functions that are available. Some are used by the app as well, others are things that are not used by any Consumer software from Starlink. One of these "secret" methods is the so called "dishGetContext" endpoint, this is the API they shutdown with the last firmware updates...possible because of me and others using it.
I really like my Alfa Romeo Giuletta QV and it makes me smile everytime i drive it.
But as it is with italian Cars, sometimes things go wrong on them.
On my Car the Lighting of the Fuel Gauge only worked sometimes and it went dark more frequently every week.
It isn't anything important, but a bit annoying after some time, so i wanted it to be fixed.
With that i removed the Dash from my Car, disassmebled it until i had the bar PCB in my Hand and got to work.
Take a look at the Video below for some information on the Repair, it is german but has English Subtitles:
In the End i repalced all 14 white SMD LEDs for the lighting on the PCB including the broken ones.
Instead of 100€ or more and a week without a car for a professional repair i only payed 1,50€ for the SMD LEDs and spend an evening to replace them on the PCB. I also had a lot of fun working on this little Project and i now have a Instrument Cluster that lights up like new from the factory :)
As many of you may know i got myself a Rack Cabinet a few Months ago that is standing in a normal Room i work and life in. Because of that i need to make it as silent as possible so it doesen't annoy me.
I recently wanted to get a VFO knob to be able to better adjust the Frequency of my SDRs for SSB Signals on Shortwave or QO100 for example. You can use the Mouse Wheel on a PC, but on a Notebook or Tablet you are out of luck. After a quick Google Search i wasn't able to find anything like i wanted for a reasonable price, but i found a Audio Dial for only 15€ including Shipping on Ebay. I thought that for the price it was worth a try, even when there is no chance of changing the Audio control to something else, i at least will have a nice looking USB Knob with a metal Case and a Long micro USB Cable.
After it arrive i first gave it a try on Controling the Audio on my PC and it worked nicely. The Base is quite heavy and has some rubber pads, so it stays in place very nicely. The Knob also turns okayish, the one on my Yaesu Radio is a lot nicer of course, but it's more then good enough for a SDR Frequency Adjust. Sadly there is no Software included to change the Buttons Mapping, so what now?
I found a cheap USB Stick online (eBay) for around 15€, that can be used to upgrade any MP3 capeable device with a USB port with DAB+! As long as your Device can play MP3 files from a USB Stick, this thing will work awesome for you.
Just Plug it in, press the Button to search for channels, play your favorite Channel.mp3 File.
Here is a quick Video about it including a Teardown:
I don't know you, but i like to look at statistics from some local weatherstations around my area. Only Problem is that most of them don't have nice graphs and also don't give the raw data to process on your own.
Looking at some commercial Options, i quickly realized that they are just to expensive for me.
So i wanted to Build my own Weatherstation that also has Rain and Wind Sensors on it. It would also need to somehow connect to my Network so i can access the Data from it easily and it should not be to expensive of course.
First thing i found in the DIY Space after a quick Online Search was the Weatherstation froM Sparkfun. It was perfect i thought at first, but the Weather Sensor pack seems to be not Available anymore, the Hardware used is quite complicated and old and with 250$ not really cheap either.
Yeeees! I got my first QSO over the new QO100 Amateur Radio Satellite Today with DK8KW.
It also was my first ever CW QSO, so that are two first for me Today, great!
I used a 60cm Dish i had laying around for RX and TX that was standing indoors and looking out of the window.
It had a Octagon Oslo PLL LNB for RX and a small Patch Antenna above that. The Patch was only helöd by a pair of "Third hands" btw.
On the 14th march 2019 at 19:14 UTC the Soyuz MS-12 started from Baikonur, Kazakhstan with Astronauts Nick Hague, Christina H Koch and Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin Aboard. The flight to the ISS only took around 6 hours this time, and docking was planned for around 1:00 UTC the next Day.
There was a good pass of the ISS over my QTH here near Cologne, Germany just the Orbit before the planned Docking of the Soyuz MS-12 to the ISS. So i quickly tuned my SDR, that was connected to my QFH at the Roof as usual, to the VHF Frequency of the Soyuz capsule. And i got something!!!
A lot of ham radio operators use an Arrow Dual band Yagi that is made by a company in the USA to make contacts over satellites. The Antenna has enough gain for use with a low power 5w handheld radio and is relatively light.
It costs around 150$, what is not cheap. If you live in Europe you pay even more because of shipping etc.
I found two German ham radio operators that published information online to build Yagi antennas. The first one DK7ZB has some information about single band yagis and a simple match. DL3RTL used his plans and made a Arrow style dual band yagi out of it. I used these informations and designed a carbon version that is ultra light and simple to build because of the use of 3D printed parts.
Das Charity Event Racing4Friends auf dem Nürburgring ermöglicht körperlich und geistig eingeschränkten Personen aus verschiedensten Institutionen, ein paar Runden als Beifahrer in einem Rennwagen zu erleben. Dabei stellen größtenteils Privatpersonen ihre selbst aufgebauten Rennwagen oder Sportwagen zur Verfügung und drehen mit den Teilnehmern ein paar Runden auf der für diesen Zweck zur Verfügung gestellten Rennstrecke in der Eifel.
Ich habe ein paar Wochen vor dem diesjährigen Event von einem bekannten, der als Fahrer daran teilnimmt, davon erfahren und war von der Idee begeistert. Natürlich bekam ich sofort die Idee auch am Event Teil zu nehmen um Fotos bzw. Videos zu machen, sowie meinem Bekannten rund ein wenig zu unterstützen z. B. beim Auf und Abladen des Rennwagens.
So haben wir uns also gemeinsam am 12. November in der früh samt getunten und für Rennen umgebauten Fiat 500 Abarth auf den Weg in die Eifel gemacht. Das Wetter im Umkreis Köln/Bonn war mit starken Regen eher ernüchternd, zu unserem Glück war dies in der Eifel aber anders.
Mir so wie auch wohl allen anderen Teilnehmern hat das Event viel Spaß gemacht, dank meiner Media Anmeldung hatte ich die Chance hautnah dabei zu sein und auch an der Strecke Fotos zu machen sowie Videos in der Boxengasse zu drehen.
I had a small project with one of my followers in canada where we tried to make a combined HRPT image over the atlantic from Europe to the american continent.
Watch the Video Below for some more informations and images, hope you enjoy it :)
You can take a look at the full Resolution image as well at the end of this page.
The ISS is sending SSTV Images again on the 6th and 7th of june on Orbits that pass over Moscow.
As always they use a 145,8mhz Downlink and PD120 modulation that uses around 16khz of bandwidth (FM Wide).
I run my ADSB Radar now for over a year and started out with a Flightaware Pro Stick that worked very well.
A few months ago i bought the very well known ADSB filtered LNA from UpUtronics that seems like it is the favorite of the community around the World.
Some weeks after i had my new LNA, the producer of the high quality RTL SDRs that many people use released a ADSB LNA. RTL-SDR.com developted a 3 time filtered LNA with two gain stages that has a gain of 27db and attenuates all out of band signals at least 60db.
The ISS is sending SSTV images from the 11th April for 3 Days on all orbits insted of only moscau passes.
Mode is PD120 on the common 145.800mhz Downlink frequency.
I will mostly use my QFH and my Airspy Mini to receive the images this time. More information on my QTH page.
I will update this post at least once a day with the images i was able to receive.
Results:
123456789101112
(Green = Received | Blue = partly | Black = not received)
I got all images at least once and only one is not complete.
I'm very happy with that result because i only used my QFH and Airspy mini without any amplifier.
The ISS will transmit images over SSTV on the 2nd and 3th April on passes that go over Moscow, Russia.
They use the PD120 mode and transmit on 145.800mhz as always.
I will use my QFH on the Roof as well as my Airspy Mini sdr to recive the images. You can find more about my QTH here.
I will update this post regularly with all the images i was able to get.
I got into HRPT some time ago and was able to receive some nice images so far.
My setup is not optimal at all, but it works quite well already.
I post most of my HRPT images and other sat related stuff on my Twitter profile, follow me if you are interested :)
If you have questions, just send me an Email or contact me on Twitter etc.
First of all here is my Video about it, additional information and a few images follow further down this page.
As many of you may know i got myself a Rack Cabinet a few Months ago that is standing in a normal Room i work and life in. Because of that i need to make it as silent as possible so it doesen't annoy me.
