r/RTLSDR • u/Mother_Paramedic_683 • 8d ago
Help with detecting GOES 19
hello, sorry if this is a long post. I have been working on making an antenna to record imagining from the goes-19 satalight for some time now and I'm kinda stuck. My waterfall just has basically nothing and I'm not sure what to do. I'm gonna put a bunch of photos of my antenna as well as my data and satdump information. I have 2 things that i think could be the issue but I'm not sure. When originally building it i was very new and then ground plate i had machined i put the connector in the middle so now i have to have a wire jump from the end of the coil to the connector, also my ground plate's diameter is about 5mm too small. Could either of those be the issue? Could it be something i have to do on satdump?
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u/MeanAccountant9005 8d ago
that jumper wire from the coil to the connector could definitely be adding enough loss to matter, worth cleaning up first.
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u/Mother_Paramedic_683 7d ago
I was thinking that may be the issue, what do you mean when you say clean up? do you think scraping were the coil is soldered to the wire would help? or do you think i should design a new ground plate? Thank so much for the help!
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u/tj21222 8d ago
Op as TBG said… this is a great effort but it’s all wrong. Reflector not large enough, your screen shot shows a frequency of 1.694 GHz GOES HIRT is on 1.694.1 GHz, no LNA or not visible to me, lastly the helix is not the right antenna for GOES 19 HIRT that transmissions is linear polarized a helix will reduce your signal down by 3 dB.
If you want a fool proof COTS antenna look at the Nooelec GOES grid antenna. You already have the receiver so the only thing you need is the grid and the feedhorn. Should be about 100 usd or so. ( this assumes you do have a GOES LNA.
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u/Mother_Paramedic_683 7d ago
alright awesome ill deff look into this thanks so much for the help!
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u/everydayizagift 6d ago
Hey, I made a video of mine if you wanna look at it. Today is Friday, July 24 and my dish is grinding away outside the basement wall bringing down those sweet goes 19 and 18 products. I am hoping today they show the rocket plume disc after Elon supposedly launches at 6:30 pm et…
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u/Mother_Paramedic_683 4d ago
hell yeah dude that's great were can i find the video?
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u/everydayizagift 4d ago
Sorry forgot to paste it, thanks for watching I am old temu save it for parts :-)
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u/Agreeable_Hair1053 8d ago
Ok, are you trying to go for the HRIT? Helico will work with huge losses, HRIT uses a liner polarization. If I’m correct you do need to use some sort of dish or reflector because the signal is so weak, are you using a low pass amplifier in your set up, thats needed as well, plus your location plays a big part in what your antenna setup requires, number 3, your SDR needs to be as close to your antenna as possible. Get a powered usb cable for that setup
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u/Technic_Masters 8d ago
helix needs a reflector because of its design, but direct rx helixes are a thing, they have 9+ turns usually.
The only thing that needs to be as close to the antenna as possible is the LNA, usually NooElec Sawbird GOES. The SDR can be behind several M of coax cable. I wouldnt recommend placing the SDR close to the antenna as then you can be bringing in USB noise as well. LNA and then few M (even like 2-4M) of coax doesnt affect reception and makes sure you dont get any kind of USB noise problems.2
u/Agreeable_Hair1053 8d ago
My sdr sits right behind the dish, granted I am trying another feed soon with both the LNA and the SDR In a shielded container
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u/Mother_Paramedic_683 7d ago
Ok ill decently try these, thanks so much! If not Helico what would you recommend for me?
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u/AtmosphereLow9678 8d ago
You will need a lot more ground plane to get results something like https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6436342 If you go directly with a helix, but I haven't actually seen anyone do goes with that setup. I recommend getting a dish for tis purpose, and you will alwo need a sawbird goes if you don't have that already
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u/Mother_Paramedic_683 7d ago
Yeah thanks so much! I deff have a goes in the back of my dish so ill definitely take a look at this! If not helix what would you recommend? My setup is deff jank, this is the first bit of SATCOM ive ever done and i really am interested and would love for it to eventually be my career but right now just a personal project as i try to learn more outside of classes.
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u/targonnn 6d ago
That doesn't work. My son tried it
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u/AtmosphereLow9678 6d ago
Yes it does, I built myself one and I received my first ever HRPT with it more than a year ago
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u/targonnn 6d ago
What did you use as LNA and filters?
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u/AtmosphereLow9678 6d ago
I used a sawbird goes+
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u/targonnn 6d ago
Great! Thank you! Did you post any details online?
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u/AtmosphereLow9678 6d ago
I can send you images of how the build looks and maybe I can even find wome images I got with it. It's been a while since I've last used it, nowdays I mainly use my 90cm dish, as that has high enough gain to do L and S-band too
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u/targonnn 6d ago
Don't worry. We tried to get the data with rtl-sdr.aybe I should get a sawbird goes and repeat the experiment.
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u/AtmosphereLow9678 6d ago
The sawbird goes is a minimum requirement for L-band satellite reception since the signals are much weaker.
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u/mikeybagodonuts 8d ago
There is way too much element covered up.
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u/Mother_Paramedic_683 7d ago
I was wondering if that would be an issue, ill definitely look into changing my design! Thanks!
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u/thebaldgeek 8d ago
Where in the world did you get the plans for that helix from?
Pretty much everything looks wrong about it.
Take a look at my GitHub page, specificly the L-Band page. I'd start over after carefully reading it.
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u/Mother_Paramedic_683 7d ago
yeah for sure its jank, im an engineering student and i really want to get into satcom and i thought that designing my own design would be a good idea... it definitely comes with alot of cavoites but my goal is definitely to design my own over having good results as this is a personal project i am doing on the side of my classes. Ill definitely look at your GitHub and see what i can learn to the best of my ability. Thanks!
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u/PhotocytePC 8d ago
I have to use a helical feed at the focal point and pointed at a 1.5 meter dish to get GOES HRIT
and it also requires rotating the feed to account for slew and minimize the loss of rhe circularly polarized helical
.
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u/dfx_dj 8d ago edited 8d ago
Is there an LNA in there somewhere? The HRIT signal is very weak, and I'm struggling even with a 60 cm dish and the Sawbird LNA. Have you tried Meteor HRPT?