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Absolutely sweet! What a delight to see a rasp-pi enthusiast mix satellite detection with antenna design and junk box hacking! Long ago, this was the ham radi

Absolutely sweet! What a delight to see a rasp-pi enthusiast mix satellite detection with antenna design and junk box hacking! Long ago, this was the ham radio mindset... still is, for some.

lxgr 4y ago
Speaking of ham radio mindset, I‘m continuously amazed by the existence of VHF and UHF amateur radio relay satellites, as well as the ham station on the ISS. It doesn‘t seem like pointing a handheld radio at the sky could possibly be enough to talk to astronauts, yet it seems to work!
- bombcar 4y ago
  It’s only 250 miles, straight up!
- LeoPanthera 4y ago
  (V/U)HF communication range is limited mostly by the distance to the horizon. There's no horizon if you're talking to someone straight up.
- wyldfire 4y ago
  There's a cool and weird scene in "Gravity" which depicts this kind of contact. If you've already seen the film, you should check out "Aningaaq" [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrm2fv_zXoU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrm2fv_zXoU
- dylan604 4y ago
  There was a guy at one of the star parties I went to a few years ago that pulled out his ham gear and had a brief chat with the ISS as it flew over. He missed the first fly by, but caught it on the next two. It was kind of cool for such a "simple" thing. Not sure how many others can say they've had a conversation with someone traveling 17k+ mph.
JKCalhoun 4y ago
Love to see convergence on an open portable RTL-SDR rig like the "tricorder" in the article. I've also tried putting together the right hardware + software but found it a little overwhelming for my lack of expertise.
- Mountain_Skies 4y ago
  Something like a HackRF with a Portapack? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEHfPPo1ZlU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEHfPPo1ZlU
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    Yeah, I think that's it. Maybe it just needs some more "intuitive" software?
  - moremetadata 4y ago
    I'd like to see this sort of hardware built into a smart phone as a matter of course, I think the Infosec specialists would find it extremely useful.
    - dingaling 4y ago
      I doubt tunable hardware will ever be integrated into phones, given certification regulations,but there are apps for tuning RTL-SDR over USB OTG from Android. I don't really know why an RPi was used in this example as opposed to a cheap used laptop that already has screen, battery and decent USB.

Absolutely sweet! What a delight to see a rasp-pi enthusiast mix satellite detection with antenna design and junk box hacking! Long ago, this was the ham radio mindset... still is, for some.

lxgr 4y ago

Speaking of ham radio mindset, I‘m continuously amazed by the existence of VHF and UHF amateur radio relay satellites, as well as the ham station on the ISS. It doesn‘t seem like pointing a handheld radio at the sky could possibly be enough to talk to astronauts, yet it seems to work!

bombcar 4y ago
It’s only 250 miles, straight up!
LeoPanthera 4y ago
(V/U)HF communication range is limited mostly by the distance to the horizon. There's no horizon if you're talking to someone straight up.
wyldfire 4y ago
There's a cool and weird scene in "Gravity" which depicts this kind of contact. If you've already seen the film, you should check out "Aningaaq" [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrm2fv_zXoU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrm2fv_zXoU
dylan604 4y ago
There was a guy at one of the star parties I went to a few years ago that pulled out his ham gear and had a brief chat with the ISS as it flew over. He missed the first fly by, but caught it on the next two. It was kind of cool for such a "simple" thing. Not sure how many others can say they've had a conversation with someone traveling 17k+ mph.

JKCalhoun 4y ago

Love to see convergence on an open portable RTL-SDR rig like the "tricorder" in the article. I've also tried putting together the right hardware + software but found it a little overwhelming for my lack of expertise.

Mountain_Skies 4y ago
Something like a HackRF with a Portapack? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEHfPPo1ZlU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEHfPPo1ZlU
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Yeah, I think that's it. Maybe it just needs some more "intuitive" software?
- moremetadata 4y ago
  I'd like to see this sort of hardware built into a smart phone as a matter of course, I think the Infosec specialists would find it extremely useful.
  - dingaling 4y ago
    I doubt tunable hardware will ever be integrated into phones, given certification regulations,but there are apps for tuning RTL-SDR over USB OTG from Android. I don't really know why an RPi was used in this example as opposed to a cheap used laptop that already has screen, battery and decent USB.