Difference between revisions of "Radio Activities"

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As of this writing we are in the process of getting antennas up for several bands and radio projects. This page is here to help track these projects and let folks know what we are doing.
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We've been slowing working on getting our antennas back up after the move in early 2018.
 +
 
 +
We have several antennas and radios available for several bands and projects. This page is here to help track these projects and let folks know what we are doing.
 +
 
  
 
== Infrastructure ==
 
== Infrastructure ==
  
=== Radio Desk ===
+
=== Radio Room / Electronics Room ===
This is a desk that has been setup in an out of the way area just for radio activites at Bloominglabs. The idea was to keep this semi-isolated so that it attracts less cluter, currently it's in the corner of the kitchen area. This is also relatively close to the antennas for shorter coax runs and provides easy accees to the grounding block demarco.
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Since our move in early 2018 we combined the radio desk with the electronics room so that both can be expanded. We have a larger radio bench now which is much less crowded. It is along the back wall of our building for shorter feed line runs to our growing antenna farm and also provides much easier access to our surge suppression/grounding block.
 +
 
 +
FCC licenced individuals are welcome to use our Ham radio gear. If you want to connect your rig to our antennas on a temporary basis that is fine too. If you want to setup any long term gear that's great, just let someone know that you have an interest and we'll help you get hooked up.
 +
 
 +
[[Image:Blabs_radio_desk-Swalnut.jpg|none|thumb|300px|Radio desk as of 2019]]
  
 
=== Radios ===
 
=== Radios ===
* RX/TX
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* [[Amateur Radio]]
** 2m Kenwood
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** Yaesu FT-7800R dual band transceiver
** Yaesu FT-7800R dual band
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** Yaesu FT-900 HF transceiver (pending hookup)
** Radio Shack Sport CB
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** Radio Shack HTX-212, 2m transceiver (spare gear)
 +
 
 +
* Other bands
 +
** CB - Cherokee CBS1000 base station
 +
** Radio Shack Sport CB (spare gear)
  
 
* RX only
 
* RX only
 
** Uniden 996T Digital Scanner
 
** Uniden 996T Digital Scanner
** Sub-1GHz scanner
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** Realistic Pro-136 Scanner (sub 1GHz)
** Weather radio
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=== Antennas ===
 
=== Antennas ===
Our building has a 12 foot ceiling indoors and the peak of the roof line is at about 20 feet. We have a 17' mast which is approximately 13' feet above the peak of our roof. At the top is a 2m ham antenna, then our WiFi dishe('s) are mounted just below that. We will have another 10 foot mast with a discone on top mounted North of there for general scanning use. We also have other antennas for specialty purposes.
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We are still building out our antennas at our new location as of 2018. This information will probably change quite a bit through 2019.
 +
 
 +
[[Image:20181222_blabs_masts-small1.jpg|none|thumb|300px|Masts and antennas on rear side of our building - current as of Jan 2019]]
  
* Mast 1 - peak is about 33'
 
** 2 meter pole antenna, top of antenna is at about 38'
 
** 24dBi dish for wifi mesh - we have a second identicle dish which may also get attached to this mast at a later date
 
  
* Mast 2 - peak is about 25'
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* Mast 1 - Right-most
** Discone for wide band receiving
+
** RX-only / Discone for wide band receiving (< 1GHz), LMR-400 coax for low loss
 +
** LNA4ALL Low Noise Amplifier for improved high-frequency receiving
 +
** Wide-band 8-way power divider/splitter
 +
** Hook up your RX-only SDR to this for experimentation!
  
* Mast 3 - antenna peak is about 23'
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* Mast 2
** 11m (CB) whip attached to the peak of the roof
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** Dual band Diamond 2m/440 whip
  
* Mast 4 - pending
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* Mast 3
** ADS-B band antenna
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** ADS-B/MLAT airplane telemetry antenna
 +
** [[Weather Station]] - pending, needs work before being re-deployed
 +
** room for other small antennas
  
* Mast 5 - pending
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* Mast 4 - Left-most
** HF antenna
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** Solarcon A-99 CB/11m half-wave whip
  
== Grounding Block Demarco ==
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* Other masts/outdoor antennas being considered:
This is above the mud room (laser room) in the workshop. All of the antenna coax runs go through here and get lightning surge suppression at this spot. There is a grounding plate for all ground attachments and the grounding plate will soon be directly grounded to an outdoor grounding rod.
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** SatNOGS no-rotator station
 +
** Ham HF antenna (we have a Cushcraft R-6000 HF whip sitting idle)
 +
** WiFi dish (24DBi)
  
Additionally, there is another board installed here for attaching infrastructure equipment for the WiFi mesh if needed.
+
=== Grounding Block Demarco ===
 +
This is now located above the radio desk on the side of the loft area. All of the antenna coax runs go through here and get lightning surge suppression at this spot. There is a grounding plate for all ground attachments and the grounding plate is directly grounded to an outdoor grounding rod. Multiple pieces of equipment hooked to our antennas connect to our network so we have an ethernet surge suppressor here as well.
  
 +
[[Image:Bl-grounddemarco.jpg|none|thumb|300px|Grounding demarco]]
  
== WiFi Mesh ==
 
We have two 24dBi 2.4GHz dishes for linking up nearby remote buildings. We are in the process of getting our end up and running. Once that is complete we have some candidates in the surrounding areas for linking up to.
 
  
There are a couple of goals, but the project has room for growth and change. Firstly it would be nice just to see what other sites we can link together to have a private network that spans further than just our building. Second, it could provide backup communication in the event of an emergency. Third, it will be fun just to see what other uses we can come up with for this.
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== Radio Projects ==
  
 +
=== ADS-B receiving station  ===
 +
In April 2015 we were notified that our application to receive and host a free ADS-B receiving station for http://www.flightradar24.com/free-ads-b-equipment was approved. The hardware appears to be a [http://wiki.modesbeast.com/Radarcape:Software_Features Radarcape] embedded system with some of the web features disabled. The real time data feeds still work for local data capturing if desired. The antenna is mounted about 30' high. Members can get our premium login to http://www.flightradar24.com, just email contact at bloominglabs dot org for details.
  
== Part 15 station - Bloominglabs Radio - pending ==
+
Contrary to popular belief, the most common way to locate aircraft is by using a process know as MLAT and NOT by decoding ADS-B telemetry. ADS-B still remains valid, but is still not widely deployed in the continental US. MLAT stands for Multilateration and is a process that uses multiple ground-based receivers watching aircraft telemetry signals (usually 1090 MHz Mode S transponders - but not decoding this telemetry) to triangulate a moving aircraft. However most people in the SDR and scanning communities know what ADS-B telemetry is though so it's still easier to refer to this as an ADS-B receiver.
This is essentially a low power non-licensed (legal) broadcast station in the AM commercial band (can be received on any common AM radio). Part 15 refers to [http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/15.221 47 CFR 15.221] (Operation in the band 525-1705 kHz in this case).
+
  
I've operated these in the past and they are a lot of fun. The coverage area can usually have a radius of about 1 mile, output power is limited to 100mA along with a limit of a 10' antenna. Because of FCC rules and the way this band of radio works the mast MUST be mounted directly into the ground, attaching it to our building will not work. Once our back parking lot area becomes more free of trailers I would like to run coax out through a drain pipe and get a station running.
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[[Image:Bl-adsb.jpg|none|thumb|300px|ADS-B/MLAT receiver]]
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Manual for FR24 streaming: [https://feed.flightradar24.com/fr24feed-manual.pdf https://feed.flightradar24.com/fr24feed-manual.pdf]
  
 +
For more information about getting data off our receiver, see [[Bloominglabs_ADS-B]].
  
== SatNOGS Ground Station - pending ==
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=== Scanner Icecast internet feed ===
A couple of us are trying to build a [[SatNOGS_Ground_Station]]. Once this is operational we will be able to contribute to the SatNOGS network and allow members to control the dish for any satellite telemetry work they wish to do.
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The Bloominglabs radio desk has two radio scanners running: a Uniden BCD996T digital P25 scanner and a Uniden BCT15X analog scanner. The digital scanner monitors the Indiana SAFE-T P25 Bloomington site while the analog scanner monitors local conventional VHF channels. We have an Icecast server to stream a feed from these scanners so members can listen in remotely
  
 +
* http://radio.bloominglabs.org:8000/policescanner
  
== ADS-B receiving station - pending ==
+
There are a lot of moving parts to get the scanner feed available at the moment. There is a troubleshooting page here for reference: [[Scanner]].
In April 2015 we were notified that our application to receive and host a free ADS-B receiving station for http://www.flightradar24.com/free-ads-b-equipment was approved. This project is in-progress.
+
  
 +
=== WiFi Mesh - pending ===
 +
There have been a number of people/groups interested in setting up various types of wifi meshes in town over the years. As of late 2018 there is a renewed effort which we hope to be able to participate with. If/when we are able to link up to this Ham mesh we will list more details here.
  
== Scanner Icecast internet feed - pending ==
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==== Goals of a mesh ====
In April 2015 we revieved a Uniden 996T Digital Scanner on long-term loan by a very generous member of the public. This is a top end scanner that can receive the P25 digital mode now in use by our local emergency services and elsewhere across our state. We plan to setup an Icecast server to stream a feed from this radio so members can listen in, more info will be posted as this progresses.
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This is very open ended. Firstly, it's just a proof of concept to see if we/anyone can get a reliable link up to connect different parts of town off the grid. The hardest part about this is geography. Bloomington has a big "hump" that runs across the middle of town so it's hard to get the line-of-sight required for wifi. However we have a neighbor which should be linked up to this new mesh system soon... There are multiple ways to implement a mesh, as mentioned above the current lead contender is Ham focused. There is room for multiple mesh networks serving different purposes (ham and part15). However we are interested in working with anyone interested in pushing this project forward.
  
 +
=== SatNOGS Ground Station - pending ===
 +
We have a no-rotator ground station in the testing stage [https://network.satnogs.org/stations/405/ here]. Our intent is to also get a rotator ground station running sometime this year too. See this page for further details on our SatNOGS progress: [[SatNOGS Ground Station v3]]
  
 +
== QR code URL==
 +
The latest version of this document is always available online.
 +
<br>http://www.bloominglabs.org/index.php/Radio_Activities
 +
[[Image:Qrcode_radio_activities_wiki_url.png|none|thumb|150px|URL for this page]]
  
[[Category:Dosman_projects]] [[Category:The_Space]] [[Category:Radio]]
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[[Category:The_Space]] [[Category:Radio]] [[Category:Dosman_projects]]

Latest revision as of 15:03, 1 September 2019

We've been slowing working on getting our antennas back up after the move in early 2018.

We have several antennas and radios available for several bands and projects. This page is here to help track these projects and let folks know what we are doing.


Contents

[edit] Infrastructure

[edit] Radio Room / Electronics Room

Since our move in early 2018 we combined the radio desk with the electronics room so that both can be expanded. We have a larger radio bench now which is much less crowded. It is along the back wall of our building for shorter feed line runs to our growing antenna farm and also provides much easier access to our surge suppression/grounding block.

FCC licenced individuals are welcome to use our Ham radio gear. If you want to connect your rig to our antennas on a temporary basis that is fine too. If you want to setup any long term gear that's great, just let someone know that you have an interest and we'll help you get hooked up.

Radio desk as of 2019

[edit] Radios

  • Amateur Radio
    • Yaesu FT-7800R dual band transceiver
    • Yaesu FT-900 HF transceiver (pending hookup)
    • Radio Shack HTX-212, 2m transceiver (spare gear)
  • Other bands
    • CB - Cherokee CBS1000 base station
    • Radio Shack Sport CB (spare gear)
  • RX only
    • Uniden 996T Digital Scanner
    • Realistic Pro-136 Scanner (sub 1GHz)


[edit] Antennas

We are still building out our antennas at our new location as of 2018. This information will probably change quite a bit through 2019.

Masts and antennas on rear side of our building - current as of Jan 2019


  • Mast 1 - Right-most
    • RX-only / Discone for wide band receiving (< 1GHz), LMR-400 coax for low loss
    • LNA4ALL Low Noise Amplifier for improved high-frequency receiving
    • Wide-band 8-way power divider/splitter
    • Hook up your RX-only SDR to this for experimentation!
  • Mast 2
    • Dual band Diamond 2m/440 whip
  • Mast 3
    • ADS-B/MLAT airplane telemetry antenna
    • Weather Station - pending, needs work before being re-deployed
    • room for other small antennas
  • Mast 4 - Left-most
    • Solarcon A-99 CB/11m half-wave whip
  • Other masts/outdoor antennas being considered:
    • SatNOGS no-rotator station
    • Ham HF antenna (we have a Cushcraft R-6000 HF whip sitting idle)
    • WiFi dish (24DBi)

[edit] Grounding Block Demarco

This is now located above the radio desk on the side of the loft area. All of the antenna coax runs go through here and get lightning surge suppression at this spot. There is a grounding plate for all ground attachments and the grounding plate is directly grounded to an outdoor grounding rod. Multiple pieces of equipment hooked to our antennas connect to our network so we have an ethernet surge suppressor here as well.

Grounding demarco


[edit] Radio Projects

[edit] ADS-B receiving station

In April 2015 we were notified that our application to receive and host a free ADS-B receiving station for http://www.flightradar24.com/free-ads-b-equipment was approved. The hardware appears to be a Radarcape embedded system with some of the web features disabled. The real time data feeds still work for local data capturing if desired. The antenna is mounted about 30' high. Members can get our premium login to http://www.flightradar24.com, just email contact at bloominglabs dot org for details.

Contrary to popular belief, the most common way to locate aircraft is by using a process know as MLAT and NOT by decoding ADS-B telemetry. ADS-B still remains valid, but is still not widely deployed in the continental US. MLAT stands for Multilateration and is a process that uses multiple ground-based receivers watching aircraft telemetry signals (usually 1090 MHz Mode S transponders - but not decoding this telemetry) to triangulate a moving aircraft. However most people in the SDR and scanning communities know what ADS-B telemetry is though so it's still easier to refer to this as an ADS-B receiver.

ADS-B/MLAT receiver

Manual for FR24 streaming: https://feed.flightradar24.com/fr24feed-manual.pdf

For more information about getting data off our receiver, see Bloominglabs_ADS-B.

[edit] Scanner Icecast internet feed

The Bloominglabs radio desk has two radio scanners running: a Uniden BCD996T digital P25 scanner and a Uniden BCT15X analog scanner. The digital scanner monitors the Indiana SAFE-T P25 Bloomington site while the analog scanner monitors local conventional VHF channels. We have an Icecast server to stream a feed from these scanners so members can listen in remotely

There are a lot of moving parts to get the scanner feed available at the moment. There is a troubleshooting page here for reference: Scanner.

[edit] WiFi Mesh - pending

There have been a number of people/groups interested in setting up various types of wifi meshes in town over the years. As of late 2018 there is a renewed effort which we hope to be able to participate with. If/when we are able to link up to this Ham mesh we will list more details here.

[edit] Goals of a mesh

This is very open ended. Firstly, it's just a proof of concept to see if we/anyone can get a reliable link up to connect different parts of town off the grid. The hardest part about this is geography. Bloomington has a big "hump" that runs across the middle of town so it's hard to get the line-of-sight required for wifi. However we have a neighbor which should be linked up to this new mesh system soon... There are multiple ways to implement a mesh, as mentioned above the current lead contender is Ham focused. There is room for multiple mesh networks serving different purposes (ham and part15). However we are interested in working with anyone interested in pushing this project forward.

[edit] SatNOGS Ground Station - pending

We have a no-rotator ground station in the testing stage here. Our intent is to also get a rotator ground station running sometime this year too. See this page for further details on our SatNOGS progress: SatNOGS Ground Station v3

[edit] QR code URL

The latest version of this document is always available online.
http://www.bloominglabs.org/index.php/Radio_Activities

URL for this page
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