HFU HF Underground

Loggings => VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes => Topic started by: Teotwaki on November 21, 2022, 1454 UTC

Title: 263.580 FM
Post by: Teotwaki on November 21, 2022, 1454 UTC
Brazilian Portuguese language pirates., active now 1456 UTC. Using a borrowed R8600 on a discone, Orange County Calif.
Title: Re: Brazilian Pirates 263.580 FM SATCOM 1456 UTC 21 NOV 2022
Post by: ~SIGINT~ on November 21, 2022, 1646 UTC
Good catch on the discone. Those 225-400 MHz line-of-sight (LOS) SATCOM satellites are circular polarized, Right Hand Circular (RHC) to be exact, vise the normal linear polarization.
Title: Re: Brazilian Pirates 263.580 FM SATCOM 1456 UTC 21 NOV 2022
Post by: Teotwaki on November 21, 2022, 1801 UTC
Good catch on the discone. Those 225-400 MHz line-of-sight (LOS) SATCOM satellites are circular polarized, Right Hand Circular (RHC) to be exact, vise the normal linear polarization.

Thanks Sigint! I wanted folks to know how easy it is to receive interesting UHF satcom signals on just a discone.

I've mainly posted about HF pirate beacons and HF military comms but I'm a long time UHF satcom listener. I have a pretty nice collection of RHCP antennas and access to others when needed. I also have some classic original satcom documents I used way back when.

Original USN Satcom book
(https://i.ibb.co/NS4jyT5/image2-792x1024.jpg)

My Precious :-)  a D&M C-120
(https://i.ibb.co/ZGpKvsg/image0-5-721x1024.jpg)

The "Stick Man", a Navy AS-2815/SSR-1 with the AM-6534/SSR-1 AMPLIFIER CONVERTER (not shown)
It was one of four RHCP omi antennas for a shipboard Fleet Satellite Broadcast Message receive-only system. I need to figure out how to mount it up on a tile roof...
(https://i.ibb.co/jTjcvhn/image1-10-863x1024.jpg)

I also have a rather large military UHF cross pol yagi new in the transit case. Hard to get to for a picture. It's either Dorne & Margolin or Trivec Avant. Another hard to dig out antenna is a set of cross polarized UHF log periodic yagi antennas in a gray fiberglass radome.I've built a few RHCP antennas from scratch when needed.

I'm UHF satcom lurker AND a great admirer of all that you have posted!




 
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: ~SIGINT~ on November 21, 2022, 1855 UTC
Nice collection of antennae. My first UHF receiver dates back to 20+ years ago. It was a military Motorola (and I can not remember the nomenclature right now) unit that was shelter mounted on rack rails. I then got into the Motorola URC series and later the LST series transceivers. I have something like 3 x Dorne & Margolin 120 antennae, one beat up one which was permanently mounted outside and a pristine one in the bag, a "bat wing" antenna which is designed to be vehicle mounted and a high gain yagi. I have not had the opportunity to put the SATCOM antenna back up yet.

Good to know that the ICOM IC-R8600 works well on SATCOM. It's hard to find a good SATCOM receiver. I have the IC-R8500 as my primary SATCOM receiver. Consequently, I have heard the UHF pirates using my Barker & Williamson T2FD HF antenna connected to the R8600. In theory it should not work, but it does although not so great.

This is my previous antenna farm. I moved about 6 months ago and struggling with ways to mount all of the antennae. I think there might be a tower in the future.

Best MWDX antenna? (https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,80208.msg261898.html#msg261898)

And before I forget, I also purchased a RTL-SDR - L Band Patch Antenna a little over a year ago and it's fantastic. There is some interesting stuff above 1 GHz. I have been checking out INMARSAT etc ... and some aeronautical traffic. That antenna is connected to my RSPduo.
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: Teotwaki on November 21, 2022, 1918 UTC

This is my previous antenna farm.

Pictures?? I want to see what other satcom cult members have .....  8)
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: ~SIGINT~ on November 21, 2022, 1928 UTC
Yup, but I will have to go and snap those picture. Antennae are in the garage right now.
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: Teotwaki on November 21, 2022, 1937 UTC
My PRC-117D was good for talking Satcom but I've sold off the radio and some accessories I listed here. I need to move the rest of it along.
There is a short video of it receiving Brazilian pirates.

https://prc117d.blogspot.com/2021/08/my-prc-117d-and-collection-of.html

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3grCJh0CBts/YRxconbzSeI/AAAAAAAAHqU/7g-SHmW0e8IGbeEd61deR4IjltX2FxHOACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h458/IMG_6206.JPG])
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mYiu0LzBpxM/YRxdwXYURcI/AAAAAAAAHrE/IwISpwNw5eQ2xHj5nEyTL6YqzZlJn34PgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h380/IMG_6207.JPG)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QQJfz5NzOFk/YRxN4k4pSeI/AAAAAAAAHoo/Q5_MDSVja_MkwV0zhIu3D2lAI-lV380SwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/VRC-94D_3.jpg)




Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: ~SIGINT~ on November 22, 2022, 0120 UTC
Very nice on the radio. I used to own one of these as well. I have pretty much sold all of my tactical VHF radios other than my pair of SINCGARS. I had one of them mounted in the HMMWV. I sold the vehicle a little over a month ago but kept the radio and accessories.
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: Teotwaki on November 22, 2022, 0305 UTC
I got my fill of both SINCGARS and HMMWV acronyms back in 1989-1990 when I set up two of the radios in this Hummer. I think it's the right picture... Well before DARPA started having self-driving UGV contests.

(https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6d34f117d2216b0b0d42d352eaffb855-lq)

It was the Army's first Unmanned Ground Vehicle that was operated with a heck of an onboard electronics suite:
 
Day/night passive-perception sensors (visible, infrared, multispectral)  test algorithms such as iris control, real-time stereo ranging, obstacle detection, path planning, path following, velocity control, gaze control, and terrain classification.

The computing system included several VME single-board computers operating under the VxWorks real-time operating system. The HMMWV wais equipped with a NovAtel RT20 differential global positioning system (DGPS) receiver, which yielded a 20-cm horizontal circular-error-probable (CEP) accurate positioning solution at 10 Hz. It also contained a Honeywell Modular Azimuth Positioning System (MAPS), an inertial navigation system (INS) that produces position, orientation, and velocity data at 25 Hz. The INS and DGPS solutions were integrated with an external Kalman filter. A 5-kW propane generator, housed in a side panel, provided power for all onboard sensors and computing hardware. The SINCGARS standard data handling was used for the radio modem aspects of the vehicle build.

The Hummer may have gone to an active sandbox for a test but who knows for sure. After all that I had no interest in owning a SINCGARS or a HMMWV, lol. These days AN/PRC152A radios are more fun and I don't have to pay for them..
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: Teotwaki on November 23, 2022, 1525 UTC
Brazilian pirates are getting chatty this morning.
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: sat_dxer on November 23, 2022, 1554 UTC
Brazilian pirates are getting chatty this morning.

1525z 23 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 3
sub-point 1N 167W (has drifted west out of range of Brazil)
Mean Motion 1.00224/day

1525z 23 Nov /22
UFO 7 (USA 127)
sub-point 5N 124W
Mean Motion 1.00162/day
------------------------------------------------------------------
1525z 23 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 2
sub-point 10S 92W
Mean Motion 0.98539/day

1525z 23 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 1
sub-point 10S 61W
Mean Motion 0.99001/day

1525z 23 Nov /22
UFO 5 (USA 111)
sub-point 6S 67W
Mean Motion 0.98748/day

Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: Teotwaki on November 23, 2022, 1601 UTC


I need that "Like" button back on the tool bar! Thanks!


1525z 23 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 3
sub-point 1N 167W (has drifted west out of range of Brazil)
Mean Motion 1.00224/day

1525z 23 Nov /22
UFO 7 (USA 127)
sub-point 5N 124W
Mean Motion 1.00162/day
------------------------------------------------------------------
1525z 23 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 2
sub-point 10S 92W
Mean Motion 0.98539/day

1525z 23 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 1
sub-point 10S 61W
Mean Motion 0.99001/day

1525z 23 Nov /22
UFO 5 (USA 111)
sub-point 6S 67W
Mean Motion 0.98748/day
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: sat_dxer on November 29, 2022, 2252 UTC
258.65MHz NFM Brazilian(?) pirates (weak audio); 2234z 29 Nov /22

2234z 29 Nov /22
UFO 7 (USA 127)
sub-point 10S 127W
Mean Motion 1.00162/day
------------------------------------------------------------------
2234z 29 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 2
sub-point 6S 131W
Mean Motion 0.98539/day

2234z 29 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 1
sub-point 2N 91W
Mean Motion 0.99001/day

2234z 29 Nov /22
FLTSATCOM 4
sub-point 1N 86W
Mean Motion 0.98949/day

2234z 29 Nov /22
UFO 5 (USA 111)
sub-point 11S 101W
Mean Motion 0.98748/day
Title: Re: 263.580 FM
Post by: sat_dxer on December 01, 2022, 0125 UTC
253.85MHz NFM Brazilian pirates; 0102z 1 Dec /22

0102z 1 Dec /22
UFO 7 (USA 127)
sub-point 9S 127W
Mean Motion 1.00162/day
------------------------------------------------------------------
0102z 1 Dec /22
FLTSATCOM 2
sub-point 1S 138W
Mean Motion 0.98539/day

0102z 1 Dec /22
FLTSATCOM 1
sub-point 7N 96W
Mean Motion 0.99001/day

0102z 1 Dec /22
FLTSATCOM 4
sub-point 7N 91W
Mean Motion 0.98949/day

0102z 1 Dec /22
UFO 5 (USA 111)
sub-point 7S 107W
Mean Motion 0.98748/day