Radio & antennas – Oleg Kutkov personal blog

Starlink terminal revision 4: overview and tests

Oleg Kutkov — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 01:22:59 +0000

Revision 4 is the new version of the Starlink user terminal. As of February 2024, the new version is only available in the US. I decided to test the new hardware and compare it to the well-known REV3 (a.k.a. Gen2/V2 or “Standard Actuated”). Revision 4 If you don’t understand why this model is called REV4, I explain it in…

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Connecting external GPS antenna to the Starlink terminal

Oleg Kutkov — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 00:27:48 +0000

In this article, I would like to discuss Starlink GPS implementation, potential problems, and ways to improve. Let’s agree that the paper will focus on GNSS in general, but for convenience, I will call it GPS. But first… Why does Starlink need GPS? To successfully communicate with satellites, the Starlink terminal requires the position of each satellite with the…

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HackRF SuperCluster

Oleg Kutkov — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 00:37:18 +0000

Who’s following me on Twitter probably knows some details. I believe this is my most expected article. Last year I came up with the idea to build a wideband SDR. It’s fun to monitor a wider spectrum and some signals. Sure, USRP is cool but too expensive for amateur usage. I had a few HackRF boards, so I ordered more…

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Housing for the 1PPS/Square clock 8 channel distribution amplifier

Oleg Kutkov — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 00:29:43 +0000

While experimenting with my clock distribution amplifier, I found that this board creates a lot of interference to my HackRF receivers. Plus, it’s not very convenient to work with a bare board. I decided to build metal housing for this board. This is just a little note about its construction and some nuances. Sure, it’s impossible to find a…

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1PPS/Square clock 8 channel distribution amplifier

Oleg Kutkov — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 09:29:05 +0000

This is a “production” version of my 1PPS distribution prototype. Now, this device supports 1PPS and Square clock signal distribution for 8 consumers. The new device is designed with lower delays and flexible configuration in mind. You can find the schematic and all required production files below. The board can be powered from different sources using a flexible configuration. It’s…

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1PPS distribution circuit

Oleg Kutkov — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 18:39:50 +0000

1PPS is a great way to synchronize multiple devices and measure time intervals. A typical source of the 1PPS is a GPS receiver. This clock is disciplined by GPS atomic clock and has a reasonable precision. GPS receiver 1PPS output should have enough loading capability, but it’s a good idea to use a buffer. Especially when voltage level translation is…

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Small satellite dish with rotator

Oleg Kutkov — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 00:13:15 +0000

Receiving and analyzing radio signals is fun. Receiving satellite signal is even better. A few years ago, I had a nice 3m satellite dish with a hydrogen line receiver. Now I have only a small balcony with limited antennas placement ability. I decided to build a custom 40 cm dish with a servo-based rotator. Sure, it’s impossible to receive weak…

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Satellite LNB controller with GUI interface

Oleg Kutkov — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:54:15 +0000

Satellite LNB are quite cheap and easy to get devices. There are different models for different bands (C, Ku, and Ka) with different characteristics like SNR, noise figure, etc. Typically those devices are used with TV Set-top boxes. More interesting is that LNB can be easily connected to an SDR receiver. LNB is a simple frequency down-converter with an output…

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Mysterious Flat satellite antenna from China

Oleg Kutkov — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:41:00 +0000

A few months ago, I found a quite unusual satellite antenna on the well-known Chinese portal. The antenna was relatively small, completely flat, and declared as a Ku-band satellite TV antenna. I was really wondered what’s inside and how it works so I decided to buy one sample. In a few weeks, I got a shabby box containing an actual…

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Reworking linear polarization satellite LNB into a circular polarized

Oleg Kutkov — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 20:56:08 +0000

In this article, I want to discuss different types of satellite LNB, polarization, and depolarization of waves. Also, I’ll show how to rework the LNB. Also, we will discuss a theory to figure out why this rework is working. The primary topic here is Ku-band LNB, but all this also works for the Ka-band and C-band. Here in Europe, we…

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