Difference between revisions of "Radio Activities"

Latest revision as of 17:21, 19 May 2024

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.

[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 2024

[edit] Radios

Amateur Radio
- Yaesu FTM-2750 dual band 2m/70cm FM/C4FM transceiver
- Yaesu FT-710 HF transceiver
- Yaesu FT-7800 dual band 2m/70cm FM transceiver (spare gear)
- Tait TM8105 2m MMDVM high-power hotspot (145.785 simplex P25)
- Jumbospot low-power 70cm transmitter (POCSAG Dapnet Pager Network)

Other bands
- CB - Cherokee CBS1000 base station
- Uniden Bearcat 880 (spare gear)

RX only
- Uniden BCD-996T Digital Scanner
- Uniden BCT-15X Analog Scanner
- Uniden BC780XLT analog Scanner (spare gear)
- Realistic Pro-136 Scanner (sub 1GHz) (spare gear)

[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 Laptop

We replaced our Raspberry Pi workstation with an HP Probook with an external monitor in 2024. The monitor displays an ADS-B map most of the time. Feel free to add other radio-related software. See the room captain or a Bloominglabs officer for the credentials for the radio laptop. The laptop also has 3 Windows VirtualBox VMs for when Microsoft software is required:

Windows 10 Pro
Windows 7 Pro
Windows XP Pro

Please be very careful when using the Windows 7 and XP VMs; they no longer receive security updates. We suggest running them with networking disabled. You have been warned.

[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] Police Scanner internet feeds

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

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 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_desk02.jpg|none|thumb|300px|Radio desk / image out of date as of 2018]]
+[[Image:Radio-desk.jpeg|none|thumb|300px|Radio desk as of 2024]]
 === Radios ===
 * [[Amateur Radio]]
-** Yaesu FT-7800R dual band transceiver
+** Yaesu FTM-2750 dual band 2m/70cm FM/C4FM transceiver
-** Yaesu FT-900 HF transceiver (pending hookup)
+** Yaesu FT-710 HF transceiver
-** Radio Shack HTX-212, 2m transceiver (spare gear)
+** Yaesu FT-7800 dual band 2m/70cm FM transceiver (spare gear)
+** Tait TM8105 2m MMDVM high-power hotspot (145.785 simplex P25)
+** Jumbospot low-power 70cm transmitter (POCSAG Dapnet Pager Network)
 * Other bands
-** Radio Shack Sport CB (pending hookup)
+** CB - Cherokee CBS1000 base station
+** Uniden Bearcat 880 (spare gear)
 * RX only
-** Uniden 996T Digital Scanner
+** Uniden BCD-996T Digital Scanner
-** Realistic Pro-136 Scanner (sub 1GHz)
+** Uniden BCT-15X Analog Scanner
-** Weather radio
+** Uniden BC780XLT analog Scanner (spare gear)
+** Realistic Pro-136 Scanner (sub 1GHz) (spare gear)
 === 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.
-[[Image:BL_masts.jpg|none|thumb|300px|Masts and antennas from left to right - image out of date as of 2018]]
+[[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 - Left-most
-** [[Weather Station]] - pending, needs some work
+* Mast 1 - Right-most
-** ADS-B airplane telemetry antenna
+** RX-only / Discone for wide band receiving (< 1GHz), LMR-400 coax for low loss
-** room for one more antenna
+** 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
@@ Line 43: / Line 47: @@
 * Mast 3
-** RX-only / Discone for wide band receiving, LMR-400 coax for low loss
+** ADS-B/MLAT airplane telemetry antenna
-** LNA4ALL Low Noise Amplifier for improved high-frequency receiving
+** [[Weather Station]] - pending, needs work before being re-deployed
-** Coming soon: feeds multiple scanners which stream online
+** room for other small antennas
-** High quality splitter installed with spare feeds, hook up your RX-only SDR to this!
+* Mast 4 - Left-most
+** Solarcon A-99 CB/11m half-wave whip
 * Other masts/outdoor antennas being considered:
-** SatNOGS station
+** SatNOGS no-rotator station
-** Ham HF antenna
+** Ham HF antenna (we have a Cushcraft R-6000 HF whip sitting idle)
-** CB antenna
 ** WiFi dish (24DBi)
-* <s>Mast 4</s>
-** <s>Cushcraft R-6000 HF antenna</s>
-* <s>CB antenna mounted to side of building at the peak, no mast</s>
 === 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.
-<s>Additionally, there is another mounting board installed here for attaching infrastructure equipment for the WiFi mesh when needed. There is power and an ethernet hub here and this is also where the ADS-B receiver lives.</s>
 [[Image:Bl-grounddemarco.jpg|none|thumb|300px|Grounding demarco]]
+=== Radio Laptop ===
+We replaced our Raspberry Pi workstation with an HP Probook with an external monitor in 2024. The monitor displays an ADS-B map most of the time. Feel free to add other radio-related software. See the room captain or a Bloominglabs officer for the credentials for the radio laptop. The laptop also has 3 Windows VirtualBox VMs for when Microsoft software is required:
+* Windows 10 Pro
+* Windows 7 Pro
+* Windows XP Pro
+Please be very careful when using the Windows 7 and XP VMs; they no longer receive security updates. We suggest running them with networking disabled. You have been warned.
 == Radio Projects ==
@@ Line 73: / Line 76: @@
 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.
-[[Image:Bl-adsb.jpg|none|thumb|300px|ADS-B receiver]]
+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.
+[[Image:Bl-adsb.jpg|none|thumb|300px|ADS-B/MLAT receiver]]
 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]].
-=== Scanner Icecast internet feed ===
+=== Police Scanner internet feeds ===
-In April 2015 we revieved a Uniden 996T Digital Scanner on long-term loan by a very generous member of the public (now a member). This is a top end scanner that can receive the P25 digital mode used by our local emergency services and elsewhere across our state. We have an Icecast server to stream a feed from this radio so members can listen in remotely.
+[[Scanner]].
-* http://bloominglabs.no-ip.org:8000
-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]].
 === WiFi Mesh - pending ===
@@ Line 89: / Line 90: @@
 ==== 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. I think there is room for multiple mesh networks serving different purposes (ham and part15). However we are interested in working with anyone else interested in pushing this project forwards.
+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 ===
-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.
+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==