L-Band WebSDR

The new 3D printed L-Band antenna is now live feeding a web SDR that can be received here. You can interactively operate the L-Band feed which is currently located at JN58UA and pointed at Alphasat 25E. Lots of data streams, aircraft telemetry etc. are visible. Select a center frequency from receiver drop down menu low…

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Hail storm damage

The severe hail storm around the Bari area / Italy on Aug 19 destroyed car windows and Ice Cone Feeds like this one. Should this happen to you, please order a replacement radome or re-print one yourself.  

Sun spot spotting

Sun spot activity currently ramping up. Time to take out the telescope and go for some early evening sun spotting from the balcony. A note of WARNING and DISCLAIMER: only use certified sun filter foil, I am using Seymour Solar Filter, grade ND5, available here. Be responsible and operate on your own risk. Telescope equipped…

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Recensione in Italiano

IVAN, IS0DCR, was so kind to do a review of nolle.engineering including QO100 IceConeFeed for all Italian OMs, enjoy:

3D Printer Stepper Motor Failure

This is definately a first. Seeing all kinds of issues with 3D printers, I never had a stepper motor failure. I started to get failed prints experiencing massive layer shifts like this accompanied by crash detections: Manually moving the y-axis already revealed the problem, dissassembling the drive belt showed that the stepper motor was getting…

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IceConeFeed Installation Tips

Some stations have quite tight clearances between the Iceconefeed reflector and the LNB arm. In order perform a fit check before installation you can use a full scale drawing and quickly make a template (2D printer ;-). Note: there are two templates to chose from, see below, for IceConeFeed v2 and DIY. The v2 version…

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3D Patch Update

The 3D printable patch feed for #QO100 is in the making. A design change from the rectanglar to elliptic has been found to be more efficient and achieving a better axial circular polarization. This is a prelimiary current simulation at 2.4Ghz. The direction of rotation will change from RH to LH.

Tors South Norway Rove

Tor (LA9XGA) was on tour DXing from Southern Norway being QRV on various Oscars. His QO100 mobile station is sporting the Ice Cone Feed v2. I took a chance and worked him on QO100 one evening. Images by courtesy of Tor (LA9XGA)

PRECURSOR Attitude Concept

The PRECURSOR satellite is scheduled to be launched into a sun synchronous orbit with an 10:30 right ascending node. The attitude profile needs to fullfill these high level requirements: Point solar generator toward sun when outside eclipse. Also minimize angle between downlink antenna and nadir During eclipse point antenna toward nadir for best communication and…

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