A major part of our plans for Satellite Station 4.0 includes the ability to operate our home satellite station remotely over the Internet. We’ve been using our Flex-6700 Software Defined Radio as a Remote Operating Gateway on the HF Bands and 6m for some time now. Our latest project is to upgrade our Remote Operating GW to include SDR satellite transceiver capability on the 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands…
We’ve completed hardware upgrades and repackaging of our Remote Operating Gateway to allow it to be used for satellite operations. The article (link above) explains what was involved in upgrading our Flex-6700 SDR to include SDR Satellite Transceiver capability on the 2m, 70cm, and 23m bands. The project includes:
Addition of a 2m Amplifier, a 70cm Transverter, and a 23cm Upconverter to our Flex-6700 SDR
Provision for the addition of the 5GHz and 10 GHz satellite bands in the future
Local and remote monitoring of power output and SWR
Use of the Flex-6700 GPS Disciplined Oscillator for locking of frequencies on all bands
Enhanced remote power and station controls which provide station management via the Internet
Repackaging of the system in a rack mount enclosure that can be placed under our operating desk
The next stage of our SDR Satellite Transceiver project will be to add the software components needed to control the Flex-6700/SmartSDR combination to make satellite contacts.
We recently completed the finishing touches on our new VHF and Satellite Tower. The first step was to install a second set of entry conduits into our shack and a new ground block for our satellite antennas…
Our Tower is finally complete! We’ve added an additional entry into our shack for coax and control cables and we’ve installed 7/8″ hardline coax cables to reduce losses in our 6m, 2m, 70cm, and 23 cm feedlines. You can see some photos and details of this part of our project via the link above.
We are working on upgrading our Flex-6700 SDR based Remote Gateway to include Satellite operation. Stay tuned for an article on this part of our project.
The new Icom IC-9700 transceiver has begun shipping and we’ve recently added one to our Satellite Station. The addition of the new radio completes a key part of our Satellite Station 4.0 upgrade plans.
IC-9700 Display and Waterfall – Working FO-29
The new Transceiver features a Spectrum Scope and several useful satellite features….
We received our new IC-9700 Transceiver and have it set up and working with our Satellite Station. The integration of the new radio with our software and other elements of our Satellite Station went smoothly and we expect to use the new radio with our portable satellite station at Field Day and our upcoming License Classes. You can read more about our early experiences with the new radio via the link above.
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