SDR Dongle Behavior

[ab5r]

Is the normal for the dongle to get rather warm while plugged in for awhile? I usually allow several minutes warm up to stabilize the frequency.

While reading a "How To" article about receiving the Meteor weather satellite's LRIT transmissions, I saw a frame grab of SDR# with a "satellite tracking" add-on, but have not been able to find same on line. Anyone know where I might find it?

I would also like to find a satellite tracking program which tracks and will print out future passes. The "on line" tracking programs do not accomplish this satisfactorily. Any help here?

Thanks for and replies.

 

[Voyager]

Is the normal for the dongle to get rather warm while plugged in for awhile? I usually allow several minutes warm up to stabilize the frequency.

Yes, it is. I have several and they all do. I view it like a built-in TCXO.

 

[kermit_t_f]

The little dongle from nooelec runs really hot, the bigger ones seem to be a little bit cooler.
For satellite tracking I use gpredict, which is quite easy to setup and works great in my opinion. But it has no integration in sdr# and I don't know any software either.
SDR-Radio has the possibility to track satellites, but AFAIR there is no automatic doppler compensation until now.

 

[ab5r]

Thank you Kermit_t-f. I have never heard of GPREDICT and will check it out. I am not looking for integration to SDR#, just a stand alone program.

And, I have not tried SDR-Radio yet either. I have read that the broad bandwidth of the dongles compensates for Doppler Effect. I don't know yet.

Regards,
Jerry

 

[kermit_t_f]

The bandwidth may compensate it, but it depends on the mode you want to receive. If you try to decode the telemetry from funcube, you can send the complete audio spectrum to the decoder and it tunes to the right audio frequency. But this wont work on SSB or FM.
Gpredict connects with radios like the FT-817, and a automatic sdr-control would be very nice from my point of view.
One addition, the frequencies of the satellite transponders aren't always correct in Gpredict, be sure to check them at other sources as well.

 

[ab5r]

I discovered another tracking program ( PreviSat ) while searching for Gpredict. It seems good too. I did download Gpredict,, but get a problem loading it. I think MORTON does not like it somehow. I'll try to disable and workaround it. I'd like to check it out.

I also found the tracking add on that I was looking for. It is included in version 2.2 of SDR-Radio. It looks like it is a FANTASTIC program. Still have to "learn" it.