Discovery Dish review

[thebaldgeek]

Read my discovery dish review here and see how it stacks up with the other 2 popular L-band ACARS antennas, the 7 turn helix and RTL-SDR patch antenna.

Discovery Dish RTLSDR-Blog L-Band ACARS

Quick ‘mini review’ of the Discovery Dish with L-Band ACARS feed. You can see the Crowdsupply campaign here. Myself and a few others backed it from day zero (or close to it). Took a few more months than expected for it to ship, but turns out, it was worth the wait. Make sure you get the...

community.airframes.io

The dish is now in use at my house receiving ACARS and STDC via a 2 way splitter. STDC went from 10db to 14, so a nice bump from the 3.5 turn helix into offset directTV dish I was using.
If you have any questions about the dish, let me know.

 

[dave3825]

I actually just saw a YouTube review on that yesterday and was going to post. Looks like a nice set up..

 

[thebaldgeek]

I posted my review here as a result of that 25 minute 'review' video.
I thought people might like a shorter written option with actual numbers and comparison with other known L-Band antennas.

 

[dave3825]

I posted my review here as a result of that 25 minute 'review' video.

Was any of the dish cracked or broken on yours like in the video?

 

[thebaldgeek]

Nope. My dish arrived in tip-top condition.
BTW, a mate ordered the ACARS L-Band feed on Monday and was given a ship date of March 28th, so there is a solid delay now that the original crowd supply campaign is over. A few of us suspected as much, but perhaps it will become popular enough that they ramp up production.

 

[oaktree_b]

Save it for Parts on Youtube did a review, they seem to be a decent product.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Nope. My dish arrived in tip-top condition.
BTW, a mate ordered the ACARS L-Band feed on Monday and was given a ship date of March 28th, so there is a solid delay now that the original crowd supply campaign is over. A few of us suspected as much, but perhaps it will become popular enough that they ramp up production.

Very nice comparison article. I use a surplussed different dish about the same size with a L-band (linear) log-periodic feed on a tripod in my bedroom (so I can manually aim). (Drywall and vinyl siding.) Works extremely well with LNAs that I bought ad I receive everything like I should as I am sure you do. (photo attached.) Both 54W and 98W are the same elevation for me so I only need rotate the dish on the tripod.I also have 2 helix that I have not ever tested that I planned to use for possible travel and you tests indicate that will likely work well.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Read my discovery dish review here and see how it stacks up with the other 2 popular L-band ACARS antennas, the 7 turn helix and RTL-SDR patch antenna.

Discovery Dish RTLSDR-Blog L-Band ACARS

Quick ‘mini review’ of the Discovery Dish with L-Band ACARS feed. You can see the Crowdsupply campaign here. Myself and a few others backed it from day zero (or close to it). Took a few more months than expected for it to ship, but turns out, it was worth the wait. Make sure you get the...

community.airframes.io

The dish is now in use at my house receiving ACARS and STDC via a 2 way splitter. STDC went from 10db to 14, so a nice bump from the 3.5 turn helix into offset directTV dish I was using.
If you have any questions about the dish, let me know.

Extremely nice comparison article. I use a surplussed different dish about the same size with a L-band (linear) log-periodic feed on a tripod in my bedroom (so I can manually aim). (Drywall and vinyl siding.) Works extremely well with LNAs that I bought ad I receive everything like I should as I am sure you do. (photo attached.) Both 54W and 98W are the same elevation for me so I only need rotate the dish on the tripod.I also have 2 helix that I have not ever tested that I planned to use for possible travel and you tests indicate that will likely work very well.

 

[jazzboypro]

Sounds very interesting i might get one of these. What software do you use for decoding the weather satellites ?

 

[dlwtrunked]

Sounds very interesting i might get one of these. What software do you use for decoding the weather satellites ?

Not sure who you directed that to as I did not see any of us mentioning looking at GOES.

 

[jazzboypro]

Sorry for the confusion. On the antenna website they a a feed for L-Band weather satellite and i was wondering what software is used to actually decode the data.

 

[thebaldgeek]

@jazzboypro I focus on L-Band ACARS, but I understand that the L-Band weather sat guys use satdump almost exclusively.
Its cross platform and does not need an installer, so its pretty flexible. (It also decodes L-Band ACARS).

 

[jazzboypro]

@jazzboypro I focus on L-Band ACARS, but I understand that the L-Band weather sat guys use satdump almost exclusively.
Its cross platform and does not need an installer, so its pretty flexible. (It also decodes L-Band ACARS).

Thanks for the info, i'll look into it.

 

[ArloG]

What kind of interests/concern me is that being prime focus and the different feeds used. Like the helix. Due to the size of them.
If an offset dish would not be a touch better. Because I've been playing with a Wild Blue (Viasat) dish using an l band patch antenna I made from plans. Different cantennas. And an l band qfh using the J Coppens calculator.

Other things getting me very intrigued is understanding helical polarization. Some show rhcp, lhcp designs that contradict as far as winding the loop. I've seen some using backfire helicals on reflectors that "should" be wound in the opposite direction. Because the dish. Acting like a mirror, will reverse the polarization off of the dish face.

 

[thebaldgeek]

I'm all for experimenting with different dishes and feeds. I was interested in the strong support I found for folks that want to track aircraft and not fuss with the RF side of things.
So much so, I went ahead and built around 40 of the 7 turn RHCP (direct to sat) helix antennas on the pizza pan reflectors.
There is still demand for that sort of thing out there and a few places have stepped in and are now making them ready to use.
Beyond that market there is a strong, but slightly smaller market for a small easy to use dish that is just plug and play.
The Discovery Dish fits this shoe I think. There are also a good number of folks that want a ton of gain due to wanting to run 3-4 SDRs off the one feed.
For those that don't have an RF interest, that don't know RHCP from LHCP and just want something that gives a ton of gain, the DD is a new option that can be considered.
I love that there are more options for every interest.
Thankfully, the RTL-SDR guys did a good job with the DD and its an easy option to be considered, vs a dud that needs to be discounted.

 

[jazzboypro]

I went ahead and ordered the discovery dish with th Inmarsat feed. Should be fun.

 

[thebaldgeek]

I went ahead and ordered the discovery dish with th Inmarsat feed. Should be fun.

If you don't mind, I'm interested in hearing how long it will take to deliver to your door. We know the date you ordered it, if you can, drop back and let us know when you get it.
Also I am super interested in hearing how you find it, the setting up and the use.
Hope you like it, its a super nice bit of kit that gives really strong L-Band ACARS/STDC signals to decode.

 

[jazzboypro]

I ordered yesterday and according to their website present orders will ship on Feb. 28. I will report back when i get it. Since it's winter here my first tests will be with the antenna inside the house hoping it will work thru the wall (my actual antenna does not work thru the window and that is to be expected from what i've been reading).

I won't be able to test the antenna outside before April or May. In the mean time i will try to think how i could permanently mount the antenna outisde.

 

[jazzboypro]

Well, I still have not received the antenna. They keep pushing to the end of the month every month.

 

[jazzboypro]

Finally the antenna was shipped yesterday !!!