REALLY new to SATCOM. Looking for the most active frequencies for casual listening.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Spankymedic7

Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
342
Location
Wisconsin
To catch everything that's up there you need a proper circular pol antenna with a little gain. I have a garage full of military surplus UHF satcom antennas and you can also home brew one from the article and instructions in post 11 here: MT magazine UHF Satcom antenna project

The X-wing antenna project sits on the ground and is right hand circular pol with an upward facing omni directional lobe that favors 20 to 60deg elevation for optimal reception in the US.

Would you be able to steer me into the direction to buy any used gear? I'm horrible at DIY projects, and would rather use something that I know works. You can either reply here or PM me.

Thanks!
 

DeepBlue

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
170
Location
Columbus, Ohio
I was visiting in Sao Paulo, Brazil and while going to lunch with an amateur radio friend there he announced he listens to Brazilian pirates on UHF satcom while driving to and from work.

I am hearing them quite well in the car with my R-20 and at home on my Jetstream 220 transceiver on the discone. The SDRPlay is hooked to an AR2 preamp for 240-270 and my homebuilt X-Wing inside my garage/radio room on the floor and I hear and see the signals very well.

Sean
 

joesheets

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
227
Location
Sandhills, NC
New to this part of the hobby. I have a discone at 20' in the clear. I know it's not optimal, but do I have any chance of hearing anything or do I need a dedicated antenna? I am using SDRuno scanner to scan the listed freq's in this thread. Also searching SATCOM ranges.
 

vagrant

ker-muhj-uhn
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Messages
3,150
Location
California
I would think so, but all things are not equal. I am using a mil-air discone, but it is specifically tuned for 225~400 MHz, plus I have a filter on the line for the same range and a 10dB gain amp. On that antenna I am using 75' of LMR-400. I say give it a whirl using what you have. You're not missing much really. I use that setup for military aircraft rarely monitor mil satellites.

DeepBlue posted that he can hear the Brazilian pirates at home using a discone and a transceiver. He is north of you in Ohio.

Looking at my hit counts, here are the frequencies that were counted and may be false positive for whatever reason. You may or may not receive these and others. Again, all things are not equal so give it a whirl. (I did not list the amateur freq satellites, as I do not have a problem with those when my location is in their footprint.)
437.200
260.725
261.575
262.250
263.925
309.150
257.500
257.900
258.650
 

empireco

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Messages
194
Location
Central Ky
Tried putting in 255.550 into my BCT15X and getting Pirates playing music and talking in Spanish with just a Radio Shack discone and about 35 feet of LMR-400 with no preamp amazing!!!
 

ArloG

Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2020
Messages
297
In case you don't understand Portuguese there are some pretty slick voice to text pc applications that do a nice job translating the chatter.
 

VK3RX

Thaumaturge
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
Messages
449
Location
Australia
In case you don't understand Portuguese there are some pretty slick voice to text pc applications that do a nice job translating the chatter.
ISS Frequencies

Check out the "Other frequencies" list at the bottom of the page. I hear the Russians from time to time using 130.167 AM during EVAs.

In case you don't understand Portuguese there are some pretty slick voice to text pc applications that do a nice job translating the chatter.

Good idea - what are good ones for a smartphone? I haven't used any translators other than text with Google translate.
 
Last edited:

ArloG

Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2020
Messages
297
ISS Frequencies

Check out the "Other frequencies" list at the bottom of the page. I hear the Russians from time to time using 130.167 AM during EVAs.



Good idea - what are good ones for a smartphone? I haven't used any translators other than text with Google translate.
Can't really answer that one. I put a voice to text translator on my pc and fed the radio audio into it.
"Dream of cold beer when I get home". "Mama making good food".
Spanish is easy, Portuguese is another animal..
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top