Satcom?

[kd5dga]

SO outside of these "PIRATES" is there anything else worth listening into?

 

[gcgrotz]

Some thoughts/questions.

--- I assume these transmissions are FM, are they NFM or wider like INMARSAT?

---Somebody around here is bound to know some Spanish, anybody translated?

---If it is Brazil it is Portugese.

---Could it be, instead of Pirates, it is someone the US military co-operates with like maybe drug interdiction in Coulmbia?

---If it is Pirates, why did they give up their USB radios on 10 MHz, was the interference from WWV getting too much to bear?

 

[prcguy]

I’ve had a bunch of stuff translated over the years and the Brazilians are blatantly pirating the US satellites. They sound like a bunch of CBrs and one guy seems to be very technical and supplied many of the participants the radios and antennas, which they complain about constantly. Some of the accents are definitely from Sao Palo and one person hinted at being in Florida during one conversation. These transmissions are in NBFM.
prcguy

 

[tyytor]

i have had good luck on picking up the sats with is antenna you will have to put it togeather
but it is just what the doctor orderd with a 10db pre amp and a mil capable scanner that can do am and fm and you are set

http://arrowantennas.com/220-5s.html

 

[chgomonitor]

Transponders - Modes

Technically, the sats are transponders. What ever mode the signal is in when it reaches the bird the sat will simply re-transmit back down to earth. To hear the pirates try NFM mode, to hear the data and some digital narrowband voice try USB/LSB. A directional, gain antenna pointed at the bird of interest will be of great help as these are weak signals. If your antenna isn't circularly polarized I'd suggest experimenting with both vertical and horizontal orientations of something like a Yagi. I had better results with horizontal (like a TV antenna). For a receiver I like the Yupiteru MVT-7100 handheld - very sensitive with a decent noise floor and fairly afordable. Check www.javiation.com. I used a home-rolled 4 element yagi cut for 270 Mhz and a short run of RG-6. Very little real user traffic remains in the clear on the UHF sats, but every once in a while you might catch something. But for purely technical interest - the signals are there for the receiving. The sats have a "beacon" channel which will prove of great value in assisting you in finding the sat in the sky / pointing the antenna.

 

[prcguy]

I can sort of add to this. A few transponders are true linear translators and will faithfully pass any mode including SSB. Most are designed for FM service and will degrade AM or SSB. I find it easier to locate signals when searching in AM mode and then switch to FM when something resembles a voice. There are no beacons on the UHF mil sats. It was rumored that 261.400 was a beacon but it’s not.
prcguy

 

[mancow]

What are the 250.550 and 250.350 data streams that are always running?

 

[prcguy]

I need to find my freq list but those sound like some of the wide band fleet broadcast frequencies that seem to go 24/7.
prcguy