I love the new Outernet web page!
–Konrad, WA4OSH
the large “patch’” antenna on the technology tab is very intriguing. looks like “new” “custom” innovation. First look at the board is great. mounting holes seem a little asymmetric. overall similar to previous DC, seems to still have led’s and connections on two sides and the top display which means water resistance and rainfall protection will challenge us
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Yes, I saw that too. I was wondering a new antenna? How will that hook up to an LNB? Is it just a calculator with the buttons removed? It left me puzzled.
–Konrad, WA4OSH
I stand ready to order products - - complete packages that will be easy to set up. Maybe, even with CASES, to install everything in, so they can become “leave behind” packages in our travels. 
Ken
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@Syed Syed, will you be selling a compatible Ku-band LNB in your store? Will that LNB be able to work over at most a 500 ft RG6 as the old Lighthouse did? Ken
We are considering selling a normal LNB. What holds us back us that we are also working on an integrated antenna/LNB which will be higher gain. The standard commercial LNB would not receive at the same settings as our antenna.
For our own antenna we are not planning on supporting a 500ft cable length. We will need to test a bit before commenting on what is possible…
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Ken,
A 500 foot length of RG-6 seems very long to me. Flightradar24 mentions no more than 10 meters from antenna/LNA to SDR dongle. The planes transmit within the same band as output of an LNB.
@Syed Not that you need the higher gain to receive the signal, but to narrow down the receive beamwidth? The satellites seem to be about 2° apart. Obviously, some antenna gain would help narrow the beamwidth down some.
So how narrow of a beamwidth at -3db do you need in order for the neighboring satellites not to interfere with the signal you want to receive?
I definitely don’t see lots of scenarios where more than 50 or 100 feet of coax is really required.
–Konrad, WA4OSH
Gain directly impacts SNR, which is what drives our bitrate. Yes, another way that SNR is impacted is by receiving fewer transmitters/satellites on that same frequency. We don’t need a super high gain antenna like a normal dish. What we are talking about is the difference between 9 dBi and 12 dBi.
We can work on those extended length-cable use cases after we have the first version of the antenna ready to go.
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I get it. You must be looking to replace the little quarter wave sensor in an LNB with a 16 el. patch antenna (about three inches on the side?) ? That could get you around 10-12 dBi over the raw LNB. It would also improve your SNR just enough to make an SCPC channel work, but it would not be enough gain for MCPC (television signals).
–Konrad, WA4OSH.
When Outernet ran on Galaxy 19 (97 W), I used an Invacom QPH-031 over 510 feet of RG6 into my house and the Lighthouse was able to drive the LNB.
Redoing the same configuration with the Ku Dreamcatcher (DC) would simplify the setup if the DC could drive the LNB. Ken
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