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I am fascinated by this project and am looking forward to testing reception.

I can see this project having a benefit in rural outback communities in Australia and in pacific islands that do not have the luxury if the Internet.

Once there is a satellite that coverage Sydney, Australia, I can test it. I have the satellite dish and LNB and can re point it as necessary. I will get a Raspberry Pi and a DVB-S receiver.

Given that the south pacific is HUGE, the signal may be week, I will start looking for a bigger dish.

Mal.
VK2TMF

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Well after a couple of years I checked back. What great progress!

I bought a patch antenna and preamp. I connected my Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR tuner.
from the store.
After pointing the antenna in the general direction, I immediately got signal.

I am in Sydney, Australia.

My mind is spinning thinking of applications in rural communities. Perhaps a self contained solar powered enclosure of some sort. A literal drop-box.

All the best,
Mal. VK2TMF

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Hi Malcolm - I received my kit a month or two ago - set it up raced outside and didn’t find a signal at all (I just outside Sydney) even after an hour of trying including quite accurate pointing to the sat. I have repurposed the RTL receiver for something else, but have been meaning to try again. I was left suspecting a piece of the hardware is faulty, and since the CPU works (I can log onto it’s WiFi Librarian server) and I know the receiver itself works - I assume the preamp board is faulty as its unlikely to be the antenna. I have no real way to test this, it was just a process of elimination. I will try again to to ensure I wasn’t overlooking something, but if I have no luck I may I call on you? Hopefully you will be able to test if my preamp works for you. Cheers, Mark (Kurrajong).

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Hi,

Yes, I suspect it is your preamp. Does a red LED come on on the preamp after the computer has booted? This indicates it has power.

The preamp needs power supplied via a bias-t from the SDR receiver.

Are you using an RTL-SDR (version.?) or some other TV dongle?

Cheers,
Mal.

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