Want To Start But No Idea how!

I am very interested in getting started with Outernet, but am confused on how to do it…I am a Windows 10 user and would really appreciate being referred to a basic tutorial on what I need and how to set up a basic Outernet receiving station…Ts for your assistance and patience!

Steve in Kansas, USA

Steve,
There are four items currently in the store:

  1. A DreamCatcher board. It includes an integrated LNA and SAW filter. (currently sold out)
  2. An SDRx board
  3. An (active) L-band antenna with an integrated LNA and SAW filter.
  4. A passive antenna.

There are two pieces of software for download that run in the DreamCatcher board:

  1. Skylark – for receiving Outernet
  2. Armbian - an operating system that allows experimenters to run the DreamCatcher board. This does not include an application to access Outernet. It’s intended for experimenters to have access to the DreamCatcher board for other projects.

They continue to support skylark for a CHIP computer from NTC, but the CHIP is no longer being produced.

Currently the DreamCatcher board will work with either the passive or active antenna through two separate antenna ports and with the firmware for either receiving Outernet or experimenting with the DreamCatcher board.

The advantage of the active antenna is that it’s powered by bias voltage supplied through the coax. This means the signal is amplified before it goes through a length of coax. The tiny coax is very lossy at 1.5GHz. I don’t know how far the active antenna can be separated from the DreamCatcher board.

There used to be software that ran on a Raspberry Pi to drive the SDRx and the passive antenna. It also worked with the Raspberry Pi in combination with the active antenna. This has been discontinued.

Currently, the DreamCatcher board is sold out. There is something in the works that will improve the download speed by perhaps an order of of magnitude. However, it’s not been announced yet, At this point, I would read the FAQs and this forum to understand the technology involved.

Reading between the lines, I would expect that the DreamCatcher will be replaced with one that has more processing power.(to handle a more complex modulation mode and/or a higher symbol rate). I would also expect that antennas will need to improve for people like me in the upper and lower latitudes. Here in Seattle, the Inmarsat 4-F3 is pretty low on the horizon already. This becomes much more pronounced in Alaska for example. I will be working on an L-Band helical antenna to get some more receive gain.

Hold on for a couple of weeks. I think something great is in the works.
–Konrad, WA4OSH

I’m looking at trying to get started here too. I have a Pi to play with but haven’t been back to this site for a while only see that it’s no longer supported.

Do you believe the DreamCatcher is more powerful than the Raspberry Pi? It seems like the Pi was an easy solution but maybe it’s not powerful enough.

My wife was asking me what project item I wanted for Christmas and thought I would put together a short list of parts from here because I too, think it’s cool too pull data down from 22,000 miles away!

I’m curious to see what’s in “store” (hardware-wise) you’ve eluded to, available in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks!

Shane from Kansas, USA :slight_smile:

'm looking at trying to get started here too. I have a Pi to play with but haven’t been back to this site for a while only see that it’s no longer supported.

I recently ordered a DreamCatcher, the passive air gap antenna and the SDRx board. I’ve used the Raspberry Pi, the SDRx board, and the antenna to see the Inmarsat 4-F3 satellite on a waterfall display with SDR# software. I quickly found that a Velleman circuit board soldering stand comes in quite handy to aim the antenna.

Do you believe the DreamCatcher is more powerful than the Raspberry Pi? It seems like the Pi was an easy solution but maybe it’s not powerful enough.

From my understanding, the DreamCatcher runs an ARM processor much like a Raspberry Pi. I’ve experimented with the Armbian operating system, which is a lot like Debian and have compiled and loaded a couple of Ham Radio programs for it. I also have used the Skylark software on the DreamCatcher board with the passive antenna with good results.

My wife was asking me what project item I wanted for Christmas and thought I would put together a short list of parts from here because I too, think it’s cool too pull data down from 22,000 miles away!

I have to tell you. I got that same rush that I get once in a while listening to a very distant DX station. Realizing that this setup is listening to a tiny-tiny-tiny signal from a satellite that would take me more than two years of driving on my car to get there… Yeah.

i wish that Syed would consider carrying gift cards for occasions just like this :wink:

I’m curious to see what’s in “store” (hardware-wise) you’ve eluded to, available in the next couple of weeks.

I’m waiting to upgrade my DreamCatcher or buy the next more advanced board. I’m hoping they take a close look at the Pine64 for example, which has a much more powerful 64 bit processor as a basis for the next-gen DreamCatcher.

I’m on a small budget. Here’s my “micro-shack”. The DreamCatcher and the SDRx are a welcome addition to my Software Defined Radio and Ham Radio hobbies.

–Konrad, WA4OSH