A group of NCRC members interested in solving various antenna tracking issues met with Paul K1YBE for four hours this past Saturday.  The objective was to hack into a surplus SeaTrac TVRO dish system usually used to track geostationary satellites on moving vehicles (ships, cars, etc.).

The gang was successful in getting the dish into the “search” mode where it started searching the sky for one of the DBS Satellites.  At this point the communication between the dish platform and controller was captured so that the messages could be analyzed.

It was fascinating to move the dish platform around and see the Inertial Measuring Unit automatically adjust for that motion, keeping the dish pointed to the same part of the sky.

Tracking crew observe controller signals

The Dish Platform includes a full Inertial Measuring Unit