At 12:30 PM 9/28/2006 -0400, Bob McGwier wrote:
Tony:
This device is cute and looks like a really neat thing to play with. With a USB A-B cable extension, this could find widespread usage for Microwave and satellite types. I only want to sound a small note of caution before folks jump and buy. Signals that would cover up a signal on S band from either the P3E S band system or even the (proposed louder) Eagle S band system will be beneath this device's noise floor. An 802.11, Blue Tooth, microwave oven, cordless phone signal, etc. could be tens of dB louder than the signals of interest in the proposed P3E or Eagle transponder downlinks and this device would have no detectable response to them.
What that note of caution, for $99, it will be a really neat thing to play with and it will be able to find the largest interlopers on your S band passband for P3E and Eagle or AO-51.
Bob N4HY
Hi Bob,
Yes, this device is not even close to being able to receive a satellite signal as-is. The built-in antenna is less than 1/2" long and WiFi is not a weak-signal mode anyway.
PE2ER has a mode to add an sma connector so you can use an external antenna. The RF xcvr IC is useful to around -95 dBm0 so you need a good preamp and a good size antenna to get near satellite signal levels.
I checked out the WiSpy web site and they are working on a dual-band 2.4 and 5 GHz version with an external antenna connection. It is not avialble yet but unless you need one now, it might be better to wait for the new one.
73, Tony AA2TX