Show HN: EZ-TRAK Satellite Hand Tracking Suite
github.comEZ-TRAK is a comprehensive satellite tracking suite designed for amateur radio operators, weather satellite enthusiasts, and educational purposes. The software interfaces with an EZ-TRAK BLE device which is mounted to a lightweight foldable portable satellite dish antenna to hand track satellites in real-time, providing azimuth and elevation data for optimal antenna positioning.
When you say "hand track", you're not kidding.
I was expecting something with motors controlled by a person, but this is literally picking up the dish and pointing it by muscle power.
Back of envelope, a 1 meter parabolic antenna at 1.7 GHz gives about 12 degree beam width (FWHM), which is what makes this practical. Very clever.
Neat project! I've always wanted to try downlinking data from satellites because it just seems like magic. I wonder what sort of reactions you'd get from setting this up in a backpack/cyberdeck and walking around pointing a satellite dish at the sky.
Really cool project! What kind of foldable dish do you use?
it's called a farabrella kinda a diy thing made from faraday fabric weighs about 350gr for a 1m diameter dish. They are available on ebay.
Thanks I'll check it out!