Today we made a successful test (thanks Cesar!) with a portable (and cheap) GNC-A Station, using a gasoline power generator. The image below shows an illustration of this concept:

And this is the real setup we used:

First, we adjusted the antenna azimuth / elevation and the LNB Skew according to www.dishpointer.com:

And we got a signal lock (the “LOCK 1” LED on the Ayecka SR1 Receiver turned green):

The notebook started ingesting, storing the data on the 1 TB external hard drive. The incoming data is shown on the FAZZT Received Files Log:

The image below shows a Natural Colors RGB (METEOSAT) from Jan 23 2018, 12:00 UTC, uploaded by INPE:

We did a quick test, uploading a text file to the GNC-A “Training Channel” (you should see this text file in your station!). The images below show an online machine in our office at Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil, sending the text file via FTP to the GNC-A teleport, on Ellenwood, Georgia, USA:

Then, the text file is sent to the GNC-A uplink system server, encoder and modulator, sent to the GNC-A rebroadcast satellite (IS-21) and received by all GNC-A stations:

The image below shows the file being received at the offline Portable Station:

And the file opened:

This is the total cost of this setup:

• Antenna (1,5 m): USD 100,00
• Tripod: USD 100,00
• LNBF: USD 100,00
• Ayecka SR1 DVB-S2 Receiver: USD 600,00
• FAZZT Professional Client Licence: USD 500,00
• Gasoline Generator: USD 223,00
• Notebook: USD 460,00
• External HD: USD 70,00

Total: USD 2153,00

We’ll continue testing this setup and look for partners (Civil Defense?) in order to make this really useful. Here are some advantages:

• Only need power for the DVB-S receiver (and notebook if it is discharged)
• No internet connection needed
• Ability to add data to the GNC-A broadcast on demand – no format restrictions!
• Ability to add data prepared within or outside the region of interest
• GEONETCast-Americas approved for use as auxiliary data distribution system by the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters”.