Introduction During the past two years I have been able to successfully receive CubeSats CANVAS, ENSO, Veronika and EIRSAT-1 (Ref.1/4). Recently a new Canadian 3U CubeSat MARMOTsat was launched by SpaceX Transporter 17 on July 7th 2026 (Ref.5). MARMOTSat has 3 transmitters in the 10m/2m/70cm bands. Technical details are given in Ref.6/7. Equipment Setup Figure… Continue reading RTL-SDR for MARMOTsat CubeSat_2m
AIS & GNSS on OpenCPN ECN Charts
Introduction In the previous post I looked at receiving AIS on OpenCPN using the latest ECN charts for the Montreal harbour (Ref.1). Since 2017 I have been using Raster BSB charts. In this post I compare various chart formats such as Paper, Raster BSB and ENC. ENC charts are vector charts and contain a wealth… Continue reading AIS & GNSS on OpenCPN ECN Charts
AIS on OpenCPN ENC Charts
Introduction In a previous post I looked at receiving AIS & GNSS on OpenCPN using BSB Raster charts which I have been using since 2017 (Ref.1). Today I purchased new vector S57 ENC charts for the St Lawrence River close to Montreal (Ref.2). I tested reception down at the Port of Montreal. Equipment Block Diagram… Continue reading AIS on OpenCPN ENC Charts
RTL-SDR Rx AIS Power Calibration
Introduction Several years ago I looked at calibrating the RTL-SDR receive level in dBm in connection with LoRa transmission (Ref.1). The same can be done for receive levels for AIS. In my last post I looked at AIS reception from my new QTH along with signal levels (Ref.2). Measurement Setup GNURCTx Level SigHoundRx Level GqrxRx… Continue reading RTL-SDR Rx AIS Power Calibration
AIS on RaspberryPi4 QTH+
Introduction In a previous post I was able to receive AIS contacts from my home location even though surrounded by huge new condos (Ref.1). Recently I moved because my radio horizon was now completely blocked. My new QTH looks due south with no buildings in the immediate vicinity. So I wanted to see how the… Continue reading AIS on RaspberryPi4 QTH+