kkonrad – Page 2

Laptop upgrade: Dell Latitude E7440 → E7270

by kkonrad26-12-201919-11-20207

I have been using my Dell Latitude E7440 laptop (i7-4600U / 16 GB RAM / 480 GB SSD) literally every single day for almost 6 years. I still say this is one of the best laptops ever built. I’ve been looking for a upgrade for quite a long time though. However, I could not wait any longer, because my current laptop would require some expensive investments, including new:

High-capacity battery – that would be the third one (original $100).
Keyboard – that would be also the third one (original $50).
LTE Cat 6 miniPCIe module – to replace the Cat 4 modem ($100).
Some case elements – e.g. bottom cover with rubber feet, but also palmrest w/ touchpad in the near future…

In fact, no wonder that I could not find anything suitable for a very long time, because my requirements for a new laptop were very detailed and specific.

MikroTik RouterBOARD hardware disappointment

by kkonrad25-12-201913-01-20200

I’ve been lately looking for a small 10/100M Ethernet switch with a USB and both PoE input and output port (Power over Ethernet). The MikroTik RouterBOARD hAP (RB951Ui-2nD) looked pretty good, so I ordered one. The 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi interface was unnecessary, but the price was acceptable anyway, as I found a used device in excellent condition at just $25 including shipping.

As usually, the first thing I did after receiving the package was the teardown. The PoE ports are usually dedicated for some remote devices connected with long Ethernet cables and located outdoors. Therefore, a special protection should be included in the front of the controller (QCA9531 SoC in hAP). Unfortunately, this is not the case of RB951Ui-2nD. Although the engineers designed the PCB of this device with TVS diodes on both PoE input and output ports, the final product does not contain them. Protection for other ports was not planned at all.

Arduino Uno R3 failure

by kkonrad18-12-201913-01-20200

Recently I’ve got a genuine Arduino Uno R3 from my friend to repair. The problem with his board was actually very generic – it has just stopped working. Personally, I don’t buy such boards, because they are extremely overpriced. I have been using several Chinese clones around for years and I have not encountered any problems so far.

At first sight, the USB interface was working fine and the board was detected by the system without any problems.

Warflying (Wi-Fi scanning) in an airplane up to 450 km

by kkonrad12-07-201913-03-20244

Recently I was traveling by plane over Europe. Of course, I could not resist to check what could be received on 5 GHz there, at an altitude of over ten kilometers…

I took the following equipment for Wi-Fi scanning onboard:

Mikrotik Routerboard SXT 5HPnD (AR9280),
Raspberry PI 3B with GNSS receiver, RTC and 10 V PoE output – see more: Wardriving @ 5 GHz,
USB power bank (5V/2.1A),
Nexus 7 tablet.

I was scanning using MikroTik SXT antenna with a built-in radio module. This device is as small as 14×14 cm. The dual-polarization antenna rated at 16 dBi is even smaller, at just 11×11 cm. It was connected to Raspberry PI single board computer.

Pomiary stacji UKF-FM (MPX power)

by kkonrad02-05-201914-12-20190

Poniższa tabela przedstawia przykładowe pomiary lokalnych stacji UKF-FM w Płocku, wykonane 1 maja 2019 r. (popołudnie i wieczór) przy użyciu FM MPX power monitor z odbiornikiem SDR Airspy HF+. Każdy pomiar odbywał się na kierunkowej antenie (Körner 19.3 lub 2×9-el Yagi) i trwał 31 minut (w tym 60 sekund do uzyskania poprawnej wartości MPX power). Przygotowałem również skrypty generujące histogram dewiacji oraz wykres mocy modulacji multipleksu (gnuplot).

FM MPX power monitor

by kkonrad24-04-201919-11-20210

I created a simple MPX power meter using GNU Radio software. It was a quite enjoyable task to create a block diagram of a stereo WFM receiver together with a bit more advanced deviation meter with GNU Radio Companion environment. In order to obtain reasonable results, the measured signal must be perfectly clear and strong.

ITU-R SM.1268 provides detailed information about required conditions for measurements. The signal level should be at least −47 dBm (73 dBf) together with SINR (signal to interference and noise ratio) of 50 dB or more. Also, there should be no multipath interference, so a directional antenna is probably the only option.

Lato i jesień 2018: nowe rekordy Wi-Fi DX 5 GHz

by kkonrad28-02-201929-07-20231

Jest to kontynuacja wpisu Wiosna 2018: nowe rekordy Wi-Fi DX 5 GHz.

Lato 2018 roku zapisało się jako najcieplejsze w historii obserwacji meteorologicznych, zarówno w całej Europie, jak i Polsce. Rekordowa pogoda, trwająca od wczesnego początku wiosny, przynosiła znakomite warunki propagacyjne na pasmach mikrofalowych rozszerzając standardowy zasięg nadajników poprzez zakrzywianie ścieżek sygnałów lub formując dukty troposferyczne.

Korzystając z mojego zestawu odbiorczego, składającego się z masztu o wysokości 18 metrów wraz z rotorem i dwupolaryzacyjną anteną paraboliczną o zysku 31 dBi na pasmo 5 GHz, mogłem prowadzić dalsze obserwacje propagacji mikrofalowych w troposferze w okolicy Płocka. Dzięki integracji programu z obsługą rotora możliwe jest automatyczne skanowanie sieci w wybranym zakresie azymutów i zapisywanie wszystkich danych, bez mojej ingerencji.

Podczas wiosny uzyskałem nowy rekord odbioru sygnału Wi-Fi w paśmie 5 GHz (i to dwukrotnie) w odległości 370 km. Ale to był przecież dopiero początek sezonu na tropo. Jak powszechnie wiadomo, najciekawsze, najsilniejsze i najbardziej spektakularne propagacje troposferyczne występują w Polsce na jesieni. Tak też było i tym razem…