News / Aktualności / Tropo / Wi-Fi DX

Nowy Rok 2020: Rekordowa inwersja nad Polską

by kkonrad2

This post is also available in English language: New Year 2020: Excellent inversion over Poland

Tegoroczna zima wcale nie przypomina tej pory roku w naszym kraju. W rzeczywistości nadal trwa późna jesień z możliwymi słabymi przymrozkami. Obecne prognozy nie pozostawiają złudzeń i w większości styczeń ma być bardzo łagodny. Od końcówki grudnia 2019 roku z zachodu zaczęły nadciągać nad Polskę kolejne wyże. Taka pogoda sprzyja podwyższonej propagacji, która potrafi w znaczny sposób zwiększyć zasięg emisji radiowych. Inwersja w troposferze może wpływać na odbiór w szerokim zakresie częstotliwości, zaczynając od dolnego UKF-u (typowo 50-70 MHz), przez pasma radiowe, telewizyjne, mikrofale, a nawet… widmo optyczne.

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English / Hardware

Laptop upgrade: Dell Latitude E7440 → E7270

by kkonrad4

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. 

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English / Hardware

MikroTik RouterBOARD hardware disappointment

by kkonrad0

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.

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English / Hardware

Arduino Uno R3 failure

by kkonrad0

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.

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English / News / Aktualności / Wi-Fi DX

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

by kkonrad4

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.

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