Starlink – Part 2 – Radio Shadow, Rain and Umbrellas

Summer seems to have taken a break in the second half of July, and the day I wanted to test Starlink at another place and demonstrate it to some people was as inhospitable as it could probably get during a summer day in Germany: The temperature was well below 20 degrees Celsius, it was very … Continue reading Starlink – Part 2 – Radio Shadow, Rain and Umbrellas

Starlink – Part 1 – First Bring-Up

I’m sure you’ve seen the one or other satellite focused post on this blog over the last year. So far, I’ve mostly been looking into handheld satellite text messaging, but I always had a close eye on Starlink as well. Recently, Starlink has lowered their prices and introduced mobile tariffs that can be activated and … Continue reading Starlink – Part 1 – First Bring-Up

Train Windows Permeable For Cellular Signals – From Theory to Practice

While heat insulating windows are a great thing, they have one big disadvantage: They also block RF signals. That means that cellular reception inside buildings and trains becomes very difficult. Back in 2016, I first heard about the concept of modifying the heat insulation layer of windows so they would let RF signals through. At … Continue reading Train Windows Permeable For Cellular Signals – From Theory to Practice

Reality Bites – Flight Simulation – Part 8 – Radios In Planes

When flying in the simulator, I’m quite amazed how many radios a modern GA airplane or airliner has on board. Sometimes, it feels more like a flying radio tower than an airplane. The picture above and below shows the antennas of a Daher TBM 930 turbo-prop plane on its roof and its underside. Needless to … Continue reading Reality Bites – Flight Simulation – Part 8 – Radios In Planes

NTN – Part 5 – Why Does the UE Need a GPS Fix?

And again a seamless continuation from part 4 on 3GPP’s Non-Terrestrial Networks specification extension in Release 17 in which I’d like to come back to a particular requirement: The mobile device has to be aware of its location, which means it has to get a GPS fix before it can contact the network via a … Continue reading NTN – Part 5 – Why Does the UE Need a GPS Fix?

When All Else Fails – The Garmin InReach Mini 2 – Part 12 – Capacity for InReach

Wow, this is already part 12 in my blog series on the Garmin InReach Mini 2 and the underlying Iridium satellite constellation. Perhaps you remember, my main use case for the Mini 2 is to have a means to communicate with family members in other countries should there be a longer network outage, be it … Continue reading When All Else Fails – The Garmin InReach Mini 2 – Part 12 – Capacity for InReach

When All Else Fails – The Garmin InReach Mini 2 – Part 11 – More About Power Consumption

In part 6, I’ve taken a look at how much power my Garmin InReach draws in various scenarios. Depending on where the device was located and used throughout the days, the battery would last me anywhere between 16 days in the best case and only a single day in case no satellite can be reached … Continue reading When All Else Fails – The Garmin InReach Mini 2 – Part 11 – More About Power Consumption

When All Else Fails – The Garmin InReach Mini 2 – Part 10 – Some More Notes

The Garmin InReach Mini 2 keeps fascinating me beyond the 9 blog entries I made last year, so needless to say, I took it with me to a recent vacation in the Austrian alps. While experimenting, I had two interesting insights that I thought I should document here: Message time context and where around the … Continue reading When All Else Fails – The Garmin InReach Mini 2 – Part 10 – Some More Notes

NTN Part 1 – 3GPP Rel. 17 – Non-Terrestrial Networks

In recent months, satellite services for smartphones have been hyped a lot. While surprising for many, including me, this didn’t come out of nowhere, and a lot of companies have worked on this topic for quite some time. 3GPP has also picked up the topic a few years ago with study items in 3GPP Release … Continue reading NTN Part 1 – 3GPP Rel. 17 – Non-Terrestrial Networks