Ground station

We received the ground station from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) in 2008. It was the first of the VHF/UHF reception ground stations to be developed as part of the ESA GENSO Project (Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations) under Professor Tanya Vladimirova.

The station is now the primary VHF/UHF for transmitting and receiving our missions.

Ground station for students

Groundstation

Our ground station is used for undergraduate, postgraduate, and research projects. Our students use the equipment, computers and soldering stations.

Study with us

Using our equipment

Our current equipment includes:

  • BA antennas - 144 and 430 medium gain circular-polarised yagis
  • BB antennas - 144 and 430 high gain circular-polarised yagi and helical antennas, used on previous Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd missions
  • LNA - 430-440 MHz SP-7000 LNA preamp and 140 MHz SP-2000 LNA
  • HPA - Discovery-2 VHF 400-1500 W valve amplifier and Gemini-70 UHF 300 W solid-state amplifier
  • Rotator - Yaesu G-5500 controller
  • Radios - ICOM 910H
  • Terminal node controllers - Paccomm Spirit-2, Symek TNC2H & Kantronics 9612+
  • Software defined radio tools - Ettus USRP B210, Fun cube dongle (FCD), DVB dongles
  • Desktop computers - Windows (Orbitron, SDR#) and Linux (gnuradio, custom interfacing and data processing programs).
STRaND-1 Groundstation Communications: ICOM Radio & Spirit-2 TNC

Pre-launch testing for STRaND-1 mission using ICOM radio and Spirit-2 TNC.

Receiving NASA PhoneSat with gnuradio at Surrey Space Centre

Receiving NASA phoneSat with our gnuradio. This requires Linux and gnuradio.

Get in contact

We offer any amateur satellite support where possible! For availability and information please get in touch.

Chris Bridges profile image

Dr Christopher Bridges

Reader in On-Board Data Handling (OBDH)