RTL-SDR BlogActive L-Band 1525-1660 Inmarsat to Iridium Patch Antenna Set

I use this with a SdrPlay RSPdx radio, it works fine when outside. I don't intend to mount it outdoors permanently I don't think it is up to that build quality. If I was I would stick it into a better watertight enclosure and make sure it is out of the summer sun. But for the price it is well built. Inside is one of those PCB 5 x 5 inch patch antennas and a preamp. The preamp runs on 3.3v internally, so 5V power (or 4.7V as the RSPdx puts out) is just fine to power the antenna.It receives Inmarsat and GPS frequencies inside my house, but for decoding it needs to be outside or at least looking through a window pointed in the right direction. I get much better reception when the antenna is outside.I would buy this again.Edit: I have seen some discussion on the web about the coax antenna feed line - i.e. it being very lossy. So I measured it with an expensive VNA. The cable supplied has about 3.8 dB loss at 1550 MHz. To put this in perspective a very expensive, very low loss W.L. Gore type 195 cable (>$300) of the same length measures about 0.9 dB. For my SDR Play RSPdx receiver this extra loss makes no difference, because I have to lower my receivers LNA gain to prevent overload anyway, no matter what cable I use. The cable loss is after the antenna LNA gain, so it doesn't really affect the total system noise figure if at all (3 dB extra loss & 10 dB Assumed LNA gain < 0.5 dB noise figure difference). So my advice is don't fret about it much. It should only be an issue if you are using some SDR Dongle that doesn't have enough gain to begin with, and even then, replacing the cable will have little overall effect. Just try a shorter cable first.

With either Sparkfun or Ardusimple dual-band antennas, I can get the Inmarsat L-band signal, but with this one, it's about 3 to 6 dB stronger, when aimed at the satellite. So, thumbs up!

Covers all the L band satellites, instead of having to have two receivers to do the same. I have both, this one works just fine for both L bands. The holder leaves a lot to be desired, so I use a camera tripod. Patch antenna and pre-amplifiers in one box. NOTE does NOT cover the weather satellite as this requires a different antenna design.

I could easily receive Inmarsat, Iridium signals.Compared to the price, this is a great antenna.

Quality, ease of setup, performance.