Active 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.

This antenna is easy to use and is capable of good L-band reception out of the box. It should suit the needs of most hobbyists looking to capture L-band signals and largely obviates the need to build a custom helical antenna. However the main problem with this antenna is the poor quality mounting accessories, which are almost the same as the ones that come with the RTL-SDR blog. The plastic mount cracked when I tightened a screw by hand, rendering them unusable, and I had to devise an alternative way to mount the antenna so it's pointing at the satellite of interest, which is a task that requires accuracy and is challenging without proper mounting tools.

Antenna itself works great. You do need a clear unobstructed view to the satellite though.The tripod mount is quite useless unless you are somewhere oit camping and just want to set it on a table for short period of time. It’s too soft to leave it anywhere unattended.Suction mount is fine.I suggest you either use a shorter pigtail cable if you can get your dongle out to the antenna or buy a better cable with less loss.But anyways it will work fine as is.

Shipping was fast. The product is a quality item. I used it on my prime focus dish to aim it. Then I removed it and used my C-Band feed for ADS-C. It works great on my Directv offset dish also as it has a 2dB higher signal than my home made helical feed with a LNA for L-Band.

On Friday DHL left the box at the frontdoor (which we don't use).3 days later our neigtboor attended us on the box sitting there.There was no delivery announcement (which there normally is).The products were not affected and worked fine.So the 'not 5 stars' is just caused by the delivery of DHL.

I bought this antenna to allow me to listen in to L-Band operations using my SDR (HackRF One). For the money, this item is exactly what I expected and works great!

Nicely packed, but without any documentation. Functionality is superb!

I really wanted one of these L-band antennas. The first order was delivered promptly but there was NO ANTENNA - only the empty weather protective enclosure. The 8 screws that attach the enclosure cover were all very loose. I returned that and a replacement was promptly delivered within two days. Unbelievably, that unit also had NO ANTENNA. Evidently at some point in the supply chain someone is removing the antenna from these kits and the customer receives only the empty enclosure plus the suction cup mount, the SMA cable and the flexible leg tripod. Someone is pilfering the antennas from these kits. Sad...UPDATE - On the 3rd order the complete kit (including the antenna) was received. I'm very happy with both the folks at RTL-SDR Blog.com and Amazon for helping to resolve this issue. 5 stars because I know that this is a quality product and I am eager to put it to good use.Thanks again for the help in resolving the issue!