Loss is the issue. Teflon substrate is used above 6 gHz. Specifically the “loss tangent”
Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 29, 2020, at 1:42 PM, Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote: > > > I thought patch antennas couldn’t be cheap FR4 and had to be some expensive > PTFE/fiberglass substrate or something. Maybe that depends on frequency. > > From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Chuck McCown via AF > Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2020 2:09 PM > To: Darin Steffl <darin.ste...@mnwifi.com>; AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group > <af@af.afmug.com> > Cc: ch...@go-mtc.com > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] YouTuber dismantles the SpaceX Starlink 'Dishy > McFlatface' Antenna! [V > > The antenna is an array of circular patches with a parasitic patch for a bit > more gain. > > The whole array is not one huge phased array but a cluster of smaller groups > of patches. > > I can have that antenna PCB made for probably $20. It is just a normal pcb. > All the chips that have made it possible for you to have a phased array on > the front bumper of your car can easily make this happen. > > Phase shifting RF in a chip is no longer difficult nor expensive. There are > a bunch of them though, so just the sheer number of chips will make it more > expensive but it is surly to be custom silicon. > > From: Darin Steffl > Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2020 12:27 PM > To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group > Cc: Chuck McCown > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] YouTuber dismantles the SpaceX Starlink 'Dishy > McFlatface' Antenna! [V > > Most guesses are upwards of $2,500 to manufacturer. Phased array antennas are > very expensive and before they put a lot of effort into reducing cost, most > said minimum $10k for this type of antenna. > > > > On Sun, Nov 29, 2020, 12:36 PM Chuck McCown via AF <af@af.afmug.com> wrote: > That antenna array alone is probably costing them $20 and another $20 of > chips on it. I am guessing it is north of $100 to make. > > From: Ken Hohhof > Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2020 11:28 AM > To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] YouTuber dismantles the SpaceX Starlink 'Dishy > McFlatface' Antenna! [V > > What do you estimate it would cost them to manufacture in large quantities? > People are probably assuming it’s a $10 item at some point, but it looks > expensive to me, even at scale. > > From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Chuck McCown via AF > Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2020 11:49 AM > To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> > Cc: ch...@go-mtc.com > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] YouTuber dismantles the SpaceX Starlink 'Dishy > McFlatface' Antenna! [V > > Clever motor assembly. Be fun to use that same mechanism for a solar panel. > I may have to give that a try. > So, it does steer mechanically. Almost has to to maximize the gain. > > Looks like roughly 2000 patches. > Looks like roughly 500 chips feeding them. So a 4 patch array fed by a > T/R-LNA - power amp. 4-6 of those clusters fed into a larger chip that > probably does the phasing for steering. > > So the antenna is just a whole lot of simple in a very massive scale. > > > > From: Jaime Solorza > Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2020 8:24 AM > To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group > Subject: [AFMUG] YouTuber dismantles the SpaceX Starlink 'Dishy McFlatface' > Antenna! [V > > https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/starlink-teardown > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
-- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
