How To Hack Winegard Portable Satellite Dishes

This video looks at hacking the first three generations of Winegard TV satellite antennas. I've been able to get into debug menus on the original G1 and the G2, although the G3 is proving problematic. Both of the first two models need an RS-232 to RS-484 adapter and a special 6-pin phone cord to interface with the service port on the control board. You can then send commands and receive antenna data using a Linux "screen" command, like "screen /dev/ttyUSB1 57600". (I'm using a USB-to-serial adapter as well as the RS485 adapter). The G1 wants a baud rate of 57600 and the G2 wants a baud rate of 115200.

The G2+ has a really interesting command called "skymap", which appears to do the same thing as my microwave imaging code. If anyone knows more about this program, I'd be super interested to hear about it!

The G3 does not have a phone port, only a USB A jack. I have not been able to interface with this the way I could with the Tailgater brand's USB port. If anyone knows how I can get a debug console on a G3 Carryout, I'd love to know!

Here's an article I wrote for the AMSAT Journal about this project: https://saveitforparts.wordpress.com/...

My Python code for microwave imaging / radio astronomy with a Winegard dish: https://github.com/saveitforparts/Car...

And some more information about the adapter cables: https://saveitforparts.wordpress.com/...

Cyberdeck build:    • Satellite Hacking Cyberdeck v2.0  

Microwave imaging dish at Open Sauce 2024:    • Robots And Lasers And Science Oh My! ...  

More Winegard G1 hacking:    • Hacking Portable Satellite Dish For M...  

Original Tailgater microwave imager:    • Seeing Satellites with DIY Microwave ...  

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