# Background

I'm doing some research on a company called ASTS who claims to be able to connect to regular smartphones from a satellite. Initially I wrote off their claims, but after looking into it a bit more ([along with some link budget calculations][1]), it actually seemed... surprisingly possible.

To my surprise, this wasn't even actually the first time this has been done. Apparently a company called TerreStar was able to connect to a smartphone back in 2010, from GEO! I've always imagined satellite phones to be big, bulky, power-hungry devices.

Out of curiosity I bought a used TerreStar Genus to take apart, just to see how big the antenna is - especially since it's talking to a GEO satellite. I'm having trouble locating it though, can anyone help?

So far I found some rf amplifiers, but not the actual antennas themselves...

**SKY65124-21** - RF Amplifier 1930-1990MHz 2W 5Volt -40C +85C

**SKY77340-21** - The SKY77340 Power Amplifier Module (PAM) is designed in a compact form factor for quad-band cellular handsets comprising GSM850/900, DCS1800, PCS1900, supporting GMSK and linear EDGE modulation.

[![enter image description here][2]][2]

[![enter image description here][3]][3]

[![enter image description here][4]][4]

[![enter image description here][5]][5]

More pictures here (and also available upon request): https://i.sstatic.net/PJ1cv.jpg

# Updated Question

Wait, I think I found them! Are these it? Wow, I'm honestly shocked these tiny things are able to transmit to GEO. Is the antenna that's connecting to the satellite the `E000118 REV F` one since that's the only one that's above the line?

Going by the 2 rf amplifiers I found, does this mean that the antenna had a max output of 2W?

[![enter image description here][6]][6]

  [1]: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/55143/is-it-possible-for-leo-satellites-to-detect-a-usable-signal-from-regular-mobile
  [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/HnINp.jpg
  [3]: https://i.sstatic.net/yc9IE.jpg
  [4]: https://i.sstatic.net/NXCK2.jpg
  [5]: https://i.sstatic.net/fV3fq.jpg
  [6]: https://i.sstatic.net/OQ8IF.jpg