Weather satellite images

That is awesome work neuromodulator such a clear and detailed image. I've got a cheap SDR that I might be able to use Software Defined Radio (SDR) - My First Design or do you think it is too low-specification?

It should be enough, what kind of antennas do you have? What you will also need is a satellite tracking app or webpage (check these links: Meteor M2, Meteor M2-2) to check the time when the sat will pass over your location and start capturing. These sats have a period of around 100 min and you got around 15 mins to capture their transmission. The higher the elevation the sat will reach when it passes, the better, try to look for elevations over 45°. You can also try to capture NOAA-15, 18 and 19 sats, they transmit at 137 Mhz too, the images are lower res and they require higher SNR to get crystal clear images, but considering the short time period you have to capture a sat signal, you can use those sats to tune your rig while you wait for Meteor sats. If you can, try to look for a place with low RF contamination and high visibility, cities are usually not the best place to capture these weak signals.

Great, thank you. Now I really want to have a go at this. I only have some thin film Molex antennas currently (like those in yesterday's webinar) so I'll have to make something for outside anyway - I'd welcome suggestions for anything that is low-cost and easy to make as there seems to be a huge variety of designs out there.

Old TVs used rabbit ear antennas, you could scavange one, or just build a V dipole (link).

A good link, thank you. I cannot imagine it gets much simpler than that

Nice to see the digital modes - I remember decoding the APT analog AM-in-FM modes before using WxSat and a scanner, although not with great results due to the ~50kHz FM bandwidth. Perhaps it's a good time to build a QFA (helix) antenna as well?

Perhaps if I find the time, I'll go looking for LRPT. I know there is dedicated HRPT gear out there (e.g. the Winradio stuff) but it's very expensive. In the EU at least, you can get some of the data via geostationary satellites as well (EUMETCast) as well as in Japan (HimawariCast) using an ACM/VCM capable satellite TV tuner card and regular Ku-band dish and LNB. Unfortunately, being in AU, we don't have such services available, but at least we still have HF Fax (B/W) for marine users.

- Gough

Very impressive neuromodulator . About how much time did you invest to setup up this and what was some of the troubles you encountered?

Not much time really. I first tried to capture APT signals, on my first attempt I found that they were visible even from within the house (It rainy outside). On the next attempt I captured it from the garden and that increased the quality of the capture a great deal. After a few APT captures I moved to LRIT, and it was much easier as it required lower SNR. Probably the biggest difficulty was to learn how to properly move the antenna so as to maximize SNR. It also took me some time to find what programs to use and how to properly use them. My captures where from a house 2km away from the closest town. I'll soon try this from a city to find out how much worse it is...

I'd love to recreate this using my HackRF.

for a HackRF! That is like so cool...