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Tuning in for the weather and other satellites

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  • 06-02-2013 12:28am
    #1
    martinsvi
    Registered Users Posts: 1,729 ✭✭✭


    Hi,

    I do apologise if this has been discussed before, I did use search, unfortunately I did had trouble to refine my search so it came up with a lot of unnecessary stuff..

    So I have a Bearcat scanner and a "mobile" 50 cm antenna that works very well allowing me to listen some ATC stuff. What I got really excited about was that apparently you can tune in for NOAA satellites and using certain software turn their signal into images. I haven't tried that yet as so far NOAA's are only close when I'm either sleeping or at work. Some internet resources indicate that tomorrow evening I should be able to hear something..

    what noise/sound am I looking for? Is it like a 90-ies style dial-up modem sound?

    also - are there any other satellites that I can try to tune in for? if so - what are their frequencies and how should I interpret (with what software) their signals?


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    #2
    PauloMN
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional North East Moderators Posts: 10,869 Mod ✭✭✭✭PauloMN


    Have a look at this to give you an idea of how it works:
    http://youtu.be/f8sKhDimdqA

    It would be worth building an antenna for 137MHz to give you better results. You can set this up on a temporary basis outside if you don't want it up permanently.

    More info:
    http://www.g4ilo.com/wxsats.html


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    #3
    watty
    Registered Users Posts: 32,417 ✭✭✭✭watty


    I use a discone on the chimney as it's not really directional and cheap scanner.

    A higher gain directional aerial needs pan & tilt head to track the satellite and the wide IF bandwidth of a cheap scanner means you don't have to continuously retune to cope with doppler shift.

    Though if you have suitable receiver with serial or USB tuning control and a computer controlled pan & tilt motor you can then automatically track and have a much longer "pass".

    My PC software I use (earphone socket to sound card in with a 3.5mm jack cable) tells me the time and frequency and pops up an alert and also automatically stores and decodes the data.


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    #4
    martinsvi
    Registered Users Posts: 1,729 ✭✭✭martinsvi


    thanks, can you tell me the name of the software?

    EDIT: so I heard NOAA 17 this evening, signal seemed good. I didn't had the cable handy so I didn't record anything unfortunately... Anyway - what's the duration of signal that it needs to draw a decent image? I mean, I'll probably will record it (rather than trying to decode it on the fly) and I was wondering what's the minimum duration?


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    #5
    watty
    Registered Users Posts: 32,417 ✭✭✭✭watty


    http://www.wxtoimg.com/


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