{"id":11459,"date":"2015-09-25T22:23:38","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T02:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11459"},"modified":"2015-09-25T22:23:38","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T02:23:38","slug":"low-cost-diy-ground-station-for-weather-satellite-image-reception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11459","title":{"rendered":"Low cost DIY ground station for weather satellite image reception"},"content":{"rendered":"

The HobbySpace Space Radio section<\/a> has lots of information and web resources about home reception of satellite signals, especially for obtaining\u00a0images from low earth orbit\u00a0weather satellites<\/a>. The price\u00a0for such DIY systems was modest and now has gotten even cheaper.<\/p>\n

Previously, one needed a wide-band radio tuner, which might cost a couple of hundred dollars, a simple antenna, a PC with a sound card, and some free software for turning the satellite data into images. Now with the arrival of Software Defined Radio<\/a> programs, one can obtain\u00a0a\u00a0cheap “dongle”, i.e. a small device with a built-in tuner that plugs into a PC’s USB port\u00a0for interfacing satellites signals to the PC.<\/p>\n

Jason Davis of the Planetary Society<\/a>\u00a0gives a nice tutorial on building\u00a0a system with about $50 in components (not counting a PC) that can\u00a0be used for receiving weather sat images as well as data from a future LightSail mission:\u00a0How to Download Weather Satellite Images from Space – The Planetary Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For additional info, Davis points to Receiving Weather Satellite Images for \u00a38 – Matt Gray<\/a>.<\/p>\n

See also the\u00a0RTL-SDR<\/a>, a\u00a0\u00a0very cheap software defined radio that uses a DVB-T TV tuner dongle”.<\/p>\n

\"20150918_earth-noaa19_f537[1]\"<\/a>A sample image from Jason Davis<\/a> showing much of N. America<\/em>
\nas\u00a0received\u00a0by his home ground station from\u00a0the NOAA 19 satellite.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The HobbySpace Space Radio section has lots of information and web resources about home reception of satellite signals, especially for obtaining\u00a0images from low earth orbit\u00a0weather satellites. The price\u00a0for such DIY systems was modest and now has gotten even cheaper. Previously, one needed a wide-band radio tuner, which might cost a couple of hundred dollars, a … Continue reading Low cost DIY ground station for weather satellite image reception<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,14,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diy-space","category-space-participation","category-space-radio"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2YP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4254,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4254","url_meta":{"origin":11459,"position":0},"title":"Weather satellite image reception using a low cost SDR based system","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In the HobbySpace Radio section I describe a weather satellite image receiving station I set up many years ago consisting of a simple antenna, a PC controllable receiver and a PC with a sound card. When a satellite passed overhead, and the receiver was set to the proper frequency band,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DIY space"","block_context":{"text":"DIY space","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"setup3NOAA14-20-02-2000_col_md","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/setup3NOAA14-20-02-2000_col_md.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4032,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4032","url_meta":{"origin":11459,"position":1},"title":"The FUNcube Dongle SDR for satellite reception","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've posted about the FUNcube Dongle before but it's worth a repeat. This small device plugs into a USB port and when combined with a program like\u00a0 SDR# \"A Software Defined Radio in C#\" your computer becomes a fully functional radio tuner. With a proper antenna and preamplifier you can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Satellite Watching"","block_context":{"text":"Satellite Watching","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=29"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&l=ur2&o=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15275,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15275","url_meta":{"origin":11459,"position":2},"title":"Weather satellite image reception with tracking antenna on a converted telescope mount","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are links to a set of How-To postings on receiving weather satellite images with a low cost home system that includes the conversion of a telescope mount into an automated antenna that follows weather satellites across the sky: Orbital Weather Satellite APT Image Reception - SDRplay Community Forum -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/NOAA-19-59W-540x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23129,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=23129","url_meta":{"origin":11459,"position":3},"title":"Low cost GOES weather satellite stations","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Home systems for GOES weather satellite image reception are now quite affordable. Nooele currently offers this package for just $179 at Amazon: Nooelec GOES Weather Satellite RTL-SDR Bundle[Amazon commission link] Includes NESDR SMArTee XTR Software Defined Radio, & Everything Else Needed to Receive LRIT, HRIT & HRPT Satellite Weather Images\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Amateur\/Student Satellite"","block_context":{"text":"Amateur\/Student Satellite","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&l=am2&o=1&a=B08HGQXC7C","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23131,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=23131","url_meta":{"origin":11459,"position":4},"title":"Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Nov.12.2020","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat \/ SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here): ** Teachers In Space's Serenity educational CubeSat is ready to go to orbit on the first flight of the Firefly Alpha orbital rocket. The launch is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Amateur\/Student Satellite"","block_context":{"text":"Amateur\/Student Satellite","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/serenity-tile1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17918,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17918","url_meta":{"origin":11459,"position":5},"title":"New enhancements to low-cost GOES weather satellite station for amateurs","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I've posted a couple of times about the \u00a0HRIT and LRIT Low-Cost System for capturing weather satellite images: Build a low cost system to receive images from GOES weather satellites Improving GOES weather satellite imaging with low cost home ground station A reader who keeps me up-to-date on the project\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eyes in the Sky"","block_context":{"text":"Eyes in the Sky","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=27"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/GOES-16-02-17-2019-FD.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11461,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11459\/revisions\/11461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}