Satellite image receiving setup

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GreggWard
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Satellite image receiving setup

Unread post by GreggWard »

Steven,

First of all, thanks for setting up an awesome looking Weather forum for NZ weather.

I was quite impressed with your satellite images that you have posted on your website (http://www.templeton.gen.nz/) and was wondering if you could provide any information as to your setup, which has enabled you to be able to receive them.

Thanks



Gregg
Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

hey, i used to have sat rec setup....until it got a bit too rusty....and then the internet came along....
it was a GMS receiver and fixed parabolic dish....through a ADC card (that now does not fit in my upgraded pc), and some DOS software to decode the signal....
worked great for years :)....i had the pics automaticly being downloaded every 3 hours from the JMA GMS reciever.....
and i even had a SW radio I could pick up a MSLA weather Map via SSB ....using the same software on the PC: and I had a switch on a timer to switch between the 2 sources of signals.....amazing setup, but it worked....until the internet came along....
if anyone is interested, i have some software that is used with time/date stamped sat pics from the sat signal software or similar ...called autosatpicftp....you guys might have heard of it, or at least herd of cows?
:)
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Brian Hamilton, weather enthusiast. My weather dataEmail: [email protected]
Skywatcher
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Unread post by Skywatcher »

Hi Gregg,

I just copied the phpBB download to the site, ran the install file and that was it :)

The basic satelllite equipment for APT from the polar orbiting satellites consists of a home-made antenna (about $120 including mast) and a receiver kit and PSU ($250). The receiver simply feeds audio into the sound card of the PC where it's recorded as a big WAV file and then decoded by a couple of shareware programs.

No tracking is needed but having a clear horizon is useful - I miscalculated the height of the (metal) roof from the under-eave mount and this means the I don't get a very good signal to the NW :(

The antenna is made from plastic pipe, dowel rod and satellite TV coax:

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The receiver kit is supplied by the Remote Imaging Group (http://www.rig.org.uk) in the UK but you must be a member to buy one - the cost for one year is about $65.

You can also buy a receiver if you don't want the hassle (over 100 discrete components) of building one and setting it up - the most popular is about $600 from http://www.time-step.com also in the UK.

Software is free but worth registering to get some extras - I use a combination of wxtoimg (http://www.weather.net.nz/wxtoimg) and SatSignal (http://www.satsignal.net).

Let me know if you want any more info.

Brian,

Back in Scotland in the early 90's, I had a 2m dish for receiving the high-res digital images from Meteosat - the mount wasn't too stable and the dish moved in anything more than a moderate wind - that was fairly common in my exposed location :( The price of great views of Edinburgh, Fife and the Pentland hills....

Cheers,

Steven
Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

yeah, by dish i had mounted at ground level, on a sturdy mount, but it used to rock a bit in the wind, and rust on the steel frame, and rot of the wood mount....well, its now in the back of the shed,......
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Brian Hamilton, weather enthusiast. My weather dataEmail: [email protected]
GreggWard
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Unread post by GreggWard »

Thanks for your replies guys.



Gregg
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Unread post by CbFan »

[switch to whisper mode]

... anyone tried hijacking their Sky dish for this?

[whisper mode off]

Many times I have toyed with the idea.... ;)
Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

are we doing that badly at cricket huh!
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Brian Hamilton, weather enthusiast. My weather dataEmail: [email protected]
Matthew Pearce
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Unread post by Matthew Pearce »

Yes. ;)
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