this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2024
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Amateur Satellites

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Discussion about amateur reception and processing of data from artificial satellites, primarily through radio signals but data from internet resources is welcome too.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (7 children)

What?!

Are you pulling this down yourself?

[–] x2Zero7 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Oh yeah. It's an RTL-SDR dongle, FM filter, low-noise amplifier, and rabbit ears on a tripod.

I should also add, the pass was really optimal tonight. Almost completely overhead!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That's awesome. I have one of those dongles but I never could get anything to work in software. I never found a useful entry point to build off of intuitively.

Nice job, and thanks for sharing.

[–] x2Zero7 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Thank you for the kind words :)

I think that it can be a bit tricky because there is a decent bit to know so you can debug your setup. If you're interested in giving it another shot I'll include resources i found invaluable:

The satellite GOAT (imo)

A solid guide with helpful detail

Great write up on antenna height

The extra filter and amplifier i bought do make a difference with noise but aren't strictly necessary for decent captures.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

For APT I recommend noaa-apt. It can even be compiled in Termux on Android.
For (not only) LRPT (and APT as well, though noaa-apt is better) I recommend SatDump. It is also available as an app for Android and does live decoding. SatDump can also decode DSB from NOAA satellites (also in 137MHz band).

[–] x2Zero7 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's what I'm hearing as well! I've been trying to pull an LRPT pass from meteor 2-3 but I've yet to capture anything usable. I personally like SDR++ for capture since my bookmarks are there; but that's just me being lazy

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Oh, that's expected. Its antenna didn't deploy properly, so it has weird radiation pattern. It needs a yagi for some good image.

You can also just wait for Meteor M N 2-4 to start transmitting again. Status page

[–] x2Zero7 2 points 8 months ago

Thanks for the link!

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