Satdump software & wxsat reception

[pontiend]

A good one from M2-4 this afternoon well west and a bit low I did not expect much. 15.03 UTC EL38.80.

 

[pontiend]

Still getting a good pass from M2-4 afternoon pass.14.20 UHT EL79.36.
Not getting very good ones from M2-3 though .The one below is typical.EL 48.73

 

[pontiend]

Something a bit different Two scans same pass NOAA 19 10.15 am WXTIMG and Satdump same antenna different computers and dongles.The one with the red location cross is WXTIMG. Satdump is cropped.

 

[pontiend]

A good one from M2-3 today 9.50 UTC EL80.84.

 

[Terryl]

How did you divide the signal for the two dongles?

You know dividing the RF signal from one source will cut the signal strength in half, so satdump is getting half of what it's use too.

 

[pontiend]

I use a cheapo splitter that I bought donkeys years ago from poundland.It seems to work ok.I get good scans.The reason that I did this is because WXTIMG is on my old W10 ZBox Satdump is on my W10 desktop..I wanted to compare the programs.

 

[Terryl]

Ahhh...your using 75 ohm cable in a 50 ohm system, (dongles are 50 ohm input) a bit of a miss-match but it works if you have enough signal strength, if you were to go to 50 ohm cable (from antenna to dongle) you might see an improvement.

 

[Terryl]

WOW a very nice almost error free pass on M2-3 today.

Un-cropped photo.

 

[Analoguesat]

Due to work & stuff Ive not looked at my system for a few days but Ive got this lovely M2-4 image today Daylight has chased the night away to the south west, and it was a lovely morning over parts of the UK.

Met M2-4, 29/6/24 0425utc, max elevation 57degrees east

 

[pontiend]

Not seeing much of M2-3 lately. I still get a good pass of M2-4 at around 14.35 UTC.Today is no exeption.
14.34 UTC EL 62.65.

 

[pontiend]

I was complaining yesterday about no passes from M2-3.Today I got a decent one.9.58 UTC EL 88.55.NOAA 19 was going over at10.04 UTC EL88.26 .That looked a good one I got that one on WXTIMG on the old ZBox.

 

[Terryl]

Had a good pass on M2-4 today.

 

[pontiend]

Because of my restricted view of the sky I do not take much notice of the NOAA sats.Most of the passes are out of range for me,on good passes that are in range I only get an image from the bottom half of Norway to the top of spain.I prefer WXTOIMG scans.However there is something that I do not understand that may be interesting.What do the false colours mean,up to now it has been guess work.Time to find out.I have searched on netweather nothing there plenty of colour maps but no expiation.Nothing on google.
This is NOAA 19 Cropped 12 UTC 33 EL25.26 today.
Time to try the Experts.
Edit added another one .I do not know where to start with that one

 

[cirio70]

[...]However there is something that I do not understand that may be interesting.What do the false colours mean,up to now it has been guess work.Time to find out.I have searched on netweather nothing there plenty of colour maps but no expiation.Nothing on google.
[...]

I can only answer for SatDump but in the folder "resources" there's a lot of text files explaining a lot. (It's the same description you'll get if you click the "info" button on the wiever panel in satdump): in example, the MSA false colours in NOAA APT is described in the "MSA.md" file:

# MSA

This enhancement strips only the clouds from the satellite image, and applies them as a layer over a predefined map.
This can help to differentiate cloud types from land in single-band imagery, typical of APT transmissions.

Compared to MCIR, it also uses a visible channel.

### Appearance

Clouds appear white, progressively less transparent as the cloud thickens.
Land and sea appear as specified by the map used (by default, a physical map).

### Intended usage

Cloud analysis on APT.

### Limitations

No cloud top temperatures.

 

[Terryl]

The different colors on the clouds are for the amount of water vapor in them, the blue colors are colder with less water vapor in them, the red ones are warmer with more water vapor in them, so blue means less rain, progressing to green, yellow, orange to red with a ton of rain.

In some cases the red colors could also mean higher clouds with possibility of thunder storms.

 

[pontiend]

I have realized since that I made that post that False colours are of interest to serious weather enthusiasts.I am not a serious weather enthusiast.But it is still nice to know what they mean.It is all useful information.It makes the hobby more interesting

 

[Terryl]

Good pass today on M2-3, here is the untouched RGB photo.

 

[Chr0nik]

Sorry to hijack the thread but it's encouraging to see how are all capturing the NOAA and other satellites.

I've only got a V-dipole with a reflector and does ok but I'm currently building a 1.5m prime focus dish to be able to catch much better reception and also be able to listen to the microwave frequency bands.

No where near done and I need to setup the feed, get the stainless steel mesh and sort the mount.

 

[Terryl]

Good job so far, but one question, how are you going to track the satellites??

All the Meteors and NOAA satellites we are looking at in this thread are are in a low altitude Earth polar orbit, you would need a computer controlled motorized AZ (Up/Down) and rotor (Left/Right) to track them as they go overhead.

 

[Chr0nik]

Good job so far, but one question, how are you going to track the satellites??

All the Meteors and NOAA satellites we are looking at in this thread are are in a low altitude Earth polar orbit, you would need a computer controlled motorized AZ (Up/Down) and rotor (Left/Right) to track them as they go overhead.

At the moment, I will do it manually just to test it but I it'll be mostly for the microwave bands