Receiving NOAA weather satellite images - fully automated

In this post I'll show you my satellite receiving set up. It's based on a raspberry pi computer and a cheap SDR dongle.

The software I use on my Raspberry Pi is from this GitHub repository by reynico. 

My setup (still have to build a nice case for it)

	Nooelec SAWbird+ NOAA LNA-module	Link to Amazon
	distill: FM barebones – broadcast FM bandstop Filter	Link to Amazon
	Nooelec SMA DC-Block	Link to Amazon
	Andoer Mini-tv-USB-tuner Type 1	Link to Amazon

The USB memory stick in the picture is for storage. More on that later...

The antenna is an Eggbeater antenna for 2m. Because of its omnidirectional properties it is very good for satellite reception. It doesn't need an Az/El rotor. 

I got this antenna from ANjo antennen. But you should have similarly good results with simple DIY project antennas such as the V-Dipole or a Quadrifilar Helix Antenna.

The Software...

After installing the software from the GitHub repository i had to modify some config files as described in the installation guide. This was very easy so I started receiving my first images pretty fast.

After booting the Pi, it connects to my WiFi and starts scheduling the satellite passes for the day. It does that again at midnight. Then it waits for the next pass, receives the audio, processes it,c the images, tweets them out and waits for the next one. Easy does it!

I wanted to store all received images on my (Synology) NAS so i've mounted a shared drive onto the Pi and changed the .noaa.conf file to point into that direction. For METEOR reception it records the audiofiles and also stored them on my NAS. But because my NAS' shared drive is also synced with my OneDrive i noticed sync conflicts made the METEOR reception fail. Therefor I used an external USB drive for recording and processing of the METEOR audio. The resulting image will still be stored on my NAS and synced to my OneDrive. 

The software is able to tweet out every image it receives so if you want to check that out I invite you to take a look at my twitter feed over at @ON6PH 

I am happy to receive comments and will do my best to answer any questions.