Before we start, satellites are little devices that move through space attracted by gravity, in our case, gravity of planet earth. Some are stationary – they rotate along with the planet’s rotation. Others move in different ways. The NOAA satellites, are of the latter kind.
Therefore, first step, is to figure out where the NOAA satellites are, and when they are in sight – only then, we can expect a signal. Easy enough. Downloaded “Orbitron” software, which is really great, and updated the “TLE”s – the so-called two line elements that describe the movements of a satellite.
Make sure to set your location (and time) right. And get familiar with UTC time scale.
APT – this is just the codeword for the downlink protocol. It has been around for a long time, and its days are counted – new satellites use more powerful protocols, more bandwidth, to get high resolution picutures down. But I’m glad there are still a few up that transmit pretty nice pictures, in a not too complicated format.
Using SDRSharp and the little Chinese magic “DVB-T” stick, a piece of wire was all that was needed to get some first signal received. So, in fact, there are satellites above. Let’s get a bit closer!
