NOAA 15 APT images

 

This is a collection of images which I received in 1998 and 2011 from the polar orbiting weather satellite NOAA-15.
All pictures received in 1998 were using a home-built
FM receiver based on a kit from Holger Eckardt DF2FQ (shown on the picture to the right). With this receiver and a 2m X-Quad antenna I received the automatic picture (APT) transmissions of NOAA-15 and decoded them using the sound card of my PC and the software JVComm. The complete station was running fully automated and was controlled by a PC. The pictures are sorted by date of reception. These false colour pictures were generated by using the combined information from both channels: the left channel contains the infrared (IR) image, the right channel contains the visible (VIS) images. The pictures are sorted by date of reception.


 07.06.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 


 10.06.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 


 26.07.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)


 26.07.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 


 08.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)


 08.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 


 09.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)


 09.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 

 


 23.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 


 24.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)


 24.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 


 28.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 

 


 29.08.1998
(IR and VIS channel combined)

 


All pictures during August 2011 were received on 137.620 MHz using a wideband black-box receiver PCR-100 from ICOM (shown on the picture to the right). The used bandwidth in
FM mode was 50 kHz. Thus doppler compensation was essentially not necessary. With
this receiver and a 2m eggbeater omni-directional antenna I received the automatic
picture (APT) transmissions of NOAA-15 below. I decoded them using the sound card of my PC and except for the first day when I used JVCOMM I used the freeware version of the software WXtoImg.
 


 17.08.2011
(VIS channel contrast enhanced)


 17.08.2011
(multispectral VIS & IR combined)


 17.08.2011
(HVC false color image)


 17.08.2011
(VIS channel contrast enhanced)


 17.08.2011
(multispectral VIS & IR combined)


 17.08.2011
(HVCT false color image)

Later in 2011 I bought a Weatherman receiver and QFH-Antenna from the German company
Vierling. I installed this at my main home and started to receive and record some more pictures.
The receiver is controlled with the software from Vierling called "Weatherman Control" and the
audio is processed in the soundcard of the PC using the freeware version of the software WXtoImg.
You can find a quite detailed description of the Weatherman Set and how to optimize the antenna
in the"Ham Downloads" section of this website or when clicking on the picture on the right.
 


18.11.2011 13:36UTC
(VIS & IR channels)


18.11.2011 13:36UTC
(HVCT false color)


18.11.2011 13:36UTC
(multichannel IR)


18.11.2011 15:33UTC
(VIS & IR channels)


18.11.2011 15:33UTC
(HVCT false color)


18.11.2011 15:33UTC
(multichannel IR)


I hope you enjoyed browsing this little collection. If found it interesting to watch the surface features and details changing during the seasons. Your feedback is always welcome. Please send it to my Email-address:

  


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