Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

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Mike2459
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Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:24 pm

Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by Mike2459 » Thu Jul 11, 2019 4:22 am

The launch of a new Meteor satellite on July 5th perked my interest in finding a new way to decode Meteor imagery with the SDRPlay line of receivers. I previously had been doing this through ExtIO and old versions of SDRSharp (<1361). RTL_TCP server makes it possible to connect current versions of SDRSharp to SDRPlay to do automated decoding of NOAA and Meteor APT. NOAA APT satellites can be also be decoded easily with SDRUno. Meteor however cannot, as yet. I have been tinkering with RTL_TCP this evening and was able to connect with the RSP2 via SDRSharp v1583 (it should work with newer versions as well) through RTL_TCP server.

Some setup work is required however:
For NOAA and Meteor Sats the SDRSharp DDE tracking plugin is required to receive tracking data from Orbitron via WispDDE. Orbitron is used to provide AOS/LOS times and to do doppler correction of the tuned VHF frequency.

During initial testing I was concerned with my systems ability to pass NOAA satellite audio data to wxtoimg. Other than getting RF and audio levels set to usable values no other issues were encountered. (I was expecting to see some data loss due to audio glitches). NOAA satellites can be also decoded easily with SDRUno. The primary purpose of this setup is the realtime decoding of Meteor satellites.

For Meteor the QPSK Demodulator plugin is also required to demodulate Meteor's QPSK/OQPSK data stream. The data stream is then decoded into 3 channels of color by a standalone program (Meteor MNo2 LRPT Analizer) launched at AOS . These 3 color channels are then combined and saved as an image (BMP or JPEG). Further processing of the saved image to correct image proportions can be done with additional software.

Here are some screenshots of the initial tests connecting to Meteor M_2 (the old one)and NOAA19:

SDRPlay/SDRSharp locked on to Meteor's QPSK signal :
Attachments
Locked on to Meteor.JPG
Locked on to Meteor.JPG (266.84 KiB) Viewed 65561 times

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Mike2459
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Re: Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by Mike2459 » Thu Jul 11, 2019 4:35 am

The demodulator view:
Meteor decode.JPG
Meteor decode.JPG (204.19 KiB) Viewed 65559 times
Resulting image:
2019-7-10-21-9-17-995_123.RGB122.jpg
2019-7-10-21-9-17-995_123.RGB122.jpg (254.62 KiB) Viewed 65559 times
Meteor's Infrared sensor is out of service, however a small portion of visible light in the northwest is captured in this shot.

NOAA-18 captured earlier this evening (IR Channels 3 and 4 composite):
noaa-18-201907110216-hvc.jpg
noaa-18-201907110216-hvc.jpg (210.21 KiB) Viewed 65559 times

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sdrom33
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Re: Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by sdrom33 » Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:21 pm

What antenna are you using? Nice images!

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Mike2459
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Re: Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by Mike2459 » Sun Jul 14, 2019 12:02 am

A QFH built from 75 ohm coax.

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RSP2user
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Re: Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by RSP2user » Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:20 pm

There is a nice article here on the forum for building a QFH: https://www.sdrplay.com/community/viewt ... f=5&t=2529 You can also find references online for other QFH antennas.
201804272152 - 90W - Noaa 19 -2.JPG
201804272152 - 90W - Noaa 19 -2.JPG (141.83 KiB) Viewed 65347 times

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sdrom33
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Re: Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by sdrom33 » Sun Jul 14, 2019 9:30 pm

Thanks to Mike and to RSP2user for the information and also kudos for very impressive images!

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Mike2459
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Re: Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by Mike2459 » Fri Jul 19, 2019 8:10 pm

Meteor-M2 2 Image launched July 5th has begun sending LRPT images:
From this afternoon: The US Northeast and the Canadian Maritime provinces.
2019_07_19_LRPT_14-47-25.s_123.RGB122.jpg
2019_07_19_LRPT_14-47-25.s_123.RGB122.jpg (391.85 KiB) Viewed 65078 times

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Mike2459
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Re: Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by Mike2459 » Fri Jul 19, 2019 8:26 pm

Information on the reception of NOAA & Meteor LRPT as well as the required software and its configuration can be found here:

http://happysat.nl/Setup_Meteor/Setup.html
(courtesy of Anne Krummel at the APT Group Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Satellite.apt.group/


Mike

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Yuvalo
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Re: Decoding Meteor Satellites with RSP Receivers and SDR Sharp via RTL_TCP server

Post by Yuvalo » Sat Aug 10, 2019 4:29 pm

Mike, Thanks for the interesting post. I'd also like to feed Meteor IF signal from RSP1A run by SDR-Console to the QPSK Demodulator plugin in SDR#1703. Both SDR-Console and SDR# are on one and the same PC under Windows 10. Is it necessary to use ExtIO Plugin? If yes, then into which application it is to be installed? And which Source should be chosen in SDR#?
Last edited by Yuvalo on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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