Education Sampler 1992 [NeXTSTEP]/Education_1992_Sampler.iso/Programming/Source/Weather/Weather.app/other/SATRECPT.DOC

Text File | 1992-02-19 | 20.1 KB | 442 lines

 From:         "John E. Williams" <[e-mail]>

 Here is the current version of our HOW TO DO IT blurb on receiving
 APT images from the NOAA and Soviet METEOR Weather Satellites.

 John Williams

 -------------------------   [e-mail]   ----------------------


          RECEIVING WEATHER SATELLITE IMAGERY: A BEGINNER'S PRIMER
          --------------------------------------------------------

          Courtesy Dallas Remote Imaging Group
          Datalink RBBS ============> 214-394-7438

          Dedicated to satellite tracking, decoding of NOAA/Soviet
          meteorological satellite telemetry, and Digital Image
          Processing of satellite pictures.

          Jeff Wallach,      N5ITU, Chairman

          John Williams,            Co-Chairman
          John DuBois,       W1HDX, VAS/HRPT Design Engineer
          T S  Kelso,               Air Force/NASA liaison
          Ed O'Grady,               Soviet Space Program Analyst
          Mark Sims,                Director Software Development

          All aspects of Amateur Radio covered on Datalink RBBS

  (IF YOU COPY THIS BULLETIN FOR OTHER SYSTEMS, PLEASE BE KIND ENOUGH
   TO LEAVE  THIS BANNER  AS DUE CREDIT TO THE HARD-WORKING FOLKS WHO
   DEVELOPED AND CONTINUALLY UPDATE THIS INFORMATIVE 'HOW-TO'BULLETIN)

                                                 Dayton HamVention  '91
                                                               (rev 14)

 Tom  Gentry, K5VOU,  has  been  kind  enough  to  help  us prepare the
 following:

         HOW TO RECEIVE APT PICTURES FROM THE NOAA SATELLITES
         ----------------------------------------------------

 So  you  have  decided you want to receive the NOAA and Russian METEOR
 orbiters  and  you  have  a  radio  that  receives  137.500  MHz and a
 computer.  So  now what do you do? I hope this short dissertation will
 steer you in the correct direction.

 To  display a picture from the orbiting birds you need several things.
 First  you  need  to  'acquire' the satellite. This means you need the
 program to calculate its position at any time and determine if you can
 hear  the  signals from the 'bird'. The best place to get this program
 is  probably AMSAT-NA an organization dedicated to AMateur SATellites.
 They have several very good tracking programs for the IBM and also for
 Commodore  and  Apple as well. After you have acquired the program and
 have it running on your computer, you then need the Keplerian Elements
 for  the  NOAA  satellites.  These  elements  as well as some tracking
 programs  are  available from the CELESTIAL RCP/M, run by TS Kelso, at
 513-427-0674 (Fairborn,OH) and from the Weather Fax and Remote Imaging
 DATALINK BBS run by Dr. Jeff Wallach, N5ITU as bulletins for some 100+
 sets of satellite  data.   Another bulletin also tells you to what the
 printed  numbers  correspond  so  you can enter them into the computer
 program.  Use  the  newest  elements  you  can  find  as  the orbiting
 satellites are subject to forces which change their orbits. If you use
 Keplerian Elements more than 3 or 4 weeks old, your chances of hearing
 the bird are reduced.

 Once you are tracking the birds you should hear them on your receiver.
 They  will  be on 137.62(NOAA-9/11), 137.500(NOAA-10), and on 137.850,
 137.400, and 137.300 for Soviet Meteorological Satellites/METEOR.  The
 Chinese   satellite   Feng   Yun  transmits  on  137.795  when  it  is
 operational.  Now comes the first thing different about NOAA orbiters.
 The  frequency deviation of the FM transmission is about +/-18-20 kHz.
 This  is  4  times  the  normal deviation of a police call and 1/3 the
 deviation  of  the  FM  broadcast  band  FM signal. If you receive the
 signal  on  the  regular communications width of the scanner the light
 areas of the picture will be noisy and the signal will sound distorted
 and the picture will basically be useless. If you use the FM broadcast
 bandwidth  (assuming  your  scanner  will let you), the signal will be
 weak and there may be too much background noise to see the picture.

 So  what  now ?   Well  there  are two ways to fix the problem, find a
 receiver  with  the  proper I.F. bandwidth filter of 50 kHz, or modify
 the  I.F.  of  your scanner to about 50-80 kHz. The simplest mod which
 has  been  found to be workable is to remove the narrow communications
 I.F.  filter  and  replace it with a 0.01 uFd capacitor. This provides
 for  good  Wefax  pictures  from  GOES  and  pretty  fair NOAA orbiter
 pictures  -  see  March  1991,  '73 Amateur Radio Today' article for a
 description of this procedure. It can of course result in retuning the
 radio,  voiding the warranty and making the squelch not work properly.

 The  other  characteristic of the NOAA satellite transmissions is THEY
 ARE  WEAK.  To  get  good  pictures  over a large area we have found a
 pre-amplifier  to  be  essential. A GaAs-FET type can be obtained from
 various  sources at a reasonable price but still about 50-100 dollars.
 You  can  also build one for about 25 dollars from plans for a pre-amp
 for the 2-meter amateur band and tune it to 137.5 easily.

 Lastly,  but  importantly,  the antenna can be of an omni directional,
 uniform pattern type such as a turnstile antenna similar to those used
 in  the  FM  broadcast reception business but of course tuned to 137.5
 MHz. Mount the pre-amp at the antenna if possible. Crooked coathangers
 on  broomsticks  have  been  known to work, and it is not difficult to
 build the antenna. Of course 2-meter beams with Az/El tracking will do
 the job well.





 Now that you have a nice audio signal from the satellite, what happens
 next? The audio tone of 2400 HZ which is the carrier tone that is used
 to  carry  the  picture  information (video), must be detected and the
 video  data converted from analog to digital and then displayed on the
 computer monitor by the software. The hardware and software to do this
 is  available  from  several  sources  with more coming along. Several
 stand-alone  boxes  are  also  available  that  produce  some  form of
 computer  output either in printed form or on the display. In addition
 the  people  on the DATALINK BBS may also have some data to share with
 you regarding this equipment.

 One  of  the  best  sources  for  information is the WEATHER SATELLITE
 HANDBOOK  by  Dr. Ralph Taggart. The 4th edition is now available from
 the ARRL. A must is THE JOURNAL OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL SALELLITE AMATEUR
 USERS'  GROUP - JESAUG - which is published quarterly. It is available
 for  $30.00  per  year  from  the  editor, Jeff Wallach, PO Box 117088
 Carrollton,  TX.  75011-7088.  Back  issues  of  the  JESAUG  are also
 available.

 One  good  place  to start is with the Elmer Schwittek MULTIFAX or the
 MULTIFAX  MAP  software  which  runs on  the IBM PC.  The PC interface
 hardware  is  available  as printed circuit board alone, board and all
 parts,  or completely assembled.  Additional image processing software
 is available online DATALINK.

 The  units  available from David Schwittek, Ralph Taggart, Jerry Dahl,
 GTI Electronics and Quorum communications listed under Sources are all
 well worth investigating if you are just getting started.

 You  can  obtain  directly  from  DATALINK  the MULTIFAX MAP interface
 hardware designed by Jim Bartlett and David Schwittek.



                      'Typical' APT Receiving Station
                      -------------------------------


         [1]   ANTENNA
                  -
         [2]   PRE-AMP
                  -
                  -
                  -
                  -                          [ STAND ALONE UNITS ]
                  -
         [3]   RECEIVER  ----------------->  FAX MACHINE  ---> PAPER
                  -                          WRASSE UNIT  ---> MONITOR
                  -                          YU3UMV UNIT  ---> MONITOR
                  - - - - VCR
                  -
                  -
                  -
         [4] - VIDEO DETECTOR   -
             -                  -
             -                  -
         [5] - ANALOG/DIGITAL   -
             -                  -
             -                  -            [ SCAN CONVERTERS ]
             -                  -
         [6] - INTERFACE TO PC  - <=======>  ROBOT 1200
             -                  -            TAGGART'S 1700
             -                  -            IMAGEWISE
             -                  -
         [7] -    SOFTWARE      -            ** SECOND DISPLAY **
             -                  -               for weather images
             -                  -
             -                  -
         [8] - GRAPHICS ADAPTOR -
                  -
                  -
                  -
                  -
         [9]   PC DISPLAY / MONITOR

                  Display weather images
                  (or commands for SCAN CONVERTERS)
                  -
                  -
        [10]   PC PRINTER / DOT MATRIX / LASER



        NOTES:
        ------

               [4] VIDEO DETECTOR, [5] ANALOG/DIGITAL CONVERTER, and
               [6] INTERFACE TO PC may be in separate hardware units
               or all on one circuit board.




 Sources:
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 NOAA Data / Keplerian Elements:

 DATALINK RBBS, N5ITU, Dr. Jeff Wallach, 214-394-7438,
  DALLAS REMOTE IMAGING GROUP ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD
  UPDATES ON NOAA BULLETINS, SATELLITE LAUNCHES, FREQUENCIES
  DISPLAY PICTURES FROM NOAA SATELLITES ON YOUR OWN P.C.

 CELESTIAL RCP/M, TS Kelso, 513-427-0674, NASA Prediction Bulletins
  are online and updated several times weekly
 Canadian Space Society BBS, 416-458-5907,  2-Line Elements  maintained    |
  by Ted Molczan of 600+ satellite - Visual satellite tracking info        |

 Satellite Tracking Software:

 AMSAT-NA,  PO  Box  27, Washington, DC 20044, Software Exchange,
  phone [phone] (voice), N4HY - QUIKTRAK, W0SL - ORBITS II,III,IV,
  and InstantTrack by Franklin Antonio.
 Roy D. Welch, W0SL, 908 Dutch Mill Drive, Manchester, MO 63011,
  phone [phone], ORBITS II-CGA, ORBITS III-EGA, ORBITS IV-VGA
 DATALINK BBS, download PASSCHED.ZIP, SEESATxx.ARC, TRKSAT.xxx and others
 CELESTIAL RCP/M, TS Kelso, 513-427-0674, PASSCHED.ZIP or SEESATxx.ARC
 Astronomical Data Service, Rodger Mansfield, 3922 Leisure Lane,
  Colorado Springs, CO 80917-SPACE BIRDS program and Newsletter, $40.
 Paul E. Traufler, 111 Emerald Drive, Harvest,AL 35749-TRAKSAT Satellite   |
  Tracking program-Non - Registered $10.00, Registered Version $25.00.     |
 Bill Bard, 1732 74th Circle NE, St Petersburg, FL 33702, MACSAT           |
  tracking program for the Apple Macintosh - $10.00 for disk and manual.   |
 RPV Astronomy BBS, Dave Ransom, 213-541-7299, STSORBIT Tracking program   |
  and latest version of TRAKSAT and NASA Prediction Bulletins online.      |

 Receivers:

 Vanguard Labs, 196-23 Jamaica, Hollis, NY 11423,
  phone [phone], BBS Dataline 718-740-3911
 Hamtroincs, Inc.,65-D Moul Road, Hilton, NY 14468-9535
  phone [phone]
 DARTCOMM, Mr. N. Hearn, DARTCOMM Ferndale, Postbridge, Yelverton,
  Devon PL20 6SY, Great Britain, UK, phone [phone]
 Quorum Communications, 1020 S. Main St. Suite A, Grapevine, TX 76051,
  phone [phone], BBS Dataline 817-421-0228                            |
 Scanner Modification, See March, 1991 '73 Amateur Radio' Magazine for     |
  'Weather Satellite Reception' article by John E. Hoot, page 12.          |

 Crystals:

 JAN  Crystals,  2400  Crystal  Dr,  Fort  Myers,  FL 33906-6017,
  phone [phone] or 813-936-2397

 Pre-Amps:

 Quorum Communications, 1020 S. Main St. Suite A, Grapevine, TX 76051,
 Spectrum   International,Inc.,  Box  1084,  Concord  MA  01742,
  phone [phone]
 Vanguard Labs, Hamtronics and GLB for Helical RF Filters for intermod
 Ehrler-DuBois Very High Performance LNA for 1500-1750 Mhz, contact
 Greg Ehrler or John DuBois via DATALINK

 Antennas:

 ARRL Handbook, 1986, turnstile over ground antenna.
 ARRL Satellite Experimenter's Handbook by Martin Davidoff, K2UBC
 Modern Electronics, September 1988, Hank Brandli article, page 82,
  Receiving Satellite Weather Photos

 Hardware Interface to PC:

 A&A  Engineering,  2521  W. La Palma, Unit K, Anaheim, CA 92801,
  phone [phone] - both AM dectector and A/D converter, input to PC
  via game port (4-bits) or parallel I/O Interface (8-bits) - kit is
  $50. - assembled and tested unit is $70.
 Microcomm,  H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, 14908 Sandy Lane, San Jose, CA 95124,
  phone [phone] - FAXBOARD - A Weather Facsimile Display Board for
  the  IBM  PC  -  Complete  documentation  to build your own interface
  circuit  on  an  IBM  PC  prototyping  board - video and an 8-bit A/D
  interface - $6.00, also in QEX, Sep '88.

 Video Detectors:

 RTM  Circuit  Boards,  205  Elm  St.,Van  Horne, IA  52346-0400,
  video detector  (the 'Wilson Board')  see QST Magazine, Jan '86 and
  Vince Coppola's  article in Oct 1988  73 Magazine
 QST Magazine, August 1985, Grant Zehr article, page 27, video detector
  circuit

 A/D Converter & Parallel I/O Interfaces for the IBM PC:

 MetraByte,  440  Myles Standish Blvd., Taunton, MA 02780, Model PIO-12
  board for the IBM PC, phone [phone]
 John  Bell  Engineering, Inc, 400 Oxford Way, Beimont, CA 94002,
  phone [phone]




 Sources:
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 Display Software and Hardware - 'Amateur':

 Multifax,  David  Schwittek,  1659 Waterford Road, Walworth, NY 14568,
  phone  [phone], Multifax 5.x and 4.x for VGA, 3.x for EGA on the
  IBM-PC. This is the original 16 color system, see Multifax MFMAP.
 Clay Abrams Software, 1758 Comstock Lane, San Jose, CA 95124, software
  for the ROBOT 1200 - see QST Magazine, Jan '86
 Ralph  Taggart,  602  S. Jefferson, Mason, MI 48854, Weather Satellite
  Handbook  Scan  Converter - New Model 1700 APT Scan Converter for the
  the  IBM PC. Order Handbook from the ARRL, Scan Converter from Metsat
  Products,  1257  Glen  Meadows  Ln,  East  Lansing  MI,  48823, phone
  517-332-7665.   Also   see   73   Magazine,  Nov  '84  and  Dec  '84,
  WSH/Handbook,  and  WEATHERSAT  columns  in 73 Magazine from 1987 and
  1988.  Weather Satellite Handbook BBS, 517-676-0368, Ralph Taggart.      |
 ImageWise  Display/Receiver,  Circuit  Cellar Inc.  -  Micromint Inc.,
  4 Park Street,  Vernon, CT 06066, phone [phone] - BYTE Magazine,
  May,  Jun,  Jul,  Aug 1987. JESAUG 88-2 and Oct 1988 73 Magazine have
  information  on  how  to  build  the video and A/D interface. Ver 2.0
  software  supports  VGA  graphics and 640 samples per line at 64 gray
  levels.  With  VGA  the  ImageWise  Display unit is not required. The
  software  is  available for $29.95 from Vince Coppola, N1VC, 6 Bobbin
  Road, Terryville, CT 06786
 ASAT:  An Apple-based Satellite Imaging System by Grant Zehr, WA9TFB -
  QEX  Magazine,  March  '88  -  has  complete  information to build an
  excellent  unit  using  the  APPLE  with a Redshift Ltd graphics card
  giving 256 * 256 pixels at a full 256 levels of gray.

 AMIGA Imaging Software - Dallas Remote Imaging Group
                          PO Box 117088
                          Carrollton, TX 75011-7088
                          Voice 214 394 7325
  Uses standard Amiga hardware - no special display
  Powerful NASA digital enhancement curves built-in
  Digital image processing capabilities
  Uses A&A Engineering $49 demodulator
  Image saved for use by other graphics programs
  Full histogram analysis
  Full 8 bit data is stored on diskette or hard disk
  Unattended operation
  Can be setup in 30 minutes
  Call for special pricing

 Multifax MFMAP, Elmer and David Schwittek, 1659 Waterford Road,           |
  Walworth, NY 14568, phone [phone]. MFMAP software for the IBM PC    |
  and  the  Jim Bartlett/David Schwittek/DATALINK  interface  card  for    |
  APT/GOES/FAX.  This  is  a fully functional 8 -bit / 256 color system    |
  with image data captured directly to disk at 4800 or 3600 samples per    |
  second.  Additional software is available online DATALINK and Kelso's    |
  CELESTIAL BBS - download APTCAPxx.ZIP and IMDISPxx.ZIP.                  |

 A Weather-Facsimile Package for the IBM PC  by Jerry Dahl in April and
  May  '90  QST describes how to construct a complete FAX system. Notes
  at  the  end  of  article  contain  an excellent list of hardware and
  software  sources.  The  completed  card can be ordered directly from    |
  Jerry  Dahl,  OFS  Software,  6404 Lakerest Court, Raleigh, NC 27612,    |
  phone [phone]                                                       |

 WeatherFAX-GTI Electronics, 1541 Fritz Valley Rd, Lehighton, PA 18235,    |
  has  a  complete  line  of  satellite receiving equipment,               |
  George Isleib,  phone [phone]                                       |

 Complete Systems - Hardware and Software:

 Dallas Remote Imaging Group
        P.O. Box 117088
        Carrollton, Texas 75011-7088
        214 394 7325
  Complete Earth-Scan AMIGA turnkey system ready to put on air

 YU3UMV  Digital  Storage  and  Scan  Converter  for  Weather Satellite
  Images,  described  in  VHF  Communications Magazine, Winter 4/82 and
  Spring  1/83  -  Modifications  are described in the Satellite Users'
  Group  Journal - JESAUG - available from Jeff Wallach. Back issues of
  VHF   Communications  and  the  YU3UMV  printed  circuit  boards  are
  available from Fred Sharp
 Loren  Johnson,  P.O.  Box  219,  Cleveland,  MN 56017, system for the
  IBM-PC  -  $750,  phone  [phone]
 WEATHERTRAC[tm] IBM-PC Based Satellite Image Acquisition and Animation
  System  -  $1885  for  EGA - $3495 for VGA, Fred Bartlett, Softworks,
  Inc,  Allentown,  PA, phone [phone] or George Isleib, Lehighton,
  PA, phone [phone]

 Quorum Communications, 1020 S. Main St. Suite A, Grapevine, TX 76051,
  phone   [phone],   BBS Dataline 817-421-0228,  offers  a  fully
  integrated  systems for  the  IBM  PC  including GOES down converter,
  GOES/APT receiver,  Wefax  PC  Adapter  and software. A demo disk is
  available  on  request or via the Quorum BBS. Quorum also sells the     |
  AVHRR/HRPT system designed by John DuBois and Ed Murashie.              |

 Spectrum International,Inc.,  Box  1084,  Concord  MA  01742, phone      |
  508-263-2145, is the U.S. representative for Timestep Weather Systems   |

 SSC/Software Systems Consulting, 150 Avenida Cabrillo, Suite C,          |
  San Clemente, CA 92672 - PC HF Facsimile and PC GOES/WEFAX software     |
  and complete receiving systems, phone [phone]                      |


 Satellite Meteorology:

 Satellite  Imagery  Interpretation  for Forecasters  -  a 3 volume set
  published  in  1985  for NOAA now available from the National Weather
  Association,  4400  Stamp  Road,  Room  404,  Temple Hills, MD 20748,
  301-899-3784,  $32  for  members, $45 for non-members ( Membership is
  $20. )



 Bibliography - Online DATALINK Bulletins:   (214 394 7438 -- BBS)

 NASA Satellite Prediction Bulletins, NASA-PB.xxx
 How to use NASA 2-Line Keplerian Elements
 AMSAT Bulletins and Weekly Notes / Orbital Elements
 NOAA APT NOTES
 NOAA User Bibliography
 Summary of Soviet Meteorological Satellites by Grant Zehr
 How to Build a Weather Satellite Groundstation (This Primer)
 Wrasse Dedicated System Review
 GOES VAS Imaging System for the IBM PC, John DuBois W1HDX
 LNA for WEFAX-VAS-HRPT-GPS, John Dubois and Greg Ehrler
 GOES I-M Conference Summary
 Ralph Taggart's New  APT Scan Converter and Book
 Dartcom 137-138 Synthesized Receiver Packaging, John DuBois
 Amateur Radio News from Newsline, Bill Pasternack
 How to VISUALLY OBSERVE the Space Shuttle, Ted Molczan
 AMSAT InstantTrack V1.00 program description, Franklin Antonio

 Review DATALINK RBBS bulletins for current information ====> 214 394-7438


 DALLAS REMOTE IMAGING GROUP - DRIG  Voice: 214 394-7325
                                      Data: 214 394-7438
 P.O. Box 117088
 Carrollton, TX 75011-7088
 ATTENTION:  Jeff Wallach, Chairman

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