Extreme plumbing...

[Vipersan]

..Anyone ever attempted a quadrifilar helix ?
I thought I might make an attempt at receiving the NOAA polar orbiting weather sats ..
For this I need a suitable antenna ..
Commercially available but at serious prices so located some plans on t'interweb ..
If successful the build should come in around £20.
The tricky bit is getting the helix curves right..
Also had to make a plug in liquid plastic to anchor the tops of the helix elements...and provide a suitable point to connect the cabling through an infinate Bulun ..(yet to make this.)
The project so far looks like this.
I'm going to be using a DVBT dongle as a software defined Radio..
Already aquired and tested this works ..but hope to one day use a funcube dongle ..though these are a bit pricey.
We shall see..
Another day ..another experiment..
But the fun is in the trying.
rgds
VS

 

[Topper]

I think it is just an excuse to make a new still :-laugh

 

[Vipersan]

I think it is just an excuse to make a new still :-laugh

Doh ..sussed already...

 

[pride21]

hi VS i made a couple of them for the weather sats,the first one i did was made out of 8mm copper pipe,the second one i did was made out of 15mm copper pipe from Rudd Janson design much better than 8mm.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Now this is extreme plumbing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlRjbV-rT-E&feature=player_embedded

 

[Vipersan]

hi VS i made a couple of them for the weather sats,the first one i did was made out of 8mm copper pipe,the second one i did was made out of 15mm copper pipe from Rudd Janson design much better than 8mm.

Well I'm Impressed with this one so far for Ham reception and Air traffic reception ..but Not as yet tried it for what it is intended for ..
I'll have to get some Noaa plotting/tracking software so I know when to try for the 'tick tock' signal.
what software did you use for interpreting the signals and plotting the images ?
I'll need this too..
What success rate did you have creating images etc ?
Just at the bottom of the learning curve as yet ..so advice is always welcome.
Just don't send me down the sewers as CH would ..
lol

 

[smoggy07]

Well I'm Impressed with this one so far for Ham reception and Air traffic reception ..but Not as yet tried it for what it is intended for ..
I'll have to get some Noaa plotting/tracking software so I know when to try for the 'tick tock' signal.
what software did you use for interpreting the signals and plotting the images ?
I'll need this too..
What success rate did you have creating images etc ?
Just at the bottom of the learning curve as yet ..so advice is always welcome.
Just don't send me down the sewers as CH would ..
lol

NOAA sats use WeFax don`t they?

Try JVComm http://www.jvcomm.de/ or won`t HRD (ham radio delux) decode them?

I don`t think I've had a go at NOAA, I've decoded HF Meteo Fax weather reports before now though but they don`t come down from sat
View attachment 56161

 

[Vipersan]

Yes it is basically fax data ..in monocrome.
The colour is added to the images based on the highlights and tones within the image ..
Basically collect the data as an audio file ..then interpret the data to create images ..or so I'm led to understand.
There is specific software around to perform these tasks ..
I just got to find it and make it work.
First things first though.
Establish a signal..and that's where I'm at currently.
When the Helix is completed..it will be mounted outside above the gutter line South facing.
Some time next week when the RG58 cable I ordered arrives.
rgds
VS

 

[smoggy07]

Yes it is basically fax data ..in monocrome.
The colour is added to the images based on the highlights and tones within the image ..
Basically collect the data as an audio file ..then interpret the data to create images ..or so I'm led to understand.
There is specific software around to perform these tasks ..
I just got to find it and make it work.
First things first though.
Establish a signal..and that's where I'm at currently.
When the Helix is completed..it will be mounted outside above the gutter line South facing.
Some time next week when the RG58 cable I ordered arrives.
rgds
VS

You should be able to use this program with an audio feed from your RX http://www.wxtoimg.com/

You may need to set up virtual audio cable for it to work with your DVB-T dongle though

 

[pride21]

hi VS i use WXtoImg as smoggy07 suggested, quite a large file but its great software and there is options you can change to improve on the audio file for the best picture.

 

[Vipersan]

Still working on receiving a signal from a NOAA ...ANY NOAA ..
Got orbitron up and running and synced to my SDRSharp radio/dongle ...
Yet to receive notification of a NOAA pass over the UK ..
It may be a long wait as it appears most of the NOAAs have been decommisioned.
What I do like is that orbitron not only tracks the sats in real time ..and pops up alerts when one is above the horizon ..selects the correct frequency automatically & in theory also caters for the doppler shift ..assuming I ever get a signal.
rgds
VS

 

[pride21]

hi VS i use WXtrack for tracking weather sats,here is a pic of noaa19.

 

[Vipersan]

weather sat 1.JPGhi VS i use WXtrack for tracking weather sats,here is a pic of noaa19.

How recent is the image Pride ?
Is it true that an image is possible twice a day ?
Is WXtrack a freebie program ?
Can it be intergrated with SDR-Sharp via plugin ?
and finally ..
Which NOAAs are currently active and can be seen above the horizon in the UK ?

 

[pride21]

hi VS the answers to your questions are the picture was taken in feb this year,you can sometimes get the same bird twice in one day if its not too far from your location,WXtrack is a free program as is WXtoImg,and the last about plug in,that i am not sure of.

 

[pride21]

the last thing i forgot to mention is the weather sats that are current are 15 137.620,18 137.910 and 19 137.100

 

[Vipersan]

Thanks for all your help Pride ..
Maybe all this will come together once the antenna is outside and mounted..
Still a little plumbing to do ..
like on the helical elements to make them fit without strain into the elbows ..
then to sweat it up with a blowlamp ..and get it mounted.
Currently indoors as you will see ..and about 20 mtrs of cable to run ..
The balun choke is now wound on the mast ..and made a nice waterproof cap/ plug ..and using a foam insert inside the cap..
almost done.
Here are the pics

 

[Topper]

Is it a mobile or is it a still?

How will you stop the copper turning greeny blue VS in the acid rain?

 

[Vipersan]

Is it a mobile or is it a still?

How will you stop the copper turning greeny blue VS in the acid rain?

Nope it's stationary ..but designed to receive circular polarisation..
..and a good coat of spray laquer once soldered should prevent oxidisation..

 

[Vipersan]

the last thing i forgot to mention is the weather sats that are current are 15 137.620,18 137.910 and 19 137.100

Nothing above the Horizon atm ..but noticed the frequencies you list are awful close to some nasty bursts of what I assume to be pager data..
Do these cause problems with reception ?
If so how do you circumvent this crap ?
rgds
VS

 

[smoggy07]

Nothing above the Horizon atm ..but noticed the frequencies you list are awful close to some nasty bursts of what I assume to be pager data..
Do these cause problems with reception ?
If so how do you circumvent this crap ?
rgds
VS

137.975 is a pager freq and maybe close enough to bleed over onto 137.910 if your are recieving it at a wide enough bandwidth, download PDW http://www.discriminator.nl/pdw/index-en.html and set it up with virtual audio cable on that freq and set it away to decode and you`ll see all the pager messages scroll away ;o)