So the final test for pc reception was using the Nooelec SmarTee V2 with the Nooelec Sawbird+ NOAA 137 MHz pre-amp and filter. The results are shown in the two images below. Pretty darn good I think you’ll agree!

The filter appears to clean-up the image once you have a decent signal. Superb performance for the Smartee combination.

That concludes the PC tests. Next indoor steps are to get the Raspberry Pi 4b decoding passes with the SmarTee/Sawbird combo and outdoors to get the turnstile antenna up.

Couple of images from yesterday and this morning using the Nooelec Smart V4 sdr-rtl usb stick. The first image I had the gain set at 34 db before increasing it about half way through the pass to 44 db. Made a large difference to the quality of reception. Seem like the new generation of rtl-sdr sticks are much better with high gain settings. The older ones would just overload badly.

Second pass is a southbound one for a change. One more test to go with a Nooelec SmartTee (built-in bias-t) with Sawbird 137 MHz filter. However I’d be amazed if I got better results as I’m pretty happy with what I’ve managed so far.

To compare my results with the “professionals” check out this site http://rssconsultancy.co.uk/wxtoimg/

Finally here is a screen grab of my set-up taken at the beginning of the NOAA 18 pass today.

Same kit as yesterday and the same two passes shown below – both with MCIR with Precipitation enhancement.

So continuing my experiments I plugged in my Airspy Discovery HF+, checked all was working ok with SDR# V1780 and configured VAC so I could direct audio output from SDR# into wxtoimg. If anyone is interested the VAC settings which worked for me are shown in the image below.

I then fired up wxtoimg and set the Recording input to be VAC Line 1. You can then go into Windows 10 properties for VAC Line 1 (Recording) and click Listen to This. So you can hear the satellite audio as it is being piped into wxtoimg. I set the SDR# mode to be WFM with a 34k bandwidth. The results were the two images below. I’m pretty pleased with the pictures. Next step is to see how a Nooelec Smart SDR and a Nooelec Smartee (with built-in Bias-T) to power a Sawbird NOAA 137 MHz filter and pre-amp work. And if it ever stops raining for a day or two to get the turnstile antenna up.

Not a bad pass this morning – image displayed with HVCT false colour enhancement showing sea as blue and colours more indicative of land temperatures.