radio | Saveitforparts

Resources for Satellite Experimenters & Hackers

November 12, 2024

*Fig 1: Some of my satellite dish collection*

I discuss a variety of satellite and radio projects on my YouTube channel. Satellite tech has become the most popular topic on my channel, even though it’s not what I initially started with! I often get questions from viewers along the lines of “how do I get started in this hobby?”. Personally, I bought the cheapest possible Software-Defined Radio (SDR) and just started messing with it! I’ve since moved on to slightly better SDRs, but there’s a lot you can do with just a $15-$20 unit from eBay and some creativity.

I usually try to include links and details in the descriptions of my videos, but I don’t always make “how-to” or instructional videos. Usually when I film a project, I’m learning right as I’m doing the project, and viewers are seeing me develop a skill as I do it. This isn’t the most efficient way to teach something, as I make plenty of mistakes along the way! My personal learning style involves a LOT of trial-and-error. My projects also involve a significant amount of dumpster-dived material and equipment, so it can be hard to make a “parts list” for someone to replicate what I did!

*Fig 2: A portable / RV satellite dish re-purposed for different frequencies.*

If you are just starting out with the amateur satellite hobby, there are a couple directions you can go. If you’re an amateur (ham) radio operator or just into listening to radio traffic, you can get into amateur repeater satellites pretty easily. The International Space Station is the most powerful and easiest to start with. Some info about that is in the list below.

If you want to start tracking and decoding weather satellites, the low-Earth-orbit NOAA series is probably the easiest to start with. These can be heard with a simple VHF radio like a Baofeng, with a radio scanner, or with a Software-Defined Radio. Images can be decoded with simple software like SatDump. Once you’re experienced with NOAA you can move on to trying Russian “Meteor” satellites. You can also upgrade to the L-band signal available from the same satellites, although this takes a little more effort and equipment.

If you want to try geostationary satellites, the GOES series (in the Western hemisphere) is a great place to start. However, you will need to find or make a satellite dish slightly larger than what’s normally found on houses today. More info and links are below.

The list below is my attempt to compile helpful resources and links related to satellite experimenting, “hacking”, or other hobby-level activities. Some of these are things I’ve written or filmed, and some are links that have helped me learn.

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“How-To” style videos that I’ve made:

Basics of VHF weather satellites (probably the easiest place to start!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icADyjm3PBE

Basics of L-band weather satellites (the next step in difficulty, but still not too hard): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5DyJHMw7aY

How to hack Winegard brand portable satellite dishes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kQa6nfUkIs

How to listen to the International Space Station’s amateur radio repeater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TRrqPqxpe8

How to find free satellite dishes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qX30ayOcDU
TLDW: Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and estate sales/auctions are great places to try! You can also contact local TV stations and ask if they have old ones. Or you can post on a classified site offering to remove old unwanted dishes from someone’s yard.

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Other articles or software I’ve written:

A how-to article I wrote about turning small satellite antennas into radio telescopes / microwave imagers: https://saveitforparts.wordpress.com/2024/03/19/my-mini-radiotelescope-made-it-into-the-amsat-journal/

My Winegard microwave radio telescope program: https://github.com/saveitforparts/Carryout-Radio-Telescope/

My Dish Tailgater microwave imager program: https://github.com/saveitforparts/Tailgater-Microwave-Imaging

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Links that have helped me:

Satellite tracking and prediction info, probably the #1 site that I use on a regular basis! https://www.n2yo.com/

A great site for visualizing orbits: https://sky.rogue.space/

Starter guide to VHF weather satellites (one of the easiest places to start): https://noaa-apt.mbernardi.com.ar/guide.html

More technical info on the APT format used by some weather satellites: https://open-weather.community/open-weather-apt-guide/

Info on receiving Russian “Meteor” satellites: https://blog.chaospixel.com/linux/2019/12/receive-meteor-satellite-images-with-rtlsdr-gqrx-linux.html

Good basic intro to receiving US weather satellites (NOAA and GOES): https://hamsignal.com/blog/this-is-major-tom-to-ground-control

Step-by-step guide to geostationary weather satellites like GOES and GK-2A: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-com-goes-16-17-and-gk-2a-weather-satellite-reception-comprehensive-tutorial/

USRadioGuy has some great stuff! His whole site usradioguy.com is super useful. This is his page on Geostationary satellites: https://usradioguy.com/goes-satellite-imagery-reception/

USRadioGuy’s page on low-earth-orbit weather satellites: https://usradioguy.com/noaa-apt-reception/

SGCDerek’s guide to HRPT satellite signals: https://sgcderek.github.io/blog/beginner-hrpt-guide.html

Various satellite frequencies and info: https://uhf-satcom.com/satellite-reception/uhf

More satellite frequencies: https://www.satdump.org/Satellite-List/

Even more satellite frequencies: https://sgcderek.github.io/satfreq/

Using a Raspberry Pi computer for automated (low-earth-orbit) weather satellite downloads: https://www.instructables.com/Raspberry-Pi-NOAA-Weather-Satellite-Receiver/

How to make a DIY motorized satellite tracker (rotor): https://www.sarcnet.org/rotator-mk1.html

International Space Station radio repeater info: https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

CHIRP software for Baofeng and similar radios: https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

Improved squelch settings for Baofeng radios: https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Squelch.php

Commercial / TV Satellite info: https://www.lyngsat.com/
Another TV satellite resource: https://www.satbeams.com/

This is a great site for aiming dishes at geostationary satellites: https://www.dishpointer.com/

S-band satellite info (more challenging, and something I’m still learning!): https://www.a-centauri.com/articoli/the-definitive-s-band-satellite-guide

An open source Cubesat project that invites people to set up their own receiver stations: https://wiki.satnogs.org/Main_Page

How to make a simple Yagi antenna for ham radio satellites: https://www.instructables.com/The-Tape-Measure-Antenna/

How to modify GPS antennas for L-band use: https://wiki.muc.ccc.de/iridium:antennas

Making a “cantenna” for GOES: https://lucasteske.dev/2016/10/goes-satellite-hunt-part-1-antenna-system/

3D-printable helical antenna feeds: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4980180

Homemade QFH antenna for NOAA and Meteor satellites: https://usradioguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200307-How-To-Build-A-QFH.pdf

Good source of SDR project ideas: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/

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Products and devices I’ve used:
(These affiliate links give me a little kickback from Amazon if you buy from them)

RTL-SDR that I’ve used for many projects: https://amzn.to/3BK54nU

Nooelec VHF filter / amplifier for weather satellites: https://amzn.to/4haNp96

Nooelec L-band Low-Noise Amplifier and Filter: https://amzn.to/4dP8Auf

Combination dish and radio setup for GOES and L-band satellites: https://amzn.to/3YdsiKD
(I have not personally used this entire combo, but I’ve heard good things about it).

Higher-end HackRF One SDR with more features: https://amzn.to/3BL0Zj3

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Useful (and mostly free!) software:

SatDump is probably the single most useful program for decoding almost any satellite signal you’ll come across: https://www.satdump.org/download/

SDR++ is a powerful interface for Software-Defined Radios: https://www.sdrpp.org/

I used to prefer GQRX, and still use it on some computers, as it’s a simpler SDR interface: https://www.gqrx.dk/

MMSSTV for decoding Slow-Scan Television images: https://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php

GOEStools for Geostationary Operating Environment Satellites: https://github.com/pietern/goestools

Raspberry-NOAA is a great program for setting up a dedicated NOAA / Meteor downloading station using a Raspberry Pi computer: https://github.com/jekhokie/raspberry-noaa-v2

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Other places to learn:

Reddit has some decent forums for beginners:
https://www.reddit.com/r/amateursatellites/

https://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR/

There’s a group chat for the SatDump software: https://matrix.to/#/#satdump:altillimity.com

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Some other videos I’ve made on specific satellite projects (not as much how-to, more of me just messing around):

An automated satellite tracker made from an old security camera pan/tilt mount: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gz17Mv7RU0

Pirate radio on UHF military satellites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT2i7mFpFxM

GOES weather satellites:
With a modified TV dish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK8mFrxxSbY
With a slightly larger TV dish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb8taCjVigA

SSTV / Cubesat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRl7ewRimIM

Using an umbrella as a satellite dish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM84sSXFL0Y

Detecting Starlink beacons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cwEkhFdXGw

Raspberry-NOAA and QFH antenna setup for VHF weather satellites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM99A1uUprQ

Hacking a Winegard Trav’ler RV dish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn-Ayr4j6Ac

Microwave imaging with a hacked TV dish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVOTZxNCgTM

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Hopefully this has been somewhat useful! You can always email me (gabe@saveitforparts.com) although I don’t always reply in a timely manner!

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Funter Bay History: Communication

March 10, 2014

Prior to the 1920s, the quickest way to get a message across Funter Bay was to hop in a boat and row. If it wasn’t as important, you could walk the long way around. For outside communication, mail came several times a week by boat. Telegrams could be sent from Juneau to “Down South” after undersea cables were laid between 1900 and 1904.

Delayed communication sometimes caused headaches for those trying to do business at Funter Bay. On at least one occasion, people attempting to meet passed each other as one traveled to Juneau and the other to Funter.

“J. J. Foltz, president of the Funter Bay Gold Mining Company left on the last Bonita to visit the property. At the same time Supt. Fox left Funter Bay on a gasoline launch to meet Mr. Foltz in Juneau. “Ships that pass in the night” are responsible for Foltz being at Funter’s Bay and Fox now in Juneau.” Daily Alaska Dispatch (Juneau) 21 May 1903

Juneau newspapers attempted to keep track of the comings and goings of important persons, including their hotel accommodations. This practice seems a bit intrusive in today’s world, but was vitally important for coordinating meetings at the time.

Radios began appearing at Alaskan canneries around 1915, in the form of large base stations. In an earlier post I noted the large twin masts supporting a dipole antenna at the cannery in 1929.

The FCC has some historic radio service bulletins online, listing new stations each year. Others can be found on Google Books. A 1919 list of commercial radio stations includes the “Thinket Pack. Co.” at Funter, Alaska, with call sign of KXK. (Those call letters had been assigned to the steamship Puritan until 1915). Frequencies were 300, 550, and 600kHz. In 1922 it was noted that the radio station at Funter opened for the year on May 11 and closed September 20th. By 1932 the cannery had several call signs listed.

The “PR” service indicates limited public use, while “P” indicates private use only. FX is Fixed Base, and FC is Coast Station.

Smaller shortwave and single sideband equipment gradually made its way into more locations, as seen by the proliferation of call signs licensed to fishing boats between the 1920s and 1940s. Antennas became smaller as frequencies got higher and transmitters more efficient. Eventually many houses and cabins had radios of some sort installed, sometimes bending the FCC’s rules on CB and mobile radio use (as often happened, rules designed for the lower 48 made little sense in Alaska). More modern radio systems associated with Funter Bay are mentioned here.

Old vacuum tube radio set:

The 1930s and 40s brought hand-crank telephones, although these were never a complete network, and only connected a few buildings at each industry (and later, between a few houses with salvaged equipment). The Funter Bay cannery had a number of EE-8 army field telephones, which were likely installed during the Aleut internment. A few older crank phones can also be found in houses around the bay (When I was growing up we had phone lines to 5 houses and a few out-buildings, our “phone number” was three rings).

From 1902 until the late 1970s, Funter Bay had a mostly year-round post office. Cannery employees and winter watchmen usually served as postmaster (and public radio operator) and the post office was the social center of the community in the winter.

Photo courtesy of Phil Emerson

Mail boats are discussed more in this ridiculously long post.

I may write more on the postal history of Funter Bay at a later time, I am still collecting information on that subject.

An old typewriter found in an attic at Funter:

Newspapers were also popular, even if they were outdated by the time you got them. They were entertainment, you could insulate your house with them (shown below), and they’d probably be useful in the outhouse!

1 Comment | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, Cannery, communication, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, History, mail, mailboat, message, postal, postmark, radio, Southeast Alaska, telegram | Permalink
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Funter Bay History: Mt. Robert Barron Repeater

February 25, 2014

High above Funter Bay on Mt. Robert Barron is a government radio communication site. This unmanned facility rebroadcasts radio traffic for a variety of public and private users. Located at an elevation 3,475ft, the one-acre site is part of the Tongass National Forest and is operated under a lease agreement with the forest service.

The site was built in the early 1970s as part of the National Distress System. This was designed to improve emergency radio coverage for coastal areas. The original 15ft tower was replaced around 2002 with a 50ft tower to allow more distance between antennas.

The tower is normally accessed by helicopter from Juneau. The site is powered by propane generators as well as a solar array. One report indicates that this site uses about 3,000 gallons of propane each year, while another states the same amount lasts about two years. A thesis study notes that the site used 11.12kWh/day and cost about $7,200/year in 2001.

The weather at this site can be extreme, with ice and snow sometimes coating the towers and huts. While most of the radio antennas can transmit through the ice, any broken equipment or maintenance requires personnel to fly out and chop ice from the structures. The power system thesis notes that a wind turbine was installed at a similar site in 1999, but it was destroyed by winds in excess of 160mph.

(US Coast Guard photo used as Public Domain)

Another photo of the site iced up in 2012 can be seen here. Some photos from 2009 are here.

A video of the site coated in ice in spring of 2013 is here. Another video of the site in ice-free condition from January 2014 is here.

Some more views from the summit:

There used to be a snow gauge installed lower on the mountain. This was a wooden structure with height markings, which could be read by passing aircraft or possibly by binoculars from the weather station at the cannery. The gauge has fallen apart, but a few wooden pieces with orange and black markings can be found.

Radio services at the Mt. Robert Barron site include:

-NOAA Weather Radio channel 3. Callsign KZZ87 on 162.450mhz.

-Aeronautical Remote Communication Outlet (flight information repeater) on 121.1mhz

-Aeronautical Remote Comm Air/Ground (Flight Center repeater) on 133.9mhz

-Radio Comm Link Terminal (Aircraft Flight Data) on 941.825mhz (formerly 943.525).

-State of Alaska Public Safety Pool – KNIR245 on 155.415mhz

-Coast Guard marine VHF “High Level Site” (normally monitoring channel 16, also capable of channels 6, 12, 13, 21A, 22A, and 81A).

-Temsco Helicopter Service – WPKI643 on 151.775mhz

-Amatuer 2m repeater NL7B on 145.400mhz

-Forest Service / Fire – 171.575mhz

-City and Borough of Juneau – Microwave Industrial / Business Pool – 952.38125 Path Frequency.

–Alaska Power & Telephone Microwave Industrial / Business Pool (the telephone system for many small communities). Various frequencies.

Several cellular and telecom companies currently hold or have held licenses involving Robert Baron Peak. There is not a cell tower here, but various companies use bandwidth on the microwave repeaters to hit other stations and cell towers around Southeast.

And finally, a very large panorama of Funter Bay from partway up the mountain, make sure to click it to get the full size!

4 Comments | Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, antenna, coast guard, distress, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, microwave, radio, repeater, Southeast Alaska, telephone, tower | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

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Resources for Satellite Experimenters & Hackers

Funter Bay History: Communication

Funter Bay History: Mt. Robert Barron Repeater

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