NOAA reception issues.

[betolley]

I bought a USB-RTL and can pick up radio stations and can see the signal transmitted from my gate opener.
I originally setup RTL-Sharp, WXtoimg, and orbitron with the pluing in orbitron to control the channel with doppler shift. When a NOAA 15 or 18 go over I can hear a signal but it is weak and I get a almost viewable image. I have made a youtube video showing my setup (I test outside but the video is inside to make it easier to see)

antenna Setup

Retry with SDR-Console and WXtoImg on a nother night. You can see the signal but it appears to be -40db is that kind of weak?

I tried again the other night with SDr-Console and WXtoImg.

https://youtu.be/mW9oN5vFrgE

Do you see anything wrong with my Antenna? Does the signal look weak? Any other ideas?

I know the satellite is at the right spot because I installed a app on my phone that shows the location and the signal gets stronger when I point it towards it.

At this location it looks like it is decoding but it isn't clear. It just shows this:

What is causing the issue

SDR Issue

youtu.be

 

[krokus]

Have you tried different orientations on your antenna? It may help, but a different antenna design would prove be better. Quadrifilar Helical or a Lindenblad, with the proper circular polarity might do the trick.

 

[royldean]

Ok, couple of things:

1. Be sure to make attempts using NOAA 18 and 19, as they are stronger
2. How long is your feedline? You are likely getting interference from you computer while running it that close to the antenna. Try to get it at least 5 or 6 feet away, if not more, from the computer
3. That RTL-SDR is very cheap. Consider getting an RTL-SDR.com V3 dongle ($30, Amazon.com). They have many features that the cheapos don't have
4. Be absolutely sure that you are "on frequency". I can see from the screen capture you made that the tuning is a little off
5. If you are using orbitron to control the tracking, be sure that your base station location is correct, your clock is correct, and your TLEs are updated and current. Double check the position of the satellite with N2YO.com.

For a decent pass (over 45 degrees), you should get some pretty amazing decodes, regardless of your physical location. The below was captured using an RTL-SDR.com V3 dongle and homemade QFR antenna located in my attic (station is a Raspberry Pi running Raspberry-NOAA):


[edit] I don't check these forums that frequently, so feel free to contact me directly. Email is my username at google's email service.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Two questions:
1. What is your gain setting in the software?
2. How close is your nearest FM broadcast station? Did you try an FM broadcast band notch filter?

 

[PDXh0b0]

You are between two hills that are between two mountain ranges. Myself, I am between coastal & cascade ranges with all the local hills, My captures are hit and miss(totally waiting for the leaves to all fall) Best captures have been in the driveway 8-12ft up, laptop right below it, or at a park that is of higher elevation(received passes I never even see at the house) If you can, try somewhere like roan mountain state park. Another thing is the PC, main are rather old, borrowed a friends speed machine, everything worked so much better. clean up background processes and see if that helps.

 

[Scanning-NWA]

Try for morning passes instead of evening passes. I say this because I have the same problem with signal strength when my neighbor's LED landscape lighting kicks on at sunset (in case its possible that you might have a similiar night time interference issue). The landscape lighting system creates interference havoc across the entire VHF high band for me! I ordered one of the NOAA Weather Satellite V-Dipole antennas over on EBAY to start with and it works well to get started with. There is also a Loop antenna available on EBAY that I ordered to experiment with too. My V-Dipole antenna works fine mounted up in the peak of the attic roof.
Also, see my post over in the thread titled "Not Sure What I Am Doing Wrong" in this same satellite forum so you can see my NOAA Weather Satellite reception station setup that I documented with pictures. I just recently upgraded my attic dipole antenna to the following antenna from www.antennas.us and it was a significant improvement:
UC-1374-531, +4 dBic VHF APT Weather Satellite Antenna (WXSAT)

 

[betolley]

Ok, couple of things:

1. Be sure to make attempts using NOAA 18 and 19, as they are stronger
2. How long is your feedline? You are likely getting interference from you computer while running it that close to the antenna. Try to get it at least 5 or 6 feet away, if not more, from the computer
3. That RTL-SDR is very cheap. Consider getting an RTL-SDR.com V3 dongle ($30, Amazon.com). They have many features that the cheapos don't have
4. Be absolutely sure that you are "on frequency". I can see from the screen capture you made that the tuning is a little off
5. If you are using orbitron to control the tracking, be sure that your base station location is correct, your clock is correct, and your TLEs are updated and current. Double check the position of the satellite with N2YO.com.

For a decent pass (over 45 degrees), you should get some pretty amazing decodes, regardless of your physical location. The below was captured using an RTL-SDR.com V3 dongle and homemade QFR antenna located in my attic (station is a Raspberry Pi running Raspberry-NOAA):
View attachment 109688

[edit] I don't check these forums that frequently, so feel free to contact me directly. Email is my username at google's email service.

You were able to pick up the signal in your home?

 

[royldean]

You were able to pick up the signal in your home?

Yes, that attached image is from an attic mounted QFH. At some point I'll try to compare a standard dipole to the QFH. Passes haven't cooperated over the last couple of days.

 

[royldean]

Ok, I performed an experiment this morning on 3 different systems (ranging from most simple to most advanced):

1. RTL-SDR.com V3 Dongle, 100ft of feedline (RG-8X), G5RVjr antenna (tuned for 14 mHz, 20M, 30ft up in the trees horizontally)
2. RTL-SDR.com V3 Dongle, 15ft up in attic, with 10ft of feedline to a QFH antenna
3. Funcube Pro+ Dongle, 50ft of feedline to Az/El controled M2 2M RHCP "Leo Pack" antenna with pre-amp

Numbers 1 and 3 both were running GQRX, doppler controlled by GPredict. Number 2 is an Raspberry-NOAA install, so I'm not really sure what method id used to control or demodulate the audio (maybe "predict" coupled with "rtlfm"?). Numbers 1 and 3 I used NOAA-APT to decode the audio, and number 2 uses WXtoIMG (the false color on NOAA-APT isn't very good - but really you should only consider the resolution between the two styles of decoding).

This was the pass:

System 1:


System 2:


System 3:

 

[betolley]

Finally got a image. TY everyone. It was my antenna. I got a new one

Ok, I performed an experiment this morning on 3 different systems (ranging from most simple to most advanced):

1. RTL-SDR.com V3 Dongle, 100ft of feedline (RG-8X), G5RVjr antenna (tuned for 14 mHz, 20M, 30ft up in the trees horizontally)
2. RTL-SDR.com V3 Dongle, 15ft up in attic, with 10ft of feedline to a QFH antenna
3. Funcube Pro+ Dongle, 50ft of feedline to Az/El controled M2 2M RHCP "Leo Pack" antenna with pre-amp

Numbers 1 and 3 both were running GQRX, doppler controlled by GPredict. Number 2 is an Raspberry-NOAA install, so I'm not really sure what method id used to control or demodulate the audio (maybe "predict" coupled with "rtlfm"?). Numbers 1 and 3 I used NOAA-APT to decode the audio, and number 2 uses WXtoIMG (the false color on NOAA-APT isn't very good - but really you should only consider the resolution between the two styles of decoding).

This was the pass:
View attachment 109902
System 1:
View attachment 109903

System 2:
View attachment 109904

System 3:
View attachment 109905