Creating an Inmarsat STC-C EGC Live Stream with an RTL-SDR, Raspberry Pi and OpenWebRX

Thanks to Zoltan (aka Veryokay on YouTube) for submitting information about his Inmarsat STD-C EGC live stream setup. His setup allows him to access the Inmarsat STD-C signal from anywhere in the world over the internet, thanks to the use of an OpenWebRX server. Inmarsat STD-C is a geostationary satellite service that provides information for search and rescue, as well as news, weather and incident reports for mariners. We have a tutorial from a few years ago which shows some example messages. OpenWebRX is an efficient SDR streaming server platform that allows you to access RTL-SDR's and other SDRs from anywhere in the world via an internet connection.

In his setup Zoltan uses a Raspberry Pi 3, RTL-SDR Blog V3, L-band LNA and L-band antenna for receiving and processing the signal. Power is provided via a Power over Ethernet (PoE) adapter, and the whole thing is placed outside, in a weatherproof plastic lunchbox.

The video shows the hardware, and then goes on to describe the software setup, along with a demonstration of the OpenWebRX stream. More information as well as the link to his publicly accessible OpenWebRX Inamrsat STD-C stream can be found on his blog post.

INMARSAT STD-C EGC live streaming

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9 Comments
kosio

Thnks wrgzmand Phil. Zoltan can you give an estimate of the current drain of your setup? I’m wondering if there is any chance of powering this from a solar panel in a remote location?

Zoltan

Sure thing, here is a quick estimate for 5V:
+ RPi 3 (assume near full load) ~600mA
+ RTL-SDR V3 dongle ~280mA
+ LNA ~25mA
=905mA @5V -> 4.525W

kosio

Thanks!

wrgzm

Oops or Inmarsat-D/D+ Downlink check out sigid wiki 🙂

wrgzm

Probably Inmarsat IsatM2M – Check out

kosio

Thank you! What’s the multitone TX on 1536,995MHz?

Zoltan

very good question… do you mean this right?
https://imgur.com/m80JOYz

kosio

Yes! UHF Satcom have nothing on this neither.

Phil

That is an MFSK signal which in this case is for the purposes of a bulletin board. It is noted on UHF Satcom, just look for MFSK.