Russian weather satellite Meteor M2 is a popular reception target for RTL-SDR radio enthusiasts, as it allows you to receive high resolution images of the Earth. However, currently it appears to be exhibiting orientation issues, causing off center and skewed images and sometimes poor/no reception. Russian blog "aboutspacejornal", writes that the orientation of the satellite can sometimes be restored presumably by a reset command from Earth, but shortly after goes back into uncontrolled rotation.
These sorts of off-axis images were commonly received from the older decommissioned Meteor-M1 satellite, which woke up from the dead in 2015. The resurrection was speculated to be from the batteries shorting out, allowing power to directly flow from the solar panels while in full sunlight. These days Meteor-M1 is no longer transmitting.
Hopefully Meteor-M2 can be fixed, but if not, Meteor M2-2 is due to be launched on July 5 which should also have an LRPT signal that can be received easily with an RTL-SDR. Hopefully the launch is more successful than the November 2017 launch of Meteor M2-1 which unfortunately was a complete loss as it failed to separate from the rocket.
The Meteor M N-2 is a polar orbiting Russian weather satellite that was launched in July 2014. It transmits with the LRPT protocol which allows us to receive weather satellite images that are of a much higher resolution than the NOAA APT satellites. For a while since the launch RTL-SDR users had a good time receiving beautiful images from Meteor M-N2, but unfortunately since late last year the N2 LRPT transmitter has been turned off, due to technical problems with the IR sensors as cited by Russian meteorologists.
Fortunately for Meteor N2 enthusiasts the old Meteor M N1 satellite which was thought to be dead sprung back into life around November 2015. Recently Matthew A., a reader of our blog wrote in to let us know that while N2 is still not transmitting, N1 is still transmitting, albeit with somewhat distorted images. Matthew also mentions this link: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/phqfh1/status.htm, which contains up to date info on the status of all weather satellites. He also writes:
While transmissions are readily detectable and decodable at night, it seems that M N-1’s infrared sensors are not functioning. Yielding only black, with the typical noise bars of Red, Green, or Blue
As has been previously mentioned, Meteor MN-1’s stabilization system has obviously failed, and the horizon is clearly visible. Perhaps not of scientific value, but certainly beautiful.
We also note that there are several comments over on the Meteor-M N2 news and support website regarding receiving images from N1 and N2. It seems that sometimes N1 also has some problems with transmission, but they are usually quickly fixed.
RTL-SDR.com reader Happysat recently wrote in with some news. A few days ago a weather satellite image decoding enthusiast from Argentina was waiting for a pass of the Russian Meteor M-N2 satellite when he discovered a strong LRPT signal at 137.1 MHz, even though the Meteor M-N2 satellite was not in sight yet. It turns out that the signal was coming from the old Meteor M-N1 satellite which was supposed to have been shut down in September 2014 due to several problems it had. The received signal is strong enough to produce a good black and white weather image, but because the satellite is not longer physically stable, sometimes the Earth’s curve can be seen in the images.
Recent images received from the resurrected Meteor M-N1 weather satellite.Recent images received from the resurrected Meteor M-N1 weather satellite. The stabilization system has failed so the earth’s curve can be seen.
The exact reason as to why it is transmitting again is unknown, but it is speculated that it is due to a breakdown of the chemicals in the batteries. Last year we posted about how sometimes satellites which have been decommissioned and shut down can spontaneously begin transmitting again when their batteries undergo a chemical change due to thousands of failed recharge cycles. The chemical change allows the batteries to conduct electricity from the solar panels directly to the electronics, which on Meteor M-N1 could be reactivating the transmitters and imaging sensors. If this is what happened then the satellite will only be able to transmit during the day.
The Meteor M-N2 satellite is the currently official active satellite. It transmits weather satellite images with the LRPT protocol which can be received and decoded with an RTL-SDR dongle. We have a previous post on this showing an offline LRPT decoding tutorial and more recently a tutorial showing how to decode LRPT in real time. The same processes can now be adapted to the resurrected Meteor M-N1 satellite by choosing the 80K symbol rate option in the LRPT decoder.
Happysat who submitted this news originally writes:
A few days ago some guy in Argentina was waiting for the pass of Meteor M-N2 and on SDRSharp waterfall he did see LRPT Digital signals on 137.100MHz, but Meteor M-N2 was not in sight yet…
This relatively strong signal was coming from the defunct Meteor M-N1 satellite left out of control in September 2014 last year and was shutdown, although LRPT Transmissions in the past where very limited and sporadic.
Meteor M-N1 did suffer from many problems at this was the first Russian digital weather satellite in the M-series onboard many hardware in experimental stages.
After this report I tried also to capture some signals from Meteor M-N1 (some other amateurs already got small portions of images) but the satellite only transmits in direct sunlight, batteries are not charging any more.
Indicating maybe like the other older ‘deadsat’ some chemical reaction did occur inside the batteries so the power goes from the solar panels directly to the transmission parts. It did happen before, mostly on older satellite’s only a unmodulated carrier is present when the sunlight conditions are optimal.
Surprisingly after I did record and process the 80K symbol rate QPSK signal from Meteor M-N1 with Vasili’s excellent QPSK Plugin a very nice image was generated!
Not only the sunlight provides power to the transmission part but also there is enough power to activate the imaging system which is quite amazing!
Visible channels 1-2-3 are fully working but the image is only Black and White Calibaration of the sensor are not okay so no color images can be created.
Nevertheless its a very nice addition for current LRPT weather amateurs and a big surprise its even working better when nobody controls it 😉
Because the stabilisation system failed there is no proper correction to orientate the camera and on some passes one can see the earths curve!
There are some conflicting reports about the status of Meteor M-N1 found on the internet:
Status Inactive Details on Status (as available)
MSU-MR was functional with limitations (calibration issues and higher noise level in the IR channels).
MTVZA-GY instrument was functional with limitations due to failures of on-board memory and atmospheric sounding channels.
Severjanin instrument non-operational.
DCS was functional with limitations due to interferences to signals from ground sources.
GGAK-M was operational with significant limitations.
LRPT was functional with limitations due to information compression errors.
Finally, the stabilisation system failed on 23 September 2014 and the instruments could longer be operated.
On October 1, 2014 Meteor-M No 1 was withdrawn from operational use and transferred to the study of the chief designer. The decision on further operation of the spacecraft will be taken upon completion of the research program.
Its not clear the problems did got solved, and I ‘think’ M-N1 started a second life on his own. Time will tell how long the satelitte will function.
Over on YouTube user max30max31 (a.k.a IZ5RZR) has uploaded a video showing some of the steps in the tutorial as well as the real time result of decoding of the weather satellite image.
Back in September last year we posted a tutorial written by RTL-SDR.com reader Happysat which showed how to receive and decode high resolution Meteor-M2 LRPT satellite images. The tutorial required several offline manual processing steps to be performed and therefore could not decode the image in real time.
At the same time Vasili has also released another plugin called DDE Tracker which allows a satellite tracking program such as Orbitron to interface with and control SDR#. The plugin can be downloaded on the same page as the QPSK plugin. This is similar to the already existing DDE plugins, but now also comes with a scheduler which allows users to automatically schedule recordings of Meteor-M2 and NOAA satellite passings.
NOTE:Meteor M1 has come alive again, so the frequency of Meteor M2 was changed from 137.1 MHz to 137.9 MHz. Meteor M1 is now at 137.1 MHz and can be received using the same steps as in this tutorial, though please note that images from Meteor M1 are not perfect since the satellite is tumbling. Meteor M1 is gone again.
Tutorial
To help users get set up with this new method, Happysat has again come forth with another tutorial which can be downloaded here (.pdf) (.docx) (.txt w/ images in .rar). At first glance the tutorial may seem more complicated than the old method, but in the end it is a much faster and more efficient way at decoding LRPT images. The basic steps involve setting up Orbitron and the DDE plugin to automatically track the Meteor-M2 LRPT satellite and signal, and then setting up the QPSK plugin and the new version of Lrptdecoder (if that link is down, try this mirror) to talk to one another in real time via a local TCP connection.
Real time decoding of Meteor-M2 with two new SDR# Plugins.QPSK Demodulator SDR# PluginDDE Orbitron Interface SDR# Plugin.
AMIGOS
One more Meteor-M2 related thing to look forward to in the future is the AMIGOS project which stands for Amateur Meteor Images Global Observation System. This will be a system where users around the world can contribute LRPT images through the internet to create a worldwide LRPT receiver. Oleg of LrptDecoder writes:
There is an idea to merge LRPT receive amateur radio stations in a network through the Internet and create a super LRPT receiver.
I see the benefit of professionals from the control center in the operational monitoring of the condition of the equipment MSU-MR, and for fans of the fullest reception of images from Meteor-M.
All is in testing phase and need some setup for the servers, data is beeing shared thru a VPN connection to a central server which will have a continous flow of images from all over the world.
If you don't understand what all this is about: The Meteor-M N2 is a polar orbiting Russian weather satellite that was launched on July 8, 2014. Its main missions are weather forecasting, climate change monitoring, sea water monitoring/forecasting and space weather analysis/prediction.
The satellite is currently active with a Low Resolution Picture Transmission (LRPT) signal which broadcasts live weather satellite images, similar to the APT images produced by the NOAA satellites. LRPT images are however much better as they are transmitted as a digital signal with an image resolution 12 times greater than the aging analog NOAA APT signals. Some example Meteor weather images can be found on this page and the satellite can be tracked in Orbitron or online.
A software defined radio such as the low cost RTL-SDR, or the higher end Airspy and Funcube dongles can be used to receive these signals.
An Example LRPT Image Received with an RTL-SDR from the Meteor-2 M2.
Updates
The DDE plugin can also be used for tracking NOAA satellites. Some people have been having trouble with set up. Happysat writes a solution:
Over on YouTube user max30max31 aka IZ5RZR has uploaded a video that shows a faster method for decoding Meteor M2 weather satellite images on a Windows system. The Meteor-M N2 is a Russian weather satellite that transmits images using the LRPT protocol at around 137.1 MHz with can be received with an RTL-SDR. Compared to NOAA satellite APT images, LRPT images are much higher in resolution.
Normally, decoding Meteor M2 LRPT images requires a post processing step which involves the use of Audacity, an audio editing suite to reduce the recorded IQ files sample rate. However, with the recently released decimation SDR# drivers the Audacity step can be avoided by using a an appropriate decimation factor (8 at 1.024 MSPS) when recording the LRPT signals IQ data.
With the launch of Meteor M2-3, the loss of all prior Meteor M satellites and the release of new software, this tutorial is now outdated. We will eventually update this tutorial, but for now we will reference this post which has a brief high level overview of how to receive and decode images from the Meteor M2-3.
The Meteor-M N2 is a polar orbiting Russian weather satellite that was launched on July 8, 2014. Its main missions are weather forecasting, climate change monitoring, sea water monitoring/forecasting and space weather analysis/prediction.
The satellite is currently active with a Low Resolution Picture Transmission (LRPT) signal which broadcasts live weather satellite images, similar to the APT images produced by the NOAA satellites. LRPT images are however much better as they are transmitted as a digital signal with an image resolution 12 times greater than the aging analog NOAA APT signals. Some example Meteor weather images can be found on this page and the satellite can be tracked in Orbitron or online.
The RTL-SDR and other SDRs like the Funcube along with some free software can be used to receive and decode these images. LRPT images from the Meteor-M N2 are transmitted at around 137.925 MHz, so any satellite antenna like those commonly used with the NOAA weather satellites can be used.
NOTE:Meteor M1 has come alive, (now offline again), so the frequency of Meteor M2 was changed from 137.1 MHz to 137.9 MHz.Meteor M1 is now at 137.1 MHz and can be received using the same steps as in this tutorial, though please note that images from Meteor M1 are not perfect since the satellite is tumbling.
Happysat, a satellite monitoring enthusiast has emailed us with a comprehensive tutorial showing how the RTL-SDR can be used to receive and decode these LRPT images (pdf warning) (txt file). The procedure is not quite as simple as with the NOAA satellites as it involves first pre-recording the transmission as a baseband I/Q file in SDR#, changing the sample rate in Audacity, processing the file with the Lrptrx.exe software, and then using Oleg's LRPToffLineDecoder (now called M2_LRPT_Decoder) to finally produce the image (in case the link is down for LRPToffLineDecoder/M2_LRPT_Decoder), try mirror here or here).
The tutorial also shows an alternative and faster Linux based method using some GNU Radio scripts, but with the final processing still done with Oleg's decoder in Windows.
Update:This newer post now shows a slightly faster way for receiving and decoding LRPT images on a Windows PC which does not require the use of Audacity.
Basic idea on Linux is to record an IQ wav file using:
The Meteor-M2 SatelliteAn Example LRPT Image Received with an RTL-SDR from the Meteor-2 M2.Another Sample LRPT ImageWhat a LRPT signal looks like in SDR#
For a comprehensive book about the RTL-SDR you may be interested in our eBook available on Amazon.
With NOAA POES now fully shut down, the archive could be useful for individuals who didn't have the opportunity to decode a NOAA satellite for real, or perhaps for those who will want to relive their old hobby one day. Meti writes:
I've been working on setting a weather satellite data archive up; a lot of these incredible satellites are lost to time because people didn't save the data or had it deteriorate over the years, as has been proven with the ongoing POES decommissioning!
My goal is to create a browsable archive of historical satellite data that is downloadable and re-decodable by others who didn't and/or don't have the opportunity to catch the satellites in question themselves for scientific, educational, or just preservative purposes.
I've been working hard asking around various people and groups for the possibility of them keeping some data from as many different satellites as possible, but still have large gaps in several satellites. I was wondering if it were possible to try to publish this archival effort on the blog to try to get more outreach than word of mouth?
The archive currently stands at 430 gigabytes of data with about 100 more awaiting processing due to missing pipelines, already spanning more than 4 decades!
The archive currently stores a variety of different satellites and their data products, and some in the archive even have the raw IQ data, which occupies a significant amount of hard drive space.
However, Meti notes that many satellites are still missing from the archive, and he would like to reach out to the community for submissions. If you have any data from the following, please reach out to Meti.
GEO: - Meteosat wefax - Meteosat xRIT (Only have very limited data) - GOES-N LRIT/MDL/GVAR/Sounder SD (Before it became EWS-G! So over the US) - Elektro-L1 xRIT/RDAS
LEO: - NOAA APT older than NOAA 12 - NOAA HRPT from any sat besides 15/18/19 - Seastar (OrbView-2) HRPT - MetOp LRPT !!! (Metop-A transmitted for a few days) - Meteor M1 HRPT - Meteor 3M APT/HRPT - Meteor 1/Priroda/2 APT (other than Meteor 2-21. NOT M2!) - FengYun 2A/B/C/D/E/F (S-)VISSR (Or LRIT) - Fengyun 1 CHRPT
Catch-all - Any L-band prior to ~2000 - Any VHF prior to ~1990 - Any anomalies - instrument failures leading to strange receptions (i.e. NOAA 17 failing APT broadcasts). THIS IS EXCLUDING NOAA-15 post 2020 and any user-side issues (weak reception, sample drops etc.)
