Category: Applications

NOAA-APT Decoder Updates: False Color, Pass Prediction and more

In the past we've posted a couple of times about the NOAA-APT decoder software as it is a worthy alternative to the now abandonware software WXtoIMG. However, it lacks certain features which makes WXtoIMG still the go to program for NOAA weather satellite decoding.

As NOAA-APT is open source it has recently seen a few new updates from another contributor, as well as the original author. These changes make it quite a bit more useful, although admittedly not perfect. Hopefully we'll see continued refinement over time. Regardless, this is still a great piece of software which is open source and multi-platform. Martin Bernardi, the original contributor writes:

Although I wasn't planning to continue working in my program, the quarantine happened so I worked on the program a little. Later, a person (Arcadie Z) added more features too, so I created a new version in case you want to add a blog post about it.

Added features since the last blog post:

- Redesigned GUI.
- Satellite prediction and map overlay (but has offsets I can't fix yet).
- False color images
- Histogram equalization (improves the contrast and brightness of images)
- Automatic image rotation depending on pass direction

In the end, the map overlay and false color does not work very well, but it is better than nothing I guess.

The NOAA-APT Decoder GUI

Your own Numbers Station at Home with a Raspberry Pi and Pi-FM-RDS

Numbers Stations are mysterious radio broadcasts that typically consist of a voice speaking a seemingly random string of numbers. It is mostly accepted that these stations are a way for spy agencies to communicate to intelligence operators stationed overseas.

However, recently Simon Roses wrote in and wanted to share his project where he created his own numbers station at home. The idea is to use a Raspberry Pi and the Pi-FM-RDS software to transmit a simulated numbers station. If you didn't already know, a Raspberry Pi can be used as a somewhat useful RF transmitter by using software like Pi-FM-RDS which manipulates a GPIO pin connected to a piece of wire acting as an antenna.

In his write up, Simon notes that he uses a program called PiNumberStation which is a text to speech program that passes the generated voice to Pi-FM-RDS. Pi-FM-RDS then transmits the signal, allowing a nearby FM radio to pick up and play the audio.

If you wanted to try this as a prank or joke, please remember that transmitting in the FM bands over a certain power level may be illegal in some countries, and the Raspberry Pi TX capabilities are known to require filtering to prevent interference occurring on other frequencies. Transmitting incorrectly could have dire consequences, so please make sure you do your research first. 

Number Station with a Raspberry PI

GQRX Updated to 2.13: Several Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

GQRX is one of the most popular open source software choices to use with various SDRs on Linux and MacOS. Recently it was updated to version 2.13, bringing in a few new features and several bug fixes and performance improvements. From the GQRX news file, the changes include the following.

2.13.1: Released October 17, 2020

FIXED: Crash when invalid sample rate is specified.
FIXED: Decrease minimum size of FFT Settings panel.
FIXED: Typos.
IMPROVED: More Airspy HF+ sample rates added.

2.13: Released October 16, 2020

NEW: Stereo option for UDP streaming.
NEW: Script to generate AppImage.
NEW: Allow scroll wheel direction to be inverted.
FIXED: FM de-emphasis causing audio to be 20 dB quieter than it should be.
FIXED: FM de-emphasis applied incorrectly in WFM stereo receiver.
FIXED: Update waterfall time resolution when FFT settings are changed.
FIXED: Update waterfall time resolution when window is resized.
FIXED: Restore waterfall time span between sessions.
FIXED: FFT buffer overlap calculation.
FIXED: Crash when launching without device connected.
FIXED: Crash when setting invalid RF gains.
FIXED: Audio panadapter / waterfall slider direction.
FIXED: Clear FFT averages when changing FFT size.
FIXED: Crash when source block doesn't support IQ balancing.
FIXED: Bookmark labels in FFT draw over each other.
IMPROVED: DSP and FFT performance.
IMPROVED: Panadapter & waterfall performance.
IMPROVED: Smooth panadapter & waterfall redrawing.
IMPROVED: Better default values for various settings.
IMPROVED: Audio waterfall colormap matches I/Q waterfall.
IMPROVED: Use all available display space for panadapter & waterfall.
IMPROVED: Updated RDS decoder.
IMPROVED: More Airspy HF+ sample rates added.

The GQRX GUI (Older Version)

SDR# Updates: RTL-SDR Enhanced Mode, AM Co-Channel Canceller for MW DX

Over the past few days SDR# has been updated again adding several new great features. The first is an "RTL-SDR Enhanced" front end driver, which is actually Vasili's front end driver that was released a few years ago. This front end enhances the capabilities of the RTL-SDR as it exposes features like decimation and individual gain control. We note that the current version appears to have a bug preventing enhanced mode from starting, but we expect that it will be fixed again soon. Vasili's File Player has also been added, and this allows for easy playback of RTL-SDR IQ files.

The second feature added recently is an AM Co-Channel Canceller which is could be quite a big feature for medium wave (MW)/broadcast AM DXers. When DXing MW a problem is that you'll often encounter is two stations that are on or almost on the same frequency. This is either due to neighbouring countries not agreeing on frequencies, long range DX antennas picking up further than the intended broadcast range, or from malicious jamming as with the Chinese Firedrake. With a standard radio or demodulation algorithm such a situation makes either both stations impossible to listen to, or only the strongest station will be heard. However, the new AM Co-Channel Canceller plugin in SDR# uses clever DSP algorithms to allow one of those channels to be effectively removed, allowing you to listen to the other station clearly.

Over on the SWLing blog Guy Atkins has written up a comprehensive review and tutorial of the Co-Channel canceller plugin. We've also seen a few examples up on YouTube already, and the video posted below shows user "SDR-radio" in Japan experiencing a South Korean station blocking out a weak local Japanese station. Enabling the plugin allows the weaker station to be heard.

SDR# (SDRSharp): AM Co-Channel Canceller plugin

Notes on Observing Pulsars with an SDR from CCERA

A pulsar is a rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. If this beam points towards the earth, it can then be observed with a large dish or directional antenna and a software defined radio. In the past we've posted a few times about Pulsars, and how the HawkRAO amateur radio telescope run by Steve Olney in Australia has observed Pulsar "Glitches" with his RTL-SDR based radio telescope.

Over in Canada, Marcus Leech has also set up a Pulsar radio telescope at the Canadian Centre for Experimental Radio Astronomy (CCERA). Marcus has been featured several times on this blog for his various amateur radio experiments involving SDRs like the RTL-SDR. In one of his latest memos Marcus documents his Pulsar observing capabilities at CCERA (pdf). His memo describes what Pulsars are and how observations are performed, explaining important concepts for observation like de-dispersion and epoch folding.

The rest of the memo shows the antenna dish and feed, the SDR hardware which is a USRP B210 SDR, the reference clock which is a laboratory 0.01PPB rubidium atomic clock and the GNU Radio software created called "stupid_simple_pulsar". The software DSP process is then explained in greater detail. If you're thinking about getting involved in more advanced amateur radio astronomy this document is a good starting point.

Dish Antenna + Feed used for receiving Pulsars

Sanchez Scripting Examples For Post-Processing GOES, GK2A, Himawari, Elektro Satellite Images

Recently we posted about new updates to the Sanchez software. The updates allow users to combine images received from multiple geostationary weather satellites such as GOES 16/17, Himawari-8, GK-2A and Electro. The images can also be reprojected into a flat equirectangular image, and then optionally reprojected back into a disk view at any location on earth. Sanchez's original function is also still there which allows users to add a false color underlay image to grayscale infrared images received from the satellites.

Sanchez is a command line tool, so scripts are required to do anything interesting. Over on his page Carl Reinemann has uploaded a page with a number of Sanchez command line examples available. The page shows examples like how to stitch together multiple images, and how to create a stitched time lapse animation. The YouTube video below shows an example of an animation Carl created with Sanchez and GOES 16 and 17 images stitched together.

GOES 16-17 Composite imagery

And the image below is an example of an image of Himawari 8, GOES 16 and 17 he stitched together with Sanchez.

GOES 16 and 17 composite created by Carl Reinemann via Sanchez

Tech Minds: Portable RTL-SDR on Android

Over on his YouTube channel Tech Minds has recently released a new video demonstrating how to use an RTL-SDR portably via an Android tablet and an OTG cable. In the video he goes through the various Android software options available including general receiver software such as RF Analyzer (free) and SDR Touch (£5.99) as well as AVARE ADSB for ADS-B aircraft reception. He goes on to demonstrate each program in action.

Portable RTL - SDR Software Defined Radio with Android

Testing VOR Navigation in the Stratosphere with an SDRplay RSP1 and High Altitude Balloon

Over on the SDRplay blog Jon has posted about the STRATONAV experiment which makes use of the SDRplay RSP1 software defined radio. The STRATONAV experiment uses high altitude balloons to carry the RSP1 as well and a commercial portable receiver. The two receivers were configured to receive aircraft VOR navigation signals in order to test the effectiveness of VOR when used at extreme altitudes of up to 28 km. The VOR navigational data was then compared against GPS tracks, resulting in a measure of how well VOR worked at those altitudes. 

VOR (aka VHF Omnidirectional Range) is a navigational beacon that is transmitted between 108 MHz and 117.95 MHz from a site usually at an airport. In the past we have posted about VOR a few times as it can also be decoded with an RTL-SDR, or used for passive doppler aircraft radar. 

The results showed that VOR navigation does indeed continue to function at extreme altitudes, proving that it can be used as a back up navigation system for stratospheric platforms. They also note that VOR navigation could also be used as a primary navigation system on smaller stratospheric platforms due to its low cost and low complexity to implement.

The full academic paper is available on sciencedirect, or for free via Sci-Hub.

SDRplay RSP1 (seen bottom right behind the metal mount) Flying on a High Altitude Balloon