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

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

9 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all 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.