Tagged: DCP

Elektro-L3 Arrives at 14.5°W and Begins Testing L-Band LRIT and HRIT

Earlier this month we posted about the Russian Elektro-L3 geostationary weather satellite drifting west from 76°E to 14.5°W. It is replacing Elektro-L2 and could bring unencrypted L-band LRIT and HRIT imagery back to Western Europe. Now tec_msat has written in again to let us know that Elektro-L3 has arrived. It is already transmitting X-band RDAS and testing LRIT and HRIT.

tec_msat notes that the satellite was only active on C-band for a couple of days. Then, on October 26, its RDAS, xRIT, and DCP (Data Collection Platform) downlinks all went up. Elektro-L2's DCP transmission at 1697 MHz was switched off at 06:30 UTC, and L3's DCP came up at 07:02 UTC. LRIT data was being received from about 09:42 UTC. GGAK (space weather data) is still being transmitted from Elektro-L2 for now.

This is the first xRIT from 14.5°W in years, so tec_msat warns that transmissions may be sporadic for a while. It's too early to judge signal strength, but it already looks stronger than L3 did at low elevation (under 15 degrees) in its old slot.

If you're in Western Europe, now is a good time to get your dish ready. SatDump is the best software for reception and decoding, and our Discovery Dish with L-band feed and an RTL-SDR Blog V3 is a great starting point for hardware.

Elektro-L3 LRIT Image Received from 14.5°W on October 26
Elektro-L3 LRIT Image Received from 14.5°W on October 26

SignalsEverywhere: Investigating USGS Gaging Stations and their GOES Satellite Connection

The United States Geological Service maintains over 8500 "Gaging stations" in bodies of water all over the country. Gaging stations are devices that are used to measure environmental data such as groundwater levels, discharge, water chemistry, and water temperature. What's interesting is that they all upload their data in real time to GOES satellites - the same satellites that we can use with an RTL-SDR to receive weather images of the entire earth. The data is then downlinked in the L-band to the USGS scientists via a protocol known as DCP (Data Collection Platform).

In the latest SignalsEverywhere video, Corrosive investigates how these stations work, and how we can receive the downlink at 1.68 GHz with a simple Inmarsat L-band antenna. While a fully functional decoder is not yet available, Corrosive notes that one called goes-dcs is currently being worked on.

USGS Gaging Station | Satellite Uplink to GOES and DCP Messages