Satellite Reception
The main component of the system is the receiver. I use a TechniSat SkyStar 2 PCI card, this unit is a 'Free To Air' satellite TV receiver but instead of being used to receive TV programs I use it to receive data streams similar to satellite Internet services.
The data is received using TELLICAST software issued by EUMETSAT the data is free for personal or research users but is still supplied subject to Eumetsats Licence and is encrypted. The encryption is decoded using the tellicast software and a dongle or EKU
The receiver is feed from antenna that is similar to a standard satellite TV type dish. The signal is re transmitted from Hot Eurobird-9 at 9°E with the following transponder settings.
| Ku-band Transponder EUROBIRD™ 9 (9° E), Europe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parameter | Value | |||
| Name | EUROBIRD™ 9 | |||
| Transponder | TP63 | |||
| Down Link Frequency | 11976.82 MHz | |||
| Symbol Rate | 27500 kS/s | |||
| FEC | 3/4 | |||
| Polarisation | horizontal | |||
EUMETSAT recommended a two PC system setup, see EUM TD 15 ,however I run a single high power German built Shuttle system this handles all reception and decoding and runs my weather station.
Once the data is downloaded and decoded I use David Taylor's MSG data manager software to process the received images.
Data Manager shows the processed images, their are twelve different images all at different wavelengths and these a transmitted every 15 minutes. The latest image I can show is the image transmitted at 6 hourly intervals
