NOAA photos

I now have access to live weather photo downloads from the NOAA satellites, question is how and where to put them or how to upload them to my weather web site??


Also if anyone else wants access to do these types of photos I can post how to and what is needed, the software is free but the dongles and antennas are not.

you can use the general FTP setup to upload the image to your web site

OK, but where do they show up? As a separate photo or in the background? Never done this before, but have a nice background on the site now and would not like to see it go away.

Hi,

Thats interesting :smiley:
What is needed to have access to those pics?
Are there pics available from europe?
How often are those pics updated?

Asperitas,

There are 3 NOAA satellites still active and downloading photos as they pass over of all areas of the world, but they only come over your area several times a day.

To view when these satellites will be over your area you can look at the web site below, it will track all 3.

https://www.n2yo.com/?s=25338|33591|28654

What is needed to receive, download and view them is, 1, a radio with at least 40 KHz of IF bandwidth, 2, a circular polarized antenna that will cover from 137 to 138 MHz, 3, program called “WXtoImg” (freeware) and a computer to run it.

If you have a radio scanner with a wide band setting you can receive the satellites

If you do not have a radio to receiver then you can use what is called an SDR dongle, this uses a computer with a USB 2.0 port, it turns your computer into a wide band radio, the dongle is wide band, it covers from 50 MHz to 1.7 GHz.

One like this will work just fine. (I use one)

http://www.nooelec.com/store/sdr/sdr-receivers/nesdr-smart-sdr.html

To interface it to the decoding software you also need two other programs, one called SDR# or SDR Console, (I use SDR Console) also a program called “Virtual Audio Cable” it connects the SDR software to the WXtoImg software and transfers the audio signal to the decoder.

WXtoImg software can be found here,

http://www.wxtoimg.com/downloads/

SDR# can be found here.

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/big-list-rtl-sdr-supported-software/

SDR Console can be found here.

http://www.sdr-radio.com/

And Virtual Audio Cable can be found here.

https://www.vb-audio.com/Cable/

The dongle will also pick up local FM radio stations just fine, so it could be used for other things.

And last the antenna to receive the satellites, you can buy one or make one if your handy with tools and making up coax and stuff like that.

To buy the antenna you can Google for a “Weather Satellite antenna” there you will find many options on where to get one, or how to make one.

Setting up the SDR dongle is a bit complicated but onvce you get it going it’s worth it.

This is what SDR Console looks like when receiving a weather satellite.


Wow, you put some effort in it, amazing, great :smiley:
I would defenately have this, but im a noob in this electronics :oops:

Only downside of it its only some images a day yes?
What satelites are used to have the images updating every 5 minutes or so on weather radar websites?

In general you could modify the code of your homepage to include the images, or you could add a new page displaying the images with a link on the homepage to access that page. Without a link to the present page it’s hard to give specific advice :dontknow:

If you are thinking of sites that show rain/precipitation over a significant area, like WunderMap® | Interactive Weather Map and Radar | Weather Underground, then those are generally showing composite images created from the outputs of multiple ground based doppler radars. Depending on the site they may apply more or less processing to the raw radar data to make it easier for the viewer to understand.

The NOAA satellites are in a polar orbit, this lets them cover the whole earth as they fly over.

There are two fixed orbit (geostationary) satellites called GOES-East and GOES-West, GOES-West is view-able here.

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/

And GOES-East is view-able here.

https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/index.php

But I like to try for myself on the NOAA birds that fly by, as it is something to do for an old guy living out in the boonies, keeps me out of trouble. (and mowing the weeds)