NOAA Satellite WeFax Reception

NOAA satellites transmit live weather FAX pictures that can be copied with the SDR radios at the W2MMD site. They transmit in the 137 MHz range that seems to be receivable by the 2 meter beam.
  • NOAA 15-137.6200 mhz
  • NOAA 18-137.9125 mhz
  • NOAA 19-137.1000 mhz
They're programmed into the PST Rotator app and use the WxToImg software to render the images using SDR Console to receive them. WEFAX signals are somewhat broader than amateur FM signals, so set the SDR Console to WFM and manually adjust the bandwidth to surround the signal in the waterfall.



In WxToImg, first be sure that the Mixer control is set to use Line 1 as the audio source (which should be the output for SDR Console). Then under Recording select Auto Record. The WxToImg software contains its own set of Keplerian Elements and will start recording when it believes the satellite hits AOS, which may not exactly correspond to when you first see it on the SDR waterfall. But once the keps and times are synched WxToImg will start downloading the image. It downloads in black and white but then is processed into various color images. These are stored in C:\Users\user\Pictures\WXtoImg\images.

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