4 ms·

I didn't know folks put their radios on the internet like this. Pretty neat discovery. I found some folks by looking at the waterfall spectrograph talking abou

I didn't know folks put their radios on the internet like this. Pretty neat discovery. I found some folks by looking at the waterfall spectrograph talking about toilet paper for $2.50 a roll on their CB near Orlando, FL. http://w4qed.hamshack.info:8073/ http://w4qed.hamshack.info:8073/ Does anyone know if one of these radios can tune into satellite transmissions or if there are any satellites that can be used as a relay?

coretx 7y ago
The most popular satellite transmission receivable with that box is probably the ISS when it passes over. When it comes to using satellites as relays i can tell you that it's a popular practice to pirate unused US navy transponders.
- SahAssar 7y ago
  This is probably the one you were thinking of regarding the relays: https://www.wired.com/2009/04/fleetcom/ https://www.wired.com/2009/04/fleetcom/
themodelplumber 7y ago
There are all kinds of amateur radio satellites, and it kind of depends on what you want to do. Hams talk through them all the time, chasing grids for awards or just seeing who's out there. Getting outside of amateur radio, I understand that Brazilians have made creative use of some kind of US Navy satellite but I don't recall the details...
tzs 7y ago
You can get weather images from NOAA satellites with common SDR receivers: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weather-satellite-images/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weat... The web ones probably can’t do it because they probably don’t have the right antenna, but SDR dongles are inexpensive so if the web ones intrigue you it’s cheap to get into your own to do more.
spookthesunset 7y ago
It all depends on the antenna the owner has. I’m kinda doubtful any of them are set up so they track satellites overhead full time. The SDR’s are fully capable of receiving from satellites though. In fact you can even get the older weather satellites up there with nothing more than the rabbit ears that come out of the box in the cheap RTL-SDR kits on amazon. You just have to point them the right way and have the correct polarization and you’ll literally hear the image data they transmit as they pass overhead. Pipe the audio into decoding software and you have yourself an image.

coretx 7y ago

The most popular satellite transmission receivable with that box is probably the ISS when it passes over. When it comes to using satellites as relays i can tell you that it's a popular practice to pirate unused US navy transponders.

SahAssar 7y ago
This is probably the one you were thinking of regarding the relays: https://www.wired.com/2009/04/fleetcom/ https://www.wired.com/2009/04/fleetcom/

themodelplumber 7y ago

There are all kinds of amateur radio satellites, and it kind of depends on what you want to do. Hams talk through them all the time, chasing grids for awards or just seeing who's out there. Getting outside of amateur radio, I understand that Brazilians have made creative use of some kind of US Navy satellite but I don't recall the details...

tzs 7y ago

You can get weather images from NOAA satellites with common SDR receivers: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weather-satellite-images/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weat... The web ones probably can’t do it because they probably don’t have the right antenna, but SDR dongles are inexpensive so if the web ones intrigue you it’s cheap to get into your own to do more.

spookthesunset 7y ago

It all depends on the antenna the owner has. I’m kinda doubtful any of them are set up so they track satellites overhead full time. The SDR’s are fully capable of receiving from satellites though. In fact you can even get the older weather satellites up there with nothing more than the rabbit ears that come out of the box in the cheap RTL-SDR kits on amazon. You just have to point them the right way and have the correct polarization and you’ll literally hear the image data they transmit as they pass overhead. Pipe the audio into decoding software and you have yourself an image.