Your exact construction of the antenna will depend on tools and materials that you have available.
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First review the antenna images and figures below to get a good idea of how to form the antenna. Read the following information carefully and be clear on the construction, before starting. These are typically available from hardware stores.ħ) Soldering iron or propane torch and solder capable of soldering 6 awg copper wire.Ĩ) Heavy duty industrial glue, such as 3M Scotch-Weld™ DP-420.ġ2) Pliers for bending the 6 awg copper wire into the required element form.ġ4) Good quality, non-metallic, outdoor enamel paint.Ĭontinued in Weather Satellite Reception 2 of 3. Ensure that the washer is not metallic or made of any substance that can interfere with RF.Ĥ)ĕ ft (1.524 m) of 18 awg enamel coated magnet wire.ĥ)ē.5 ft (1.0668 m) of RG-8x or RG 58U coaxial cable.Ħ)Ĝhair leg end cap to fit a 1 inch or 2.54 cm diameter tube. Alternatively a thick plastic washer of some type can be applied as long as it fits snugly inside the larger tube described in 2) above and is around 0.25 inch (0.635 cm) thick. This smaller tube will be cut to form an internal washer/support in the larger tube. The wall thickness of the tube should be 0.125 inches (0.3175 cm).ģ) Short clear acrylic tube 0.625 inch (1.5875 cm) diameter having a length of at least three inches. The diameter is critical as the antenna center tube will additionally be used to form the balun. If it comes in a coiled form, this is helpful in forming the antenna elements.Ģ) Long clear acrylic tube 1 inch (2.54 cm) diameter by 1 m or approximately 3 ft long (the length does not have to be exact as long as it at least 30 inches (76.2 cm). It is important that it is coiled, but not tightly, in its packaging and that it is without kinks that cannot be easily straightened. This can usually be found at a reasonable cost in the electrical wiring section of many hardware stores. QFH Antenna.JPG (38.77 KiB) Viewed 41378 timesġ)Ē5ft (7.62 m) of 6 awg bare copper wire. With the configuration described below using a backfire quadrifilar helix antenna and applying an 18dB 0.6dB noise figure or better low noise preamplifier mounted at the antenna, you can use the RSP2 to obtain some very nice APT weather satellite images, such as those shown in the following examples: With the preamplifier, you can potentially receive images within a few degrees of horizon-to-horizon. Without the 18dB preamplifier, you can get good APT reception for about 40 to 60 degrees of an overhead satellite pass when applying the antenna below and the RSP2. To gain a much better range for receiving images, an 18dB low noise preamplifier is required. As a minimum, you will need an antenna, a radio receiver capable of receiving FM frequencies from 137.1 to 137.9125 MHz having a bandwidth of 30kHz to 50kHz, such as the RSP2, a personal computer with a reasonably fast microprocessor, and image decoding software. Currently, as of 2017, there are still a handful of orbital weather satellites transmitting the APT or Automatic Picture Transmission format. This is a 3 part post due to the limitations for loading images into this bulletin board.ĪPT weather satellite image reception is very straight forward and easy to do from almost anywhere on Earth. Key Words: Weather Satellite, NOAA, WEFAX