Testing Antennas For GOES Geostationary Weather Satellite

[@Smos233]

I love these satellite videos so much. You have birthed a new hobby of mine. Thanks! :)

[@OakAtsume]

I love how passionate you are! Thank you. You're the reason I got more into HAM and Wireless technologies. We all love and appreciate you.

[@scowell]

Have you tried crossed dipoles? That's the typical LF dish feed I've seen... they need a ground plane of course. Also known as a turnstile antenna. You can make a double one also. Helical is another possibility... if the sat is not linear polarization you'll need to take that into account. Love this content, keep it going! My HOA rules were drawn up back when big dishes were the norm... I might be able to get away with a 10-12' dish!

[@ferrumignis]

GOES-16 HRIT data at 1964 MHz is linearly polarised, turnstile and helical antennas used for dish feeds are for circularly polarised signals.

[@scowell]

@@ferrumignis Circular polarization is used for linear satellite reception in order to avoid cross-polarization loss. When you use your linear yagi to make a sat QSO you are twisting it to maximize reception, right? Circular polarization eliminates that need.

[@ferrumignis]

@@scowell Sure, if you don't care about the 3dB loss you can do it, and is does remove the need to twist the antenna to maximize signal.

[@NavinJohnson_thethird]

Thanks! Everyone at work likes my OSHA Approved "totally safe" shirt.

[@saveitforparts]

Awesome!

[@eswnl1]

For the yagi, I think a ferrite on the pigtail to act as a balun might be necessary. I did this with my singular dipole feed and got much better signal.

[@benjaminbowen7263]

I was on a business trip to Minneapolis last month and I got to experience the glory that is Ax-Man... I felt like I should drop your name seeing as you are such a great salesman for them. Thanks for the videos, always enjoy them and your wit.

[@big64willie]

You’re channel is so cool! I like learning about this satellite stuff!!

[@TheBananaPlug]

Great work with that small dish and Yagi feed. I'm getting better at pulling HRPT from GOES 16, all thanks to your inspirational videos, it can be very difficult to get on target but my manual adjusting of my dish is paying dividends in getting low BER and improved SNR. Keep up the good work, it's helped me and I'm sure others considerably.

[@movax20h]

These are fantastic results. Nice. Also, I saw your videos years ago, only few. And I rediscovered your channels about 2 weeks ago. Now I am addicted to other Ham and SDR channels too. :D Cheers.

[@saveitforparts]

Thanks! Glad you like it!

[@AaronzDad]

Am I the only one amused by the idea you spend $50 or $60 to buy a tool to test your antenna made from junk?

[@COSMIC_SECRET]

Yes

[@gpsvitor]

Money spend on tools is money well spend...

[@FailedSquare]

haha to test ALLLL the antennas he makes from junk. it gets a lot of use

[@sharkylal]

Looking good dude! Love seeing the continued upgrades over time

[@JuniorJunison]

Stellar photos of Earth. Loved your video : )

[@Wildlandfirefighting]

You're starting to get pretty good at this

[@neslin99]

Always enjoying the satellite and radio videos! 👍

[@PapasDino]

Just love your enthusiasm! Keep discovering and taking us along for the ride! 73 - Dino KLØS

[@timbober1]

I love film slate! you’re a true professional. Any left? May have to venture out and buy one.

[@saveitforparts]

They probably still have some. Not too fancy, just plastic, but still kinda fun!

[@digitaldreamer5481]

You should try using a fold up megaphone like we used in Force Recon and Navy Seals back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. You can buy them pretty cheap if you find a Ham that still has one. You don’t need the entire megaphone, just the folding umbrella portion of the megaphone. I saw a Ham with one here in Honolulu just 3 years ago. WH6DWF🇺🇸

[@B.M.0.]

Got my sdr kit through the affiliate link, we'll see how long this round of stock lasts, last one sold out on the first day! The kit is the V3 in case anyone was wondering (the v3 is better than the v4 as they ran out of the good chips for v4)

[@saveitforparts]

I just got a v4, haven't had time to try it yet!

[@B.M.0.]

@@saveitforparts I guess it's got some worthwhile upgrades like a better heat dissipation with the different chip (can be fixed with some thermal paste and a heatsink if there's concern), HF Upconverter, and better filtering

[@B.M.0.]

but it does come with the tradeoff of not being able to support your favorite YT creator!

[@michaellichter4091]

The video was as exciting as the series about the Skinwalker Ranch; the helicopter was already there, maybe there are still recordings of a UFO to be found. I've been thinking about the Yagi antenna all along; that's a very good idea. I'm already very excited about more videos.

[@mike97525]

Thank you, I really appreciate your channel😃😃

[@roberthighsmith26]

Just found your channel. Watched you pick up a Russian weather satellite, then came to your channel. Love it!

[@bioboi4438]

Another great vid!

[@YoDooDSup]

I’m so happy I found this channel.

[@Rebar77_real]

That's amazeballs.

[@David..R]

Nice! It's fun building antennas.

[@K1ZEK]

That shot of the chopper made me laugh. Keep having fun. Leo 73

[@coolgamer125bmd6]

Nice video very help full, I just have to have patience and learn what I’m doing wrong

[@mecatx]

Great work and video. Where is the small Yagi put. There is not video of its placement. Thanks

[@saveitforparts]

I had it in the focal point of the dish, where the LNB would go for a TV dish or where the network antenna was on the smaller one.

[@olivebarnardo3943]

You should try decoding pocsag/flex pager signals!

[@m1geo]

Yay! Nicely done! 73, George M1GEO.

[@antoineroquentin2297]

The problem with the groundplane antenna is, it is radiating to the side and has a null point upwards in the radiation pattern. I don't think that's a good antenna for a dish feed. Great results, very interesting! Cheers!

[@user-ox7pb5us5g]

You give me way too many ideas! Keep it up!

[@batterymakermarkii2654]

It comforts me that experimentation still has a place in this modern age...

[@gjnezat]

Thanks!

[@JuulCPH]

Pringles cans are not actually coated with anything conductive. It just looks that way.

[@sarkybugger5009]

Fascinating stuff. Can you mount it on a railcar?

[@wesKEVQJ]

I would be interested in seeing you try a slot antenna on this setup.

[@scogiam95]

I love such satellite videos!

[@Redneckmowers]

That’s fucking sick I love all your videos about antennas and rf and …

[@_randombob]

I just picked one of these 5.8ghz dishes up, has holes around the edges for radomes. Attempting proba, but ive seen it just may not be on over me. I've been guessing the length of the feed horn based on what came with it

[@mattparker9726]

Axe man is THE coolest store.

[@AvisPraeda777]

Minnesota represent!

[@Offgridhomestead77]

I use a 2.4 gig wi fi antenna from Amazon and the goes amp and a rtl dongle running on sat dump.

[@jamesc9168]

This was a good one :)

[@Offgridhomestead77]

What you need to do is set up the fixed c band dish your figuring what to use it for your goes weather station. I would like to see how much stronger the signal is with a mesh c band dish over the wi fi dish I'm using.

[@petewright2283]

It’s a shame these dishes are not cheap in the UK as would love to have a go

[@crazymonkeyhhc9913]

keep up the work you sexy clump of atoms you need a sponsor or something Raid Shadows Legends??? i mean i would sit through it because your stuff is that good and you deserver it or at least some more beer while you wait around for things to happen hahhahah from Australia M8

[@CanuckHam]

maybe try a slot antenna for the feed

[@The-Mad-Taoist]

Cool hobby

[@michaelhaardt5988]

The LNA and filter is a good combination. You never mentioned matching the illumination angle of the antenna to the f/d ratio of the dish. Over-illumination would significantly reduce your SNR.

[@giulioperissinotto1431]

First of all Great video, then what software are you using as a calculator for the antenna?

[@saveitforparts]

I had some stuff online I was using, I think it was on sgcderek's page. I don't have that in front of me so I'll have to check later!

[@sktechguru123]

Nice sir ji 🙏

[@ThePacesetter-x2g]

I think i know where that days worked without accident sign came from

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@aarongriffin81]

I am using a similar dish and Goes+ LNA, RTL SDR v4 and satdump. I see the signal but satdump always says 0 SNR when I try either LRIT or HRIT. Am I suppose to use LO offset? I have satdump 1.2.0 and it looks different. Any chance you could do a detailed walkthrough for the pc setup?

[@TotalKeyOz]

Maybe try a helix feed for the dishes.

[@TimothyLipinski]

Great video and info ! Space diversity ? Timothy Lipinski

[@iamgriff]

I am curious to know why you have a “no soliciting” sign on the back door at knee cap level? Do you have cats showing up trying to sell you birds and mice?

[@saveitforparts]

Never hurts to have more of those signs!

[@iamgriff]

@@saveitforparts Lmfao!!!

[@northtexasskies7786]

This is something I'm wanting to do. Somebody local is giving an 8-foot dish away. Im considering getting it but I have no clue about anything radio.

[@saveitforparts]

You should get it! They're really fun! You can get geostationary weather satellites with one of those plus a tin can and some SDR parts. This site has some good info: usradioguy.com/goes-satellite-imagery-reception/ and this one has info on how to build the tin can feed: lucasteske.dev/2016/10/goes-satellite-hunt-part-1-antenna-system/

[@401ksolar]

Hmm makes me wonder how a mini 4 element moonraker would work out ( moonraker has 2 polarity connections 90 deg out of phase)

[@401ksolar]

BTW point the driven elements towards the parabola and reflector towards space.

[@faisalsharif8898]

How to broadcast by building our own little test radio station??

[@coolgamer125bmd6]

Do you know why a direct tv satellite dish can’t receive goes by its self but other dishes that are similar can?

[@saveitforparts]

The DirecTV dishes are just a little too small for a good signal, most are around 18" and you want something at least 24" wide. The TV signals are stronger so they don't need a big dish. I got a DirecTV dish to work by extending it to be a little larger, but it was still kind of marginal. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3ybnnmord2GmLs

[@matthewmcclinton4593]

What’s the make and model of that 30 in dish?

[@Ziraya0]

Would it be anything to try and mount the smaller dish on the bigger dish like a two-mirror telescope?

[@saveitforparts]

There are some designs like that, they have some positives and negatives. I could try something like that in the future but I think I'd want a bigger main dish.

[@LowOutput]

Serious comment now: on the visible light “half Earth” imagery, is that the raw image or is it superimposed over some other pre-existing image of earth? 3:37 and 3:32

[@saveitforparts]

I believe it's several channels / light wavelengths combined to get a "human-visible" image. The raw data is in wavelengths that are more useful for scientific measurement but just look B&W to us.

[@lemonylemon2289]

Hey! I'm trying to set up my own system for listening in on satellites, but I'm having a little bit of confusion. Which way do you orient your Sawbird filter? I assume that the input is supposed to be plumbed to the antenna and the output to my SDR, but I'm not sure, there's no instructions anywhere online. Is that correct?

[@saveitforparts]

Input goes to the antenna and output /DC goes to the SDR. You want to make sure you're powering the SAWbird with either a BIAS-T setting on the SDR or with a USB cable, but not both! There's some info here: support.nooelec.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011133694-SAWbird-LNA-Filters

[@charlesurrea1451]

No helical?

[@saveitforparts]

I've been trying to 3D print some helical feed frameworks but they keep turning into spaghetti on my crummy printers.

[@Pickle_Hammer]

Are you using the goestools software or just sat dump and sdr++? I am having issues trying to install the goestools on my Pi4.Thanks for any help

[@saveitforparts]

Just SatDump and SDR++. Ive used GOEStools before and I'd use it if I were doing a long-term download, but this was just to test some things.

[@nicholaslewis7208]

Don't forget to like the video. Good Sat testing.

[@GuilhermeRossi11]

I’m experimenting with the NOAA APT satellites and so far I get static and sometimes good images from that I guess my rubber ducky antenna sucks 😅

[@todamnbad]

Any videos on building gmrs or ham antennas?

[@saveitforparts]

I don't think I have any videos on that yet. I do have a big UHF antenna I need to install, just haven't had time!

[@DougPeabody]

Milk crate laptop holders, now that's DIY!

[@Mile3500]

6:21 If you were a rapper, your stage name would be lil yagi.

[@PhillipRhodes]

It would be hilarious if you recorded that segment saying "Crap, now the cops are after me" and then a few seconds later have the camera obviously fall to the ground and then cut to black. And then don't post anything again. Well.. OK, that would suck, at least the "never post anything again" part. But you gotta admit, it would get people talking. :p

[@noahmihalik4661]

Question! Is it possible to use a cars antenna to receive some of these satellite images? As well as weather satellites like NOAA?

[@saveitforparts]

It depends on the antenna. I would say the old '90's type FM antennas might pick up NOAA satellites, especially if you messed with the length of the antenna. A magnetic antenna for a CB or mobile radio might also work, depending on tuning. Modern car antennas, I don't know. For Sirius/XM satellite radio I think the antennas are tuned for S-band, which doesn't have as much weather stuff, and the signals from commercial satellites are stronger so the antenna can be small.

[@noahmihalik4661]

I've got a 2002 ford escape with one of the long antenna on the front. would you ever see yourself making a video on how one could go about using/modifying a preexisting antenna on an older vehicle or a scavenged part? I'd personally find that interesting, but if buying a cheaper radio of amazon is just the much more logical way to go then nevermind. @@saveitforparts

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Technically you can take a selfie from outer space.

[@Gintokikreuz1]

Didn't you do a video about getting satellite Internet and using that Internet to make a call?

[@saveitforparts]

Not recently, I haven't had satellite internet since back when I lived in Alaska.

[@Gintokikreuz1]

@@saveitforparts Sorry I was mistaken with another yt video

[@DadofScience]

I really do not need another hobby to pursue, so please stop making these videos. Also, please keep up these videos as I find them very interesting and can't wait to hack up a system myself!

[@spacetrucker2196]

Which is your favorite Axe Man?

[@saveitforparts]

The University Ave one is the OG, it seems to be the biggest and have some of the most oddball stuff. Fridley is also good. There's one in St. Louis Park that's kind of small and I'm not out that direction too often. Used to be one in Crystal right by my work that I went to all the time, but they closed a few years ago.

[@spacetrucker2196]

@@saveitforparts yeah I like that one too. I haven't been there since the riots tho.

[@ThePacesetter-x2g]

AXEMAN!!!!

[@jackkelley890]

Can you please tell me if the United States has access to a satellite like QO-100 in Europe and the middle east has access to?

[@saveitforparts]

Not as far as I know. There are a bunch of low earth orbit ham satellites, but nothing geostationary on this side of the planet.

[@mercster]

Hah, well done.

[@nubi78]

I haven’t looked up the GOES satellite specs but I thought most satellites were circular polarized. I GOES is circular I bet you would have much better luck with a circular polarized antenna. 🤷‍♂️

[@saveitforparts]

GOES uses a linear polarization, at least for the L-band signal.

[@t0nito]

Wouldn't a helical feed work better like for HRPT satellites?

[@albatross_v2]

helical feeds don't work well on prime focus dishes.

[@t0nito]

@@albatross_v2 I wasn't aware of that, it works really great on offset dishes. What is the reason why it won't work well on prime focus dishes?

[@albatross_v2]

@@t0nito I think (I may be wrong) it's to do with the fact that helical antennas aren't good at receiving wide angle irradiation.

[@t0nito]

@@albatross_v2 well there are some examples of people having good results with helicals on a prime focus dish online so it can't be that bad I guess?

[@albatross_v2]

@@t0nito I reckon they would get far better results with a different feed, but if a helix is all you have I guess it doesn’t hurt to try.

[@philstrons]

Some of your antennas probably were ineffective because of polarization mismatch. You might be able to fit a helical antenna on there. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helical_antenna

[@albatross_v2]

helical antennas don't work well with prime focus dishes

[@ferrumignis]

The GOES-16 HRIT data on 1694 MHz has linear polarization. Turnstile antennas used as dish feeds (axial mode) are for circular polarization.

[@unl0ck998]

Can anyone access the GOES like that or do you need some sort of credentials?

[@saveitforparts]

You don't need any account or credentials for this, it's just beaming down 24/7 to anyone who wants to pick it up.

[@dangerouswitch1066]

HTME sent me

[@ivolol]

I swear you might be able to have a whale of a time testing these things out more thoroughly with another HAM/EE youtuber. Like @IMSAIGuy "Who can make the best motor-mountable junkyard antenna?" either co-op or competitive.

[@ohyou_6599]

haha GOES East GOES West :DDDDD

[@jasongreene303]

Please also look at the return loss when tuning antennas. This is magnitudes more important than SWR. Also, be careful of the cops, they all have SCMODS!

[@genetomblin2883]

So the police are wondering if your trying to phone the home planet, or at least that's what your neighbor said when they called them :-) 73s

[@jeff-73]

I believe.

[@didnotwantthis]

stay based

[@salmonsoup15]

its always a great day when he saves something for parts isnt it

[@Superkuh2]

When you have a 1/4 wave monopole antenna the direction of the null is straight up. By pointing a monopole straight up at your dish you're pointing your null at the dish. It's the worst possible orientation for receiving signal. Put the monopole parallel to the dish, not perpendicular.

[@BerrieBadslof]

Those are some impressive images. If you ever do weather forecasts, i would definitely watch these :)

[@williamteuthorn7413]

“If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.” ― Red Green

[@mncam_com]

We have a mutual friend and I'm really really hoping a group of us can connect somewhere in MPLS/STP for happy hour etc. I'd love to give you some additional gadgetry to play with!

[@tompeters4868]

Totally fuckin awesome man. Those images are the cleanest I've seen you pull yet. Great work.

[@jan_phd]

E.T. says, "Leave us alone!"