Observation 6506358: METOP-C (43689)

Satellites & Observations Observations
1

Regarding Observation 6506358 …
A great signal but no data. Is that usual with METOP-C // BPSK PMT-A3 800 ?

2

My station was able to generate data for METOP-C // BPSK PMT-A3 800. I added gr-satellites and satnogs_gr-satellites to that ground station’s installation, it may be from that.

3

I’ve now added satnogs_gr-satellites to my station, and although the installation appears to test out OK using the cli, I still see no data for METOP-C despite a strong waterfall.
What is the difference between satnogs_gr-satellites and gr-satellites? Why both?

4

Both packages are needed if you want to add it to your system.

gr-satellites is an add-on to GNU Radio that adds satellite decodings. It is used by groups outside of SatNOGS.

satnogs_gr-satellites connects the SatNOGS-client software to gr-satellites.

5

Thanks for the info’ @jebba .
I have re-installed both gr-satellites and satnogs_gr-satellites and both installs check out as OK, as far as I can tell. But still no noticeable improvements to decodes.
For example I’m still getting very strong waterfalls for METOP-C but still no decodes: Observations #6531710 #6530640 #6531711
Do you know of any other testing procedure other than scheduling some other SatNOGS satellites, please?

6

I don’t know why it wouldn’t decode, I’ll have to leave it to the more knoweldgeable radio folks.

But I do know you never have to reinstall. Re-installing, if you do the same thing, will arrive at the exact same spot. Everytime. If it doesn’t, there is something different in the procedure or the hardware has issues.

7

@m0roj My experience with METOP-C is that the antennas polarization plays a huge part in the ability to get decoded frames. I have had many observations with a strong signal and no frames. Sometimes my omni antenna does a better job than my yagi (vert polarization) with METOP.

Also keep in mind that the frequency ( 465.988 MHz ) is a bit outside the 70cm band, so the SWR of your RF link might be coming into play here as well. For me, one of my LNA’s also drops off north of 445 MHz quite significantly. All these factors add up.

8

Point taken and understood @jebba. I use the word quite loosely. Meaning I check and double check, making changes and trying out my differing interpretations of the coding until I get to a what I consider to be the intended purpose.
I think I could use the word ‘fettle’ as a more realistic meaning in future.

9

Good thinking @satcolintel5 - and noted. Many thanks.