Meteorological satellites - Reception problems

Receiving APT signals (Automatic Picture Transmission) is not necessarily complicated. Still, some anterior knowledge comes in handy, particularly to avoid desillusions later. On the following pages, I'll try and describe some of the problems that appear in each part:

The antenna

As good as the receiver may be, without the right 'ears', you won't be able to receive anything. Here are some of the options.

Preamplifier

Except if your station is at less than a few meters from the antenna, a preamplifier is advisable.

El receptor

The heart of the operation, a receiver must be carefully chosen. In this page, you'll find some considerations on selecting a receiver which is compatible with your needs.

Software

To convert the received audio into a nice image, software is needed. Almost any computer is useable, and many packages are on the market that can do a very good job.

Diagnosing problems

It's possible that once you've installed everything, the results are not quite satisfactory. Here is a page with some of the more common problems and their solutions.