How to Download Live Images From Government Weather Satellites

Using nothing but your computer, some software, and a $20 radio dongle you can receive transmissions from NOAA weather satellites in the sky overhead. This is an incredibly exciting project that’s easy to do but produces great images. Think about it — you can receive images from a satellite almost 1000KM straight above you!

The Theory

NOAA operates a series of weather satellites, designated NOAA 15, NOAA 18, and NOAA 19, that circle the Earth in polar orbits. These satellites are particularly interesting because they’re constantly transmitting an easy-to-decode image signal of what they’re currently looking at. The satellites’ orbits are configured such that one of the three passes within almost every point on the globe every three hours.

You can track each of the three here. The closer the yellow line is to your location when the satellite is overhead the higher the satellite will appear in the sky. Keep in mind that the satellites’ trajectories across the globe (the yellow lines) are constantly progressing sideways by a few hundred miles with each successive orbit. You don’t really need to worry about tracking…