[Scan-DC] 401.015 MHz weather balloon signals -- anyone with decoding experience?
Andrew Clegg
andrew_w_clegg at hotmail.com
Tue Apr 20 18:09:59 EDT 2021
Thanks for the details Chris. I think you're confirming that they use the LMS6 model of radiosonde. I tried that (and several others) on SondeMonitor last night, and no luck decoding. Maybe there's an issue with my Virtual Audio Cable connection. I may try wiring up an old-fashioned physical audio cable from my receiver to my computer, if I can find one long enough. Last night's flight lasted until after 9:00 and was heard by one of our scan-dc members all the way up in NJ. In addition to my outdoor discone and ICOM receiver, for fun I also tuned it in on my Home Patrol 1, inside, using the stock rubber duck antenna, and sure enough I could hear it.
BTW, I tried the Uputronics 403 MHz filtered pre-amp to see if it boosts the radiosonde signal. My first experiment with the pre-amp last night was not good. I could hear the radiosonde much better without the pre-amp than with it. I'll have to keep experimenting. Pre-amps can be finicky. This one has the filter after the amp, which is better for noise figure but worse for overload, so it could be getting way overloaded with broadcast signals or nearby fed repeaters in the 406 MHz band or something.
https://store.uputronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=54
403MHz Radiosonde Filtered Preamp - Uputronics<https://store.uputronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=54>
Uputronics filtered preamp for improved Radiosonde/403MHz Reception. This is a SAW based unit which give excellent performance gains. All our preamps are compatible with most USB SDR Dongles such as the RTL USB, Airspy, Fun Cube.
store.uputronics.com
73,
Andy
W4JE
________________________________
From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net <scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Chris Smolinski <csmolinski at blackcatsystems.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 7:16 AM
To: Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net <Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] 401.015 MHz weather balloon signals -- anyone with decoding experience?
I ended up writing my own app for decoding the LMS6 Radiosonde transmissions from Sterling. Here's an example of a plot of the path, based on the location continuously transmitted (each radiosonde has a small GPS receiver): https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hfunderground.com%2Fboard%2Findex.php%2Ftopic%2C62526.0.html&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4a5ace2b1be545d7395508d903edc143%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637545141943254953%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=mUKaCz%2FuwuIbwUchJ9Mr%2BCSW6R9vpS7yO64WLg0PCsM%3D&reserved=0
I'm a bit out of the way of their usual flight path, so I rarely get to receive anything close to the entire track.
You may find this site useful, it will generated a predicted path, based off weather models: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpredict.habhub.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4a5ace2b1be545d7395508d903edc143%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637545141943254953%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=Q1N%2F0L76DxUxPfDF4fXe2trN8N1jXD5nD3Xu%2FiHZ%2FuA%3D&reserved=0
You'll need to create a custom location for the Sterling launch site, I use 38.9754 / -77.4577.
Here's the prediction for this morning's launch: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FtB3NEWN.png&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4a5ace2b1be545d7395508d903edc143%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637545141943254953%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=LEAE69tKtd5ocro92WnmfscAGR%2FOzM1Irc03tS1AleE%3D&reserved=0
I just started picking up their transmission from the morning launch at 1109 UTC.
Chris Smolinski, W3HFU
Black Cat Systems
Westminster, MD USA
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackcatsystems.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4a5ace2b1be545d7395508d903edc143%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637545141943264943%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=fW2alCUoKB0bNFoOERu99car6lXXx22S10AmzldFTWI%3D&reserved=0
> On Apr 19, 2021, at 9:41 AM, Andrew Clegg <andrew_w_clegg at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I discovered the 401.015 MHz signal from the weather balloons (radiosondes) that the National Weather Service in Sterling sends up twice a day (usually starting around 7 AM and 7 PM, and lasting for a couple of hours or so). At least I presume Sterling is the source. The signal is pretty decent here in Arlington. You can even see the Doppler shift as the balloons hit various winds in the atmosphere.
>
> There are several software packages available for decoding the radiosonde data (some free, some not). Apparently there are different formats of data from different radiosondes so you need the right software to match the radiosonde. In order to avoid a bunch of false starts, does anyone on the list have experience decoding the signals from the local radiosondes, and can make a recommendation on which software works best?
>
> 73!
> Andy
> W4JE
>
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