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Thread: Anyone played with weather satellite Himawari 8?

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    Default Anyone played with weather satellite Himawari 8?

    Okay not TV but is satellite related. I'm trying to wrap my head around what is needed to decode weather images from Himawari 8. But I'm confused. Some sites say Himawaricast, whatever that is, is located on Jcsat 2B. But Himawari 8 is at 140.7E and Jcsat 2B is 154E. Which is it?

    I gather I can use my old 2.3m dish and C band LNBF since the freq is 4148H, I think. I see there are some fellas on youtube using an SDR USB receiver, although I might be able to get my paws on a more gooderer stand alone Novra S300 DVB-S2 receiver. Then I need some fancy software to decode HRIT digital images.

    I'm just a bit lost as to how to put all this together at the moment. The NOAA 137MHz VHF satellites are a breeze compared to this.
    Last edited by Learjet; 04-11-18 at 04:14 PM.

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    Short answer, No.

    Why? Because the downlink frequencies are in Ka-band (18.1 - 18.4 GHz) - see the table at .

    I was interested at satellite launch time and for a short period afterward, until the difficulty of data reception and decoding made me abandon the idea as too difficult.

    Weather satellite data transmission has changed radically in the last few years and so reception is no longer a relatively simple matter for the enthusiast.

    Your post has stimulated me a little, therefore I shall look at the idea again.

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    Well now I'm really confused as I was going by this.

    Unless... Himawaricast is a rebroadcast of Himawari8 on Jcsat2B C band. That's the only thing that makes sense.
    Last edited by Learjet; 04-11-18 at 11:35 PM.

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    To answer my own question, yep, it looks like Himawaricast is a redistribution to other sats on C band.

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    There's some useful information at , which should give you an outline of what's involved in setting up a "Himawari Meteorological Satellite Ground Reception System".

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    Thanks Tristen. I'll have a read.

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    Learjet and other interested members.....

    There's some very good information regarding Himawarisat reception and data decoding available at .

    Read particularly from 2/3 down page.

    Edit:

    See also .
    Last edited by tristen; 20-11-18 at 01:53 PM.

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    Thanks Tristen. I've located Jcsat 2B and have a good spike at 4148H on the spectrum analyser at 77 dBuV with a 2.3m solid. Can also hear it's audio using an Icom IC-R2500. Just have to get the data decoder and software now.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Learjet View Post
    Thanks Tristen. I've located Jcsat 2B and have a good spike at 4148H on the spectrum analyser at 77 dBuV with a 2.3m solid. Can also hear it's audio using an Icom IC-R2500. Just have to get the data decoder and software now.
    I would be very interested in hearing how you go as well.

    Keep us up to date.

    I’ve seen some fairly affordable decoding gear out there over the years.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Learjet View Post
    Thanks Tristen. I've located Jcsat 2B and have a good spike at 4148H on the spectrum analyser at 77 dBuV with a 2.3m solid. Can also hear it's audio using an Icom IC-R2500. Just have to get the data decoder and software now.
    Excellent!

    I contemplated moving a dish to look at Jcsat 2B but haven't done so yet.

    Please keep us updated.

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    Still waiting on a data receiver that works... Will be trying one of those RTL-SDR things too. Another jack actuator would be good too for fine tuning. My old one is dead so I've been adjusting by hand.

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    [QUOTE=Learjet;790722]Still waiting on a data receiver that works...QUOTE]

    Can you elaborate please?

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    [QUOTE=tristen;790727]
    Quote Originally Posted by Learjet View Post
    Still waiting on a data receiver that works...QUOTE]

    Can you elaborate please?
    I was hoping to get hold of a Novra S300. In the meantime I have an RTL2832 SDR. The first one was dead. Not even sure these SDR's will work for Himawaricast.

    I've downloaded the kencast software but haven't installed it yet.

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    Hi all. Success! A good mate come over with a Novra S300 data receiver and he set it all up for Himawaricast reception. The install was the most mind boggling thing I have ever seen. Lucky he has brains, I don't. Kencast software along with Sataid is NOT user friendly! Sataid is not the easiest thing to use either. Well it does have a 150 page PDF to go with it. Anyway, it works. Himawari 8 is a most amazing satellite with the amount of weather information it produces.

    So here's part of the spoils we have been capturing this afternoon. Received with a 2.3m solid, el-cheapo C band LNBF and Novra S300 on Jcsat2B 4148H, the Himawarcast transponder. We can zoom in and out and do all sorts of things and animations too.


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    Truely awesome.
    Why can't the TV news show weather images like that? NBN looks like 480p resolution.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
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    That is soooo cool, it’s got me eager to give it a go now.

    Pitty there was not a tutorial to set it up. But hands on will suffice.

    Thanks again.
    Last edited by cmoore; 21-12-18 at 10:31 AM.

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    Congratulations Learjet!

    Thanks for sharing your achievement with us. It's quite spectacular.

    I'm very impressed indeed.

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    Thanks all. The software side of things is the hardest. The hardware is no problem if you can find the satellite. It uses the same bits that are used for C band.

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    Not so good news. It looks like the Novra receiver has died. The LNB is fine as I can still receive all the C band sats across the Clarke belt. Was good while it lasted.

    I'm still looking for ways to receive Himawari8 on an RTL SDR. There might be a way of doing it using Xrit2pic and GNURadio. The software can be found here.





    I've have a very cheap RTL-SDR 2832 USB device and it works fine with GNURadio. The Xrit decoder was written with GOES 16 in mind so may not be fully compatible with Himawari 8, though there is an option to tick Himawari in the xrit decoder setup box. I think GOES is BPSK and Himawari QPSK. You may have to use the loop through cable of a sat receiver to power the LNB to horizontal.

    Anyway have a play and see if you guys have any success. I suck at software.

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    I don't know what's going on the the Novra receiver is back to life. Might have got water in the cables with the heavy rain we had.

    Himawari 8 has such incredible high resolution images. Full globe is 11,000 x 11,000 pixels!!! Here's a resized half phase in visible light and a zoomed up image of ex TC Owen which seems to be trying to redevelop.




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