How a €100 SDR dongle grew into a two-country satellite reception network

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A hobbyist developer recounts how a cheap RTL-SDR dongle and a rooftop antenna led to a sprawling DIY project for receiving unencrypted weather satellite imagery. The setup began with tracking low-orbit Russian METEOR-M satellites transmitting on VHF around 137 MHz, which pass overhead for only 10–15 minutes per orbit. The project gradually expanded across two countries, repurposing an old laptop as a server and enlisting family help to install equipment remotely. The author is now attempting to receive signals from a geostationary satellite, Elektro-L3, orbiting at 36,000 km and still drifting into position at the time of writing. The piece highlights that such satellite imagery is broadcast openly and can be captured by anyone with roughly €100 in equipment and a clear view of the sky.

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