 |
 | |
           
| Weather satellite images recorded at Chigwell, Essex, England.These satellite images were produced using WXtoImg software.Click on any image below for a full sized image. Times are shown in GMT Daylight Time. There are ongoing problems with the QFH antenna which are causing the poor images. Work continues to rectify this issue. June 2008
Table of Next Scheduled Satellite Passes over Chigwell, Essex, England
Weather has always been a fascinating subject to the English and can sometimes seem to be the sole topic of conversation. Aside from operating your own weather station (which I don't) there is still a lot of interesting data available, including APT images transmitted by the NOAA Polar Orbiting Satellites. Receiving and producing these images is relatively inexpensive by using a. RIGsat receiver which is available in kit form. This, in conjunction with a special aerial, allows reception of the NOAA satellite passes, which occur several times each day. The aerial is called a QFH and I built it myself. Information on this is available by clicking the QFH Aerial picture and downloading this Adobe Reader document, which provides information on constructing your own QFH.
How is it done? The RX2 receiver is under the control of a PC program called WXTOIMAGE. This program calculates when the satellites will go past and then selects the appropriate satellite channel on the RX2. Audible radio signals from the RX2 are sent to the PC's soundcard which WXTOIMAGE then decodes into an image. The technology behind this is very similar to a normal FAX machine, which builds images line by line. Simple but very effective.
If you came here looking for satellite images of Essex then it sounds like you should consider Google Earth. Click on the globe to go to Google Earth home page. If you already have Google Earth, try this link to locate Chigwell.
Other sites of interest include: High resolution images of UK satellite passes UK Lightning and Thunderstorm activity European Thunderstorm activity
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This page was last updated 19/11/06