Satellite
Communication
The largest functionality of ALBATROSS is its Satellite Communication. By utilizing a custom built antenna, ALBATROSS is able to communicate with the NOAA Weather Satellites in orbit. From this connection with the NOAA Satellites, ALBATROSS is capable of receiving all types of weather information.
NOAA Satellites
NOAA, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is an American scientific and regulatory agency that utilizes a set of Satellites to transmit and forecast weather, oceanic and atmospheric conditions, and much other information about the conditions of the oceans and marine life. The information transmitted by their satellites is completely free use and is always being transmitted.
Antenna
The Primary Antenna Design consists of a horizontally oriented Di-Pole with 120° vertical polarization. We used 50-Ohm RG58 Coax cable, with Copper Rod lengths of approximately 20 inches. This design captures the 137MHz image signal transmitted by the NOAA satellites and is also able to receive FM radio broadband, as well as VHF (120-300MHz) industry radio broadcasts.
Weather Information
ALBATROSS utilizes an RTL-SDR USB device in order to receive and translate the various signals the antenna receives. GQRX is the software used to process our satellite and radio signals. ALBATROSS Also utilizes a NOAA decoding software which translates the satellite data into an image you can see.
GPS
The ALBATROSS Antenna also comes with a built in active GPS Antenna, that can display location on a map much like google maps.
