The Timestep WEFAX receiver takes the 1691MHz input signal and outputs an audio signal to the PROsat interface box.

The PROsat program can thus obtain images from both the polar orbiters and GEO sats. The program includes various tools for handling the GEO images and for building animations.

Advanced Satellite Ground Station

Parabolic dish with automatic rotor control for tracking
non-geostationary satellites.

After I left Sweden, Prof. Thomas Lindbald and Bruce Lockhart continued to develop the ground station and went beyond weather satellite imaging. Using a tracking system developed by Bruce, a second dish was installed with a motorized rotor system that allows the dish to track a moving satellite as it crosses the sky.

While waiting for construction and launch of the Swedish Hugin and Victoria nanosats, the aim is to develop the capability to receive data transmissions from other scientific satellites.

With such a capability, it will be possible to develop student projects, e.g. for senior theses, in which the student can learn to receive and analyse actual space science data.

Though still in the development stage, they have succeeded already in obtaining signals from the IMAGE spacecraft that is studying the earth's magnetosphere. See graph of signal strength.

Eventually, transmission capabilities will be added so that full communications with and control of the nanosats can be accomplished.

Update: June.8.04 - As shown by the graph, Bruce and Thomas were able to receive a signal from Image but unfortunately they never got beyond this to the point of decoding data from the satellite. It was difficult to get the assistance needed from the Image group within the time before Bruce retired. A program at Goddard to assist student groups in building ground stations also never got going.

Generally, it is difficult to obtain the necessary technical specs, hardware, and software needed to pickup and decode data from scientific satellites. The groups have other priorities than helping outsiders look at their hard earned raw data before they do.

Note that some of the nanosats using the amateur bands are student scientific satellites and you might be able to pickup data from the instruments on these spacecraft.