Home Satellite Images Software Guides Links Megalithic Sites Photography My Flickr

Portable Installation Suite

for Receiving Meteor LRPT

One of the most daunting aspects of setting up a reception system for the Russian Meteor Satellites has been the intricacy of
the procedure:
• Install Orbitron
• Install SDRSharp
• Set up SDSRSharp features for LRPT reception
• Add required Meteor and DDE Tracker plugins to SDSRSharp
• Configure the Meteor plugins
• Set up the DDE Tracking Schedule
• Configure Orbitron to automatically run SDRSharp
• Download Zadig.exe to install the RTL drivers for your dongle

Wouldn't it be great if all this could be achieved in a single step?

Well, it can be done.

Both Orbitron and SDRSharp are standalone programs. They can be run from any folder, on any drive of
your computer, because all their configuration files, data files and DLLs etc. are present in their own
folders - not hidden within the depths of Windows. It is therefore perfectly feasible to create a zipped
archive which installs everything into the directory structure illustrated opposite.

Moreover, the link from Orbitron to activate SDRSharp has been made directory-independent: you can
unpack the archive on any of your PC's drives (C\:, D\: etc.) and Orbitron will still link correctly with SDRSharp.

It is strongly recommended that you do not extract the archive into the Program Files folder, but directly on to one of your
computer's drives: otherwise things may not run smoothly. For most users, it is sufficient to unpack the zipped archive directly
on to the C:| drive when the directory tree illustrated will be installed.

Each of the Meteor LRPT Suite archives offered below will install the entire Orbitron/SDRSharp system into a folder called
LRPT, and in addition, add a subfolder containing LRPTOfflineDecoder, and an empty QPSK subfolder where the received QPSK
S‑files will be stored.

Thus, you have everything you need to receive Meteor images in a single location.

What the archive cannot do

There are still a few things that you will have to do to get everything operational.

• Run zadig to install the RTL drivers for your dongle (you will find the zadig.exe file inside the SDRSharp folder).
• You will have to set the Tuner Correction (ppm) to precisely centre the frequency in SDR# for you own specific RTL dongle.
• The Meteor frequency is set at 137.1 MHz in both Orbitron and SDRSharp.
  (You may have to alter this should the satellite switch frequency to 137.9 MHz in the future.)
• You must enter your own Location Coordinates and Time Zone into Orbitron.

Once this is done, everything is set to go. All you need to do is run the file orbitron.exe from the 'Orbitron' folder, click the 'Rotor/Radio'
tab at the foot of its display, and finally click the small button to the right of the 'Driver' window showing 'SDRsharp'. This will activate
SDRsharp, and Meteor data will be recorded automatically on every pass, under control of Orbitron.

And of course, you must connect a 137 MHz APT antenna (turnstile, QFH etc) to your dongle in order to receive the Meteor
signals. Your APT antenna for the NOA satellites is ideal.

Help
If you are a newcomer to Receiving Meteor with a dongle, and need additional guidance, please refer to the detailed, illustrated
article I wrote, which outlines every step in the process of setting up the system from scratch.
The article appeared in GEO Quarterly No 48 in December 2015, and you can download a PDF copy of it here. Be aware, though,
that not all the download URLs in this PDF are still active.

LRPT Suite for Meteor M2 under Windows 7, 8 and 10

Download Meteor LRPT Suite.1.7 using Meteor plugin v 1.7, SDR# v 1443 and LRPT Decoder v 14 (for 137.1 MHz).
Download Meteor LRPT Suite.1.8.1 using Meteor plugin v 1.8, SDR# v 1555 and LRPT Decoder v 55 (for 137.1 MHz).
Download Meteor LRPT Suite.1.8.2 using Meteor plugin v 1.8, SDR# v 1601 and LRPT Decoder v 55 (for 137.1 MHz).
Download Meteor LRPT Suite.1.8.3 using Meteor plugin v 1.8, SDR# v 1619 and LRPT Decoder v 55 (for 137.1 MHz).

Note 1 Windows 7 users must make sure that they have Microsoft's Dot NET 4.6 framework installed.
Note 2 These Suites will not run on the older Windows XP Operating System.
Note 3 If you update SDR#, be advised that some updates (v 1605 for example) do not support the Meteor plugin correctly, and
will not decode the images..

LRPT Suite for Meteor M2 under Windows XP

Many enthusiasts make use of old Windows XP computers for Meteor reception.
To do this, a different Suite is required, using components developed to run on Microsoft's older Dot NET 3.5 framework .

Download QPSK LRPT XP Suite using QPSK plugin v 1.4, SDR# v 1337 and LRPT Decoder v 14 (for 137.1 MHz).

Warning
It is perfectly OK to use an XP computer for Meteor reception, so long as it is kept off-line. Since the zadig driver installer has
been included in the SDRsharp folder for you, there is no need ever to have this PC on-line.

Remember, Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, and there is a danger of infection from Viruses and Malware if it
is regularly connected on-line. It is advisable, when updating keplerian elements, to download the weather.tle file from
Celestrak using an internet-connected computer, then copying it into the 'tle' subfolder of Orbitron via a USB Stick.

Interesting Footnote
This early suite (plugin 14 dates from 2015) still works well on Windows 10!

View Meteor M2 images building in Real Time (Windows 10)

Click image above to view a larger version

It is possible, by activating the TCP socket option in the Meteor Demodulator plugin for SDRSharp, to observe the Meteor M2
images building up in LRPTDecoder in real time as the satellite passes over. Meteor LRPT Suite 1.8.4 has been set up to do just
this (for Meteor M2 only, and not for subsequent satellites of this series). The image above shows all the software active, on
screen, simultaneously.

Download Meteor LRPT Suite.1.8.4 using Meteor plugin v 1.8, SDR# v 1555 and LRPT Decoder v 33 (for 137.1 MHz).

This archive will unzip into a folder called LRPT for Meteor M2 (TCP), which you may rename to
suit you needs.

There is a ReadMe.txt file within this folder with additional information.

For example, explaining how to modify the LRPTDecoder.ini file for the Channel-5 infrared
images transmitted during winter.
In the above download, it is configured to produce RGB123 false-colour images. This must be
changed to produce RGB125 images in winter.
LRPT Suite for Meteor M2-2
This satellite has failed and is no longer transmitting LRPT
A replacement satellite, Meteor M2-3, will not be launched till late in 2021!

There is an in-depth tutorial explaining how to set up your Meteor M2-n system from 'Happysat' at
http://happysat.nl/Setup_Meteor/Setup.html

This page has been accessed times.

Counter supplied by

Please e-mail your comments to