Let’s do some APT!

The first time I think I was doing something that can be called a ‘SDR’ was when I read about receiving NOAA APT weather transmissions with self made wx receiver kit – the kit came with a very small ‘computer’ capable of tuning receiver to the correct frequency and was also capable to receive command from PC program called WxToImg.

I ordered the kit (Emgo receiver) and began to create my first real SDR system on January 2005.

Today, the WxToImg software is no longer available – one can still find it from the mirror sites and archives, but the development is no longer active and the company behind the software exist no more. Unfortunately it seems that there are no alternative software in works.

First I did some tests with different antenna types, then after some months of testing the final version, cross-dipole was installed. It is still in place feeding my system with fresh data from APT and also other VHF/UHF cube satellites.