W7KKE's GOES-18 Receiving Equipment
The receiving antenna is a surplused one meter dish with a homebrew quagi feed cut for 1694.1 MHz. A NooElec "SAWbird" preamp is mounted at the antenna. The SAWbird preamp feeds about 30 feet of LMR-400 coax to the AirSpy SDR receiver in the ham shack. Demodulating software is the XRIT suit from USA-Satcom.
The quagi feed was designed for the GOES-18 frequency. The number of elements was chosen to reduce spillover when illuminating the dish. A perfectly sized "radome" was found at the local dollar store. It has to be replaced once a year due to deterioration from the sun's UV rays.
The NooElec SAWbird contains both a preamp and a filters tuned for the GOES frequency. It has been working very well. It's packaged in a ABS electrical box to protect it from the weather.
NooElec SAWbird info.
The receiver is an AirSpy R2 SDR.
Decoding software is the XRIT decoder for GOES.