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The Remote Imaging Group - Private Individuals Using Weather Satellites

Discover the world of private individuals using weather satellites for personal use. Learn about their history, challenges, and future goals. Join the community at www.rig.org.uk.

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The Remote Imaging Group - Private Individuals Using Weather Satellites

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  1. Private Individual Users ( PIU ) Who are they ? • Not part of a government • Not a state operated facility • Not part of a commercial organisation

  2. ‘The Remote Imaging Group’ has 1,600 members, not very active, the biggest group of its type. Who might be its members? • A golfer • Someone with a small private plane • A yachtsman going around the world with little outside contact • Someone interested in the technology for self training • A weather enthusiast

  3. The Remote Imaging Groupwas started in 1984 by Henry Neale • The first members were Ham radio guys • It spread to anyone wanting now-casting • The DIY RX2 receiver sold thousands • Associated companies sold too, Timestep for instance sold over 4,000 PROscan APT receivers

  4. Presentations at NOAA conferences 1988 Weather Satellites in Education(informal & display)Baltimore (Third International Satellite Direct Broadcast Services User's Conference) 1996 Amateur Reception of Weather Satellites (informal & display)Annapolis (NOAA POES Users Symposium) 2000 WEFAX Private Individual User Community(presentation)Silver Spring, Maryland (WEFAX/EMWIN User's Workshop) 2004 The Rise and Fall of Amateur Direct Reception of Weather Satellites (presentation)here in Miami 2008 Private Individual Users of Weather Satellites(presentation)here in Miami 2011 Real Time Access for Private Individual Users of Weather Satellites(presentation)here in Miami 23 years later………

  5. First the Commodore Amiga and then the PC allowed users direct reception and animation from WEFAX & stills from APT • Members experimented with antennas • Members learnt about weather and forecasting • Schools picked up with their early PCs and Apples, suddenly it was fun to do science!

  6. Life in 2004! • WEFAX was operational • Small antennas in use (smaller than a domestic cat) • Everyone happy!

  7. The recent past • NOAA only ever suggested two operational Polar Orbiting APT satellites • We all got used to more! • The Soviet Meteor and Okean worked well • APT and LRPT now seem to be a ghost from the past?

  8. How Third World Countries and disaster zones used to benefit from the PIU community • Easy to set up systems using amateur based technology • Access to amateur user groups • Low cost amateur systems

  9. The data a PIU needs to receive • Frequent local images • Preferably from a geostationary satellite • Resolution isn’t that important • Animation is important

  10. How did a PIU use this data? • Usually by leaving a computer on and looking at an animation sequence or the latest image • Determining if bad weather is coming towards them. • Deciding to take a boat out for the day • Whether to go and play golf • To get extra confidence

  11. Changes since the 2000 conference 1-2 • There were an estimated 10,000 private individual users of weather satellites in Europe, now maybe just 2,000? • There were an estimated 5,000 private individual users of weather satellites in the USA, now maybe just 1,000?

  12. Changes since the 2000 conference 2-2 • WEFAX no longer available • No small antenna systems • Equipment so difficult that only computer boffs can get it to work • Last year the Meteosat internet group had over 1,000 messages from people • Reliance on the internet that isn’t really up to it • No real future at all?

  13. The future? • By now this conference might have answered some of my questions? • Will there be an APT equivalent? • Will LRIT ever be easily receivable? • Will there be something we have not thought of yet? • An iPod or iPad plug in receiver?

  14. The goals of the PIU community in 2011+ • Some sort of low cost Direct Readout system • An easy to use system • A system that can use a small antenna • A system that does not require any specialised technology • We have to ask in case we get forgotten! • We are the least important group of users with the largest number of users! • Find us at www.rig.org.uk

  15. YES! See you in 2014?

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