November 14, 2025
Description
137 MHz antenna ideas have been published on the web for downloading NOAA 15 and other satellite images. Please note: NOAA 15 was recently decommissioned, but METEOR satellites still broadcast on this frequency. I could not find the gang connectors at my hardware store, so I designed this bracket to facilitate using thin hardware store brass rod, a cobra head, some ½" diameter electrical conduit, some coax to feed my SDR, and subsequently process with SatDump. You do need to solder some thin wire to the rods in order to connect them to the cobra head. Also, you will need to trim the rod to get resonance at 137 MHz, or your preferred frequency. The receiving angle between the rods is set to 120'. For storage, or traveling, the rods can be re-positioned to parallel for compactness. I had to ream the holes for the rods with a power drill as I wanted a snug fit. The tolerances may need adjustment for your printer. The slots were fine as is. See more details at https://www.rtl-sdr.com/simple-noaameteor-weather-satellite-antenna-137-mhz-v-dipole/ for how the original antenna was conceived.
Update 8/7/2025: I included a photo of the wiring to the cobra head.
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution
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