RTL-SDR for Satellite Weather – Meteor M2-3 – Telecommunications, Navigation & Electronics

Introduction

Last October 2025 I was able to Receive Satellite Weather from Meteor M2-3 down at Toronto Harbourfront using a Vee dipole. This spring I thought I would try the same thing but using a 2m/70cm Yagi antenna instead (Ref.1).

Equipment Setup

Figure 1 shows the equipment setup. I initially tested the Yagi earlier this spring for operation down at 138MHz (Ref.2) I am also using the same BPF/LNA, as I tested previously (Ref.3). I am using the RTL-SDR V3 because I can power the LNA/BPF from the BiasTee. Reception is by SDR# using the Baseband IQ recorder. Decoding is done with SatDump.

Satellite Tracking

Fig.2 Meteor M2-3 Pass April18th_2026 from N2YO.com

Figure 2 shows a good pass of Meteor M2-3 close to Toronto on April 18th_2026.

Signal Decoding

Fig.5 Rx Spectrum In Band Severe QRM/Intermod

Figure 3 shows SDR# settings. Sampling is done at 250Ksps to save on file size. Notice QRM above the receive frequency. Figure 4 shows the strong receive signal with SNR>10dB. I found that I could improve this by not only adjusting the Yagi azimuth/elevation but also rotation of the polarization. The receive location is right next to an airport and marina, so about 5minutes into reception a local transceiver was keyed totally overloading the RTL as shown in Figure 5. However the first 5 minutes produced a nice clear image showing Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There were some breaks when the QRM above the signal pulsed on. Using the Yagi is tricky and I need more practice. I can’t say at this point if it is better than the Vee dipole.