In order to provide hands-on experience of building a ground station, we encourage students to form groups and design their own antenna with the help of a series of orientation, theory and work sessions.
After conducting events in the online mode for 2 years, ‘Track with us’ marked the beginning of offline events and activities lined up this year. It was an offline satellite tracking session conducted on 16th June, 2022 at the Gymkhana Football Grounds of IIT Bombay.
We communicated with a NOAA satellite in real-time to receive weather images of Earth. We successfully tracked the NOAA satellite using a QFH antenna and RTL-SDR and decoded the signal to obtain a weather image. The event witnessed a participation of more than 75 students across various batches and departments.
Satellite tracking is a very fun activity pursued by several ham radio enthusiasts. We had a wonderful experience conducting the event and the audience had also gathered with great enthusiasm.
What follows is a satellite tracking session where the enthusiasts test their antennas. This might arguably be one of the most exciting tech events of the institute, receiving signals from satellites in space and deciphering them using software to convert them into human language. It introduces people to different kinds of satellites like ISS, NOAA and makes them understand key concepts involved in a satellite pass and tracking.
