Inmarsat Marine Traffic Reception

[spongella]

Great info on receiving/decoding Inmarsat marine messages, not sure how difficult this is, but sure would like to try this out. Not sure if a regular Ku dish would work, or which satellite to aim the dish at, but this certainly looks interesting!
http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-decoding-inmarsat-std-c-egc-messages/

 

[spongella]

Inmarsat project so far, homebrewed 1.5 GHz left hand circular polarization helical antenna to be used with a satellite dish ( FTA dish is fine). Ground plane is 8 inches diameter, coil is 3.5 turns copper wire, 58 mm diameter coil, 46 mm spacing between the turns. Coil form made from straws, anchored with epoxy.

Found that a spray can of Febreeze is exactly 58 mm diameter, perfect for winding the coil.

 

[spongella]

Update - antenna is finished and running.