Satellite Imaging

Fractal Image Compression

Recently I've been experimenting with Iterated Systems Fractal Imaging compression which seems to work very well with my weather satellite images (e.g. a 2.5MB GIF compresses down to about 700kB). You will need a (free) copy of the FIF viewer to display these files. Use the following button to go to the Fractal Viewer download page.

If you are using Netscape 2.0 or better then you can install Fractal Viewer as a plug-in which will then work within Netscape (tip: use the right mouse button when viewing an image with the plug-in to access the menus). If you have a different web browser you will have to install it as a helper application. The image will still look great but it will run as a separate application.

Note: At the time of writing (1st June 96) the Compuserve server does not serve these FIF images correctly. In order to view the images click on the thumbnail, you will then have to save the FIF file to disk. Then open the FIF file in Netscape to view it.

Receiving Equipment

My receiving equipment consists of the following

	Crossed dipole antenna
	137MHz Timestep preamp
	Martelec MSR50 receiver
	Martelec JVF1 interface
	Pentium Overdrive (83MHz) based PC
	JVFAX V7.0 software

METEOR images

Image info: GIF format 80k, Meteor 2-21 on 30th May 96 at 08:12 UTC. This image is a greatly enlarged portion of the whole satellite pass and shows the Southern Rhein valley in Germany. The image has been enhanced using Fractal Imager but is stored here as a GIF. Although the FIF version is smaller than the GIF I found that it blurred the labels which I've added to the image. Although Netscape will view this image well you may get a better range of grey scales by downloading the image and viewing it with Paintshop Pro or similar.

NOAA images

Image info: FIF format 44k, NOAA14 on 24th May 96 at 12:56 UTC. This is an enlarged section of the visible spectrum image showing Northern Italy and the Alps.

Image info: FIF format 80k, NOAA14 on 25th May 96 at 12:58 UTC. This image of the Mediterranean has been tidied up using Paintshop Pro to remove interference during reception and to improve the contrast. The resolution is very good on this image, for example, the islands of Malta and Gozo are clearly visible (for reference Gozo is about 8 miles by 6 miles in size).

Image info: FIF format 37k, NOAA14 on 16th July 96 at 13:41 UTC. This is a visible spectrum image of the UK & Ireland.

Image info: FIF format 63k, NOAA14 on 17th July 96 at 13:27 UTC. An Infra Red image of the UK in false colour. This image shows the hot city centres across the UK particularly well. It is part of a very clear IR image stretching from Northern Africa to Iceland. Unfortunately I only have space on my web pages for a small part of the whole image.

Image info: FIF format 23k, NOAA14 on 13th July 96 at 15:54 UTC. A visible image showing Newfoundland. This is the furthest west that I have been able to receive as a clear image. This one is especially for Ken - Hi! Hi!