It’s been a rough year for science, and it’s been a particularly rough year for the National Oceanic & Air Administration's legacy APT satellite fleet. After playing a central role for both amateur and professional meteorologists for decades, a recent announcement regarding the final two NOAA satellites has determined that the program is finally coming to an end.

What does this mean? It means you have mere days left to enjoy the entry-level step into amateur meteorology and space weather. With two Meteor M satellites left that are still operational, it won’t spell the end of the hobby entirely, but it will mark some significant shifts regarding the availability of orbital data.

The Announcement

If you’ve been involved in the collection of NOAA satellite imagery, then this most recent announcement probably isn't a huge surprise, given that we recently saw the deactivation of NOAA-18 on June 6 2025.

This decreased the fleet numbers to two and sparked intense discussion around the future of the final two satellites. These two, whilst remaining operational, were also designated as end-of-life, meaning that the prognosis was not good for the long-term future of the project.
Recently, it was announced that both satellites were to be decommissioned and retired, with all transmissions to cease.

NOAA-15 was to go dark on the 12th of August, with NOAA-19 scheduled to go dark just one week later on the 19th of August. With APT transmissions starting in the late 1960s, it would mean that when the final satellite goes silent, it would mark the end of more than 5 decades of APT transmissions.

While NOAA is still scheduled to collect satellite-based weather data, the use of higher downlink frequencies in comparison to the APT-era satellites means that amateur stations are much more difficult to set up.

An Interesting History

The project would kick off in the 60s however, it’s best summarised by looking at one of the longest performing satellites, namely, NOAA-15. Originally launched in 1998 with a scheduled mission duration of just two years, NOAA-15 would outlive all expectations by logging more than 27 years of active service and being the second-last satellite to be decommissioned.

The mission wasn’t without its failures, as the satellite would face multiple issues with its scan motor. However, despite this, it would go on to be a mainstay of the fleet and one of the best-performing satellites in NOAA’s history.

The value of the platforms would come as a result of the broad array of onboard instruments that would allow the satellite to collect multiple data streams as it transited the globe in low Earth orbit.

AVHRR data would also be used to help track climate change via temperature differences. Source: Wikipedia.

One of the most interesting sensor packages was the onboard AVHRR payload.

The Advanced, Very-High-Resolution-Radiometer (AVHRR) was a multispectral sensor that could be used to measure the reflectance of the Earth. From this data, things like global sea temperature could easily be detected and tracked, helping to monitor things like climate change and sea health.

While it’s natural for programs to (hopefully ) evolve into bigger and better things, the loss of the APT satellites will be profound.

The GOES series is a much more advanced platform. Source: Wikipedia.

The Replacements

The more adventurous readers can still find opportunities for data collection, and with all platforms being more modern than the legacy fleet, you might be surprised at the quality of the available data.

Once the shutdown is complete, users can still find the low-earth orbit Meteor series to transmit Low-Rate Picture Technology (LRPT) at around 137MHz and High Rate Picture Technology (HRPT) at around 1700MHz.

Or, you can put your skills to the test by trying the Geostationary GOES data streams that send full-disk images of Earth at around 1960MHz via the High Rate Information Transmissions (HRIT) mode.

If this is your goal, then it’s worth doing some research to optimise your stations as the microwave signals sent by geostationary satellites require a bit more effort (and hardware) to intercept.

HRPT imagery has much better image quality. Source: Wikipedia.

Get Your Last Images

The NOAA satellites would typically run at a transmitter power of around 5 watts, meaning that in most circumstances, they’d have a clear and strong downlink signal that was easily able to be intercepted, particularly by modern USB software-defined radio dongles.

This means that even marginal stations can often have success in capturing imagery. While the Quadrafilar Helix antenna is the gold standard for an omnidirectional antenna system, the simple “rabbit ear” antenna that comes with the RTL-SDR can also provide suitable performance when used correctly.

To capture your images, use this tutorial to find all the information you need. You’d better be quick though!


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