Building a Portable Weather Radar

A maker called Koakno has built a portable weather radar using salvaged parts, per Hackaday. The build repurposes a five-dollar satellite dome salvaged from an old RV and converts it into an X-band radar antenna. By routing signals through an SDR and low-noise block converter, the system scans the atmosphere and displays results on a Plan Position Indicator display—detecting heavy rain at forty kilometers out and supercell hail cores at up to sixty kilometers. The catch: the system violates FCC regulations and requires proper spectrum licenses to operate legally. It remains an ingenious demonstration of how weather radar works, even if you probably shouldn't build your own.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton