Receiving Images from Geostationary Weather Satellite Himawari-8 via HimawariCast

Himawari-8 is the Japanese Meteorological Agencys primary meteorological satellite which replaced MTSAT-2 in mid-2015. The termination of the MTSAT series ended L-band LRIT/HRIT direct-broadcast services which dated back to the start of the GMS series in the late 1970s. The current series of Himawari satellites instead disseminate processed data through a service called HimawariCast.

This guide is a work-in-progress! See the himawari-rx repo for more info.

HimawariCast Downlink

HimawariCast is uplinked by JMA to a C-band transponder on JCSAT-2B (154˚E), as opposed to the GOES-16/17 or GK-2A satellites which have on-board L-band direct-broadcast transponders.

Resources

Himawari-8 WMO OSCAR
Introduction of the HimawariCast service