Weather Satellite decoder from Maplin. Consists of at least three separate projects: The analogue Receiver, the analogue to digital Decoder, and the 8bit Input Port for connecting it to the CPC. The Decoder project contains source code for BBC B and for Amstrad CPC.
I/O Port Address
The recommended I/O address (used in the CPC example source code) is Port F8F0h (ie. shorten Link 1 on the Maplins 8bit Input Port).
The decoder outputs some control signals and an 8bit luminance signal. That data can't be squeezed through the 8bit input port, so some of the luminance bits are left unconnected (the CPC's color palette couldn't display them anyways).
Scanned Articles
The Weather Satellite receiver consists of three Maplin projects:
- Weather Satellite Receiving System – Part 1 - Receiver - project 18 (not yet scanned, does somebody have it on paper?)
- Weather Satellite Receiving System – Part 2 - Decoder - project 20.a (pdf)
- Amstrad 8bit Input Port (for use, among others, with the Satellite Receiver) - project 20.b (pdf) (see here for details and commented schematic)
Judging from their name, the following maplin projects may be also related:
- Weather Satellite Down Converter – Part 1 - project 22 (not yet scanned, does somebody have it on paper?)
- Weather Satellite Down Converter – Part 2 - project 23 (not yet scanned, does somebody have it on paper?)
- Weather Satellite Prediction Table - project 24 (not yet scanned, does somebody have it on paper?)