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AN/SMQ-11 Shipboard Receiving Terminal
Above figure: AN/SMQ-11 Shipboard Terminal Dual Planer-Array Antenna. The AN/SMQ-11 Shipboard Receiving Terminal is a meteorological data terminal developed for naval shipboard use. This system provides dry-film, photographic quality printouts of data transmitted from DMSP satellites, TIROS-N, and GOES Weather Facsimile (WEFAX). The system provides the Navy with secure, high-resolution, direct readout of visual and infrared imagery within 3 minutes of receipt from the spacecraft for use in tactical air support, antisubmarine warfare, and general weather information. The first 24 AN/SMQ-11 systems employ a dual UHF planar-array antenna subsystem mounted on a single pedestal. One of the two arrays is used to receive data from DMSP satellites and the second is used to receive data from TIROS-N or GOES-WEFAX satellites, although not concurrently. System serial number 25 and all later systems employ a single UHF planar-array antenna subsystem mounted on a single pedestal. Antenna control provides stable, programmed tracking of polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites through Sea State 5. Pedestal-mounted down-converters convert the received DMSP or TIROS-N/GOES satellites frequencies to 137 MHz for transmission to a Receiver-Demodulator in the Processing Subsystem. The Receiver-Demodulator processes and amplifies the signal before passing it on to the Data Formatter, where the data is routed through a decryptor and then enhanced and formatted for transmission to the Facsimile Reproducer. The Facsimile Reproducer produces black-and-white weather images from the data. The AN/SMQ-11 also allows analog tape recordings to be made of the satellite data for archival purposes. 
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