Boy Turn His Bunk Bed into a Satellite Tracker

When Neil, 14, read about Starlink satellites zooming across the night sky, he wanted to spot one. But his city apartment, sandwiched between two towers, made stargazing tough. He had a telescope—but no clear sky. So, he did what any future aerospace engineer might do: he climbed to the top bunk of his bed, pointed a DIY antenna out of the tiny window, and started scanning.

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Using a Raspberry Pi, some copper wire, and a dish he “borrowed” from his parents’ kitchen shelf, Neil built a satellite signal tracker. He combined tutorials from the internet and input from a ham radio club he found online.

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His signal decoder started picking up transmissions. He documented frequencies, mapped satellite timings, and compared them to online trackers. It wasn’t just Starlink—he began picking up NOAA weather satellites and even ISS signals. He’d jump off the top bunk and run to his laptop yelling, “Confirmed sighting!”

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Neil built a dashboard showing his own satellite sighting patterns. When he shared it at school, most kids thought he was making it up. But his science teacher fact-checked him—and was floored.

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Soon, Neil was invited to a local tech symposium, where engineers double his age lined up to shake his hand. He now volunteers to help other teens build trackers. His room? Still a bedroom. Still a bunk bed. But now, it’s a low-orbit observation lab too.

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Did You Know? You can receive weather data from NOAA satellites using a basic SDR (Software Defined Radio) dongle and an antenna made from coat hangers.

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Neil says, “You don’t need a lab to explore space. You just need a window and Wi-Fi.”