Thank you to Nagy István for writing in and sharing with us his video showing how he uses a home-made backfire helix antenna and the JAERO software to receive and decode Inmarsat Aero at 1545 MHz. AERO messages are a form of satellite ACARS, typically containing short messages from aircraft, and some channels also support digital voice communications.

The backfire helix is an antenna design that consists of a helically wound wire, typically wound around a 3D-printed frame, attached to a large backplane. Recently, a similar design called a 'heliocone' has become popular for use with 1.7 GHz polar orbiting satellites.

In the video, Nagy shows two designs, one of his own and the other by Digitalelektro, and the good SNR that he's achieved with them in JAERO.