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I read about something called othernet that allows receving those messages with a parabolic antenna

The article describes APRS, a digital ham radio protocol. Othernet is a broadcast system, nothing to do with ham radio.

sorry, this is not really my field, but I think it has some support in one way: http://aprs.org/othernet.html

Othernet is a relay for APRS messages which include “outnet” in the text. A parabolic antenna/dish is not required.