International Space Station SSTV Upcoming Transmissions 2021

Hi All,

Hope you're keeping well and most of all enjoying your radio.  


I've posted the following in the 'General Section' of the forum as it may be of interest to anyone with a radio passion.


There's an upcoming event with Slow Scan Television transmissions from the International Space Station on December 26th to December 31st. (See following link.)

http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/2021/12/ariss-end-of-year-sstv.html

The images transmitted this time will be based around 'Lunar Exploration'.


Now, I've tried on the last couple of occasions of ISS SSTV transmissions to receive images and decode them.....and as of yet unsuccessfully(!) I received the transmissions clearly with my old Yaesu FT290r on the last occasion and before that even on my little Baofeng radio but didn't capture a whole image. This time I may try and record the transmissions to decode later rather than in real time and see if I'm more successful.



As mentioned this is something you can try even with a humble Baofeng handheld radio and you'll probably stand a better chance than using a homebase setup with a typical collinear white stick. (Remembering that the transmissions will obviously come from overhead so even a simple 1/4 wave antenna or 'rubber duck' would perform better.)


If you've never done this before there's some basic things you'll need :-

You'll need to know your GPS coordinates of where you are going to receive the transmissions or at least your Maidenhead square. Your Maidenhead square is probably the easiest found at the following site :-

https://www.levinecentral.com/ham/grid_square.php

Once you have them you can enter your details into the 'Online Satellite Pass Predictions' tool provided by AMSAT at the following link :-

https://www.amsat.org/track/

This will give you the predicted dates and times of when the ISS is radio visible from your location. This tool only provides so many predicted paths meaning you'll have to use it closer to the time but there are other tools available, (usually at a purchase cost!)

You'll also obviously need SSTV decoding software. I run a Linux based computer so utilise the following free software :-

QSSTV

A free Windows version is available at :-

RX-SSTV

A MAC flavoured version is available here :-

Multiscan 3B


You don't have to be a licensed Ham to give this a go as you are simply receiving transmissions, (PLEASE don't transmit on the ISS frequency.....obviously!), so anyone can give this a try. It might seem 'boring' to some but to others it might be an absolute thrill to receive an image from the International Space Station on even the humblest of setups.  

I know it will be exciting for me especially after the last two failed attempts!

It'll at least give some of us something to do during the Christmas break.


Sorry for the long posting but I thought I'd give as much information as possible. I can't spoon feed everything so it'll require some work on your part but that's often what makes it more fun. Have a search on Youtube and other places to find out how other people went about receiving and decoding images from the ISS to give you a taste or start. If you find something useful then why not share it here.


Charlie Tango is the home of ALL things radio, so although not your typical DX activity it is radio related and can get the juices going. Who knows, you may give it a go and decide to take your Radio Amateur exam, give SSTV transmissions a try with your Ham license or maybe even more?


All the very best,
Victor

Hi All,

Back again.....and once more unsuccessful in decoding a whole image from the ISS SSTV transmissions. 
(Not as easy as it seems!)


Found out half of my problem though :-

Before I had my old Yaesu FT290r hooked up to my PC to decode the slow scan transmissions, this was via the extension speaker jack plugged into the mic input on the PC so although I could see the signal I couldn't actually hear it.

The ISS frequency is 145.800MHz and unfortunately for me I have the local repeater pretty much up my backside on 145.7875MHz its output swamping the front end of every radio I have available. B*gger! 

I discovered it this time because I tried decoding from the speaker audio on my new Ailunce HD1 to a phone app, (more on this in a mo), and clearly heard the GB3BF Morse ident come crashing through and screwing up the decode. Seems if I am to stand a better chance at this I'll have to get away from the repeater. (Housebound so a bit difficult!)


Anyway, maybe one of you might stand a better chance at it and I've got some new links that may come in handy.


Instead of faffing about getting your location for satellite predictions etc. it'd be worth checking on the following website :-

https://www.heavens-above.com

This site should pick up your location via your internet connection, (see the little box top right of the website).

Then on the left side of the screen scroll down to 'Satellites' and just under the "10 day predictions for satellites of special interest" there should be a link for the ISS. Click that and you should be presented with a table showing you times etc. of when the ISS will be visible from your location. Worth checking the 'all' option as the default will show when it's visible to the human eye and we want radio visibility. 

Now you know when you'll be able to hear the ISS transmissions.  


The 'app' I used on my phone this time for decoding the SSTV signals is called "Robot36" and can be found on Google Play.

You can now do this on something as simple as a Baofeng by going to the VFO mode and typing in 145.800 as the receive frequency and when you hear the ISS transmissions press the 'play' button on the phone app and hold the phone near or to the radios speaker. Make sure you select the decode mode as 'PD120' on the app to match the ISS transmissions. You should then see real time decoding of the signals and also a handy spectrum/waterfall image of the signals coming through on the phone.


If you don't have a 2m radio you can still try this out by listening to one of the many webSDR online radios again selecting a frequency of 145.800 and holding the phone running the app to your PC speakers to decode a signal. Handy stuff eh?

Thinking about it this may be my only option for 'getting away' from the blasted local repeater!  


For the UK Hackgreen have a useful 2m webSDR here :-

http://hackgreensdr.org:8902/


You could even select a 2m receiver somewhere around the world where the ISS is due to pass and that way not have to wait until it's over your location.



Is it radio?
Of course it is, radio transmissions from the ISS pretty much count and it really doesn't matter how you're picking up the radio signals.

Is it fun?
Well, it's certainly been exasperating for me but the attempts have given me a sense of fun.


Sometimes it could lead to more. 
For example my last attempt on the ISS early summer transmissions coincided with a visit from my grandchildren and one of my granddaughters sat excited whilst listening to the shrills and warbles coming from the ISS. We didn't get a complete picture back then either but she still boasts about sitting with her Grandad in the 'radio room' listening to the 'Space Station'. Made her pretty cool for a while with her school classmates and teachers too!


It's all about having fun and the radio hobby can present so many opportunities for us.


I hope some of my latest drivel has at least been interesting or maybe helpful.


All the best,
Victor

One day Victor one day.
Not been out in my shack for 3 or 4 weeks so not done any more sstv but will get there one day.
New shack soon so i will have a lot to do so it could be many weeks before i get back to playing with sstv.
Handy this chrome remote desktop somebody mentioned on here kept me warm lol.

I'll get there Alan mate, part of the fun is in the trying.

Only write about stuff like this in case it helps someone else in the same boat or interest range.


I did see a comment about a 'new shack' someone else. You'll have to post up details.  

Will try to remember to take pics but you know only too well what my memory is like.