Listening to SSTV from the ISS with an RTL-SDR
On December 18 and 20 the International Space Station transmitted several SSTV images to celebrate what would have been the 80th birthday of Yuri Gagarin who was the first human to orbit the Earth. SSTV stands for Slow Scan Television and is a method for sending small low resolution images over radio.
Over on YouTube several RTL-SDR users captured these images. UltraTechie shows a video where he captures the SSTV image using a portable set up consisting of a Windows 8 tablet running SDR#. He used a handheld 3 element 2m Yagi antenna to tune into the 145.8 MHz signal. UltraTechie writes that he also used an LNA, but that it was probably not required as the signal was quite strong.
Another YouTube user Tom Mladenov shows another video where the SSTV image is received. Tom used a QFH antenna.
