Tagged: SSTV

Receiving SSTV From the Russian UmKA-1/RS40S Cubesat

YouTuber 'saveitforparts' was recently contacted by the ground controller of the Russian UmKA-1/RS40S cubesat asking if he'd like to try and receive an SSTV image from the satellite. UmKA-1/RS40S is a small educational satellite assembled by a Russian high school. Originally it was intended for a radio astronomy experiment, but due to technical issues it's been switched to the secondary ham radio mission only.

Saveitforparts uses an RTL-SDR, directional Yagu antenna, PC running the MMSSTV decoder, and Android phone running the Stellarium satellite tracking app. After a few failed attempts he was able to eventually successfully track and receive the SSTV image as well as some telemetry.

We note that the SSTV image appears to have been specifically scheduled for saveitforparts personally, so if you try to receive this satellite yourself you will probably only be able to receive the telemetry signal.

Receiving Targeted Message From Russian Satellite

Testing the ATS25 Max-Decoder Receiver

Thank you for Manuel Lausmann for submitting his videos where he tests out and upgrades an ATS25 Max-decoder receiver. The ATS25 Max-decoder is a low cost portable HF receiver which has a large number of decoders built in such as RTTY, Hell, FT8 and FT4. Manuel notes that more decoders are still to come, such as SSTV. The built in decoders make it superior to it's predecessors the x1 and x2.

We note that the ATS25 Max appears to be around US$75 on Aliexpress, but these appear to be Max units without the "-decoder" add on. So if you are looking at purchasing one, please make sure to check that you are getting one with the text "max-decoder".

Manuel also notes that older models of the ATS25 can be retrofitted with a decoder PCB and converted into an ATS25 Max-decoder with a firmware update written by Bernhard Binns.

Note that Manuel's videos below are narrated in German, however the YouTube subtitle auto-translate feature works well enough to understand what is being said. In the first video Manuel demonstrates and reviews the ATS25 Max-Decoder, showing off some of the decoding features.

In the second video Manuel shows how to update an old model ATS25 in to the ATS25 Max by soldering on the decoder board.

Alter ATS25 umbauen zum max Decoder Teil 1 Die Hardware

Using an RTL-SDR Dongle to Receive Pictures from the ISS

Over on YouTube we've seen a good video from channel Ham Radio DX where presenter Hayden shows how to use an RTL-SDR to receive slow scan television (SSTV) images from the International Space Station (ISS). Often the ISS will transmit SSTV images down to earth on the VHF 2 meter bands as part of an event. With an RTL-SDR and simple antenna it's possible to receive those images.

In the video Hayden discusses the SSTV transmission, and demonstrates some SSTV decoding happening in real time as the ISS passes over his location. If you're looking to get started in ISS SSTV reception, this is a good video to get an idea of what's involved. He finishes the video with some useful tips for reception.

Using a RTL SDR Dongle to receive pictures from the ISS! | Software Defined Radio

SSTV from the International Space Station Scheduled for Dec 24 – Dec 31

Thank you to Maksim for submitting news that the International Space Station (ISS) will be transmitting Slow Scan TV (SSTV) in late December to celebrate 20 years of amateur radio operations onboard the space station. The ISS periodically transmits SSTV images during special events throughout the year. You can keep up to date on the ISS SSTV schedule on the ARISS-SSTV site.

An ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) event is scheduled from the International Space Station (ISS) for late December. This will be a special SSTV event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ARISS operations on the ISS. The event is scheduled to begin on December 24 and continue through December 31. Details to follow later. Dates are subject to change due to ISS operational adjustments.

With an RTL-SDR and a simple V-Dipole from our RTL-SDR Blog V3 antenna kit it is possible to receive these images when the ISS passes over. ISS passes for your city can be determined online, and the SSTV images can be decoded with a program like MMSSTV.

An example SSTV image from the last ISS SSTV event
An example SSTV image from an SSTV event held in previous years.

New SDRUno Plugin Video Demos: Frequency Annotation, WEFAX, SSTV, DXToolbox

Earlier this year SDRplay updated their SDRuno software to have plugin functionality. This allows third party programmers to implement their own decoders and software which interfaces with SDRuno directly. Recently we've seen some new plugins become public, and in one of their recent blog posts, SDRplay highlights a few new ones.

SDRplay writes the following about three demonstration videos:

The first shows the latest version of FRAN – a FRequency ANnotation programme, developed by Eric Cottrell – it can read SWSKEDS or .s1b memory bank files and display the active stations from the files on the main spectrum window. This is an example of a Community Plugin

Quick Look at the FRAN Plugin (VID558)

FRAN complements the DX Cluster demo plugin provided by SDRplay. This programme displays DX cluster callsigns on the SDRuno spectrum display. A DX cluster is a network of computers, each running a software package dedicated to gathering, and disseminating, information on amateur radio DX activities. With this plugin you can overlay the DX cluster callsigns as they pop up. There’s a choice of how long you let them display and you can control the way in which they appear. Here we show it successfully tuning in to a US station flagged by the cluster. (The receiver was in the UK):

Quick Look at the DXcluster Plugin (VID560)

Finally there’s this new video showing the new plugin for interfacing the software suite from Black Cat Systems to SDRuno enabling DXToolbox, HF WEFAX and Slow Scan TV decodes:

Quick Look at the Black Cat Systems plugin

Black Cat Systems has a range of software available – more information can be found at: https://blackcatsystems.com/ For more about the SDRuno plugin system for both users and potential developers, go to https://www.sdrplay.com/plugins/

International Space Station SSTV Event Scheduled for October 9 and 10

The International Space Station (ISS) periodically schedules radio events where they transmit Slow Scan Television (SSTV) images down to earth for listeners to receive and collect. This time they have scheduled SSTV images for October 9 09:50 - 14:00 GMT and October 10 08:55-15:15 GMT.

With an RTL-SDR and a simple V-Dipole from our RTL-SDR V3 antenna kit it is possible to receive these images when the ISS passes over. ISS passes for your city can be determined online, and the SSTV images can be decoded with a program like MMSSTV.

AMSAT-UK writes:

Russian cosmonauts are expected to activate Slow Scan Television (SSTV) image transmissions on 145.800 MHz FM from the International Space Station on Wednesday/Thursday, October 9/10.

This is the schedule for the planned activation of the MAI-75 SSTV activity from the ISS.
• Oct 9 09:50-14:00 GMT
• Oct 10 08:55-15:15 GMT

Transmissions will be sent on 145.800 MHz FM in the SSTV mode PD-120. Once received, images can be posted and viewed by the public at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php

ISS SSTV uses a Kenwood TM D710E transceiver which is part of the amateur radio station located in the Russian ISS Service Module.

Please note that SSTV events are dependent on other activities, schedules and crew responsibilities on the ISS and subject to change at any time. You can check for updates regarding planned operation at:
ISS Ham https://twitter.com/RF2Space
ARISS Status https://twitter.com/ARISS_status
ARISS SSTV Blog https://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/
AMSAT Bulletin Board http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

Read the MagPi article Pictures from space via ham radio
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/pictures-from-space-via-ham-radio/

ISS SSTV info and links https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/

Slow Scan Moon Bounce Event for 50th Anniversary of the Moon landing

Fifty years ago Neil Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the moon. This weekend on June 20th and 21st 2019 Amateur Radio operators at the [PI9CAM] team have been transmitting Slow-Scan Television images in commemoration of this historic event at the Dwingeloo radio astronomy station in the Netherlands. This station is the oldest rotatable 25-meter radio telescope in the world. 

Dwingeloo radio astronomy station
Dwingeloo radio astronomy station
An EME SSTV Image
An EME SSTV Image

Slow-Scan Television is a method often employed by ham radio operators to send photos over radio waves. You may be familiar with this from some of our previous articles on the SSTV event held by ARISS for the International Space Station.

Station [S1NDP] has previously sent slow-scan EME images between the PI9CAM team and himself. These images can potentially be heard by anyone within line-of-site with the moon during the operation of this event.

The team transmit in the 23cm band at a frequency of 1296.11 MHz, according to the ARRL even a 2.5 to 3meter dish should be enough for reception assuming you have a 23cm feed for your dish. It will be interesting to see what photos are heard by the end of this event.

Next International Space Station SSTV Event on April 11 – 14

Thank you to Alex Happysat for writing in and letting us know about the next upcoming ISS SSTV event which will begin on 11 April at about 18:00 UTC and end on 14 April 2019 18:00 UTC. If you were unaware, the International Space Station (ISS) transmits SSTV images several times a year to commemorate special space related events. SSTV or Slow Scan Television is an amateur radio mode which is used to transmit small images over radio signals.

The images will be transmitted constantly at 145.8 MHz over the active period and they are expected to be in the PD-120 SSTV format. To receive the images you can use a simple RTL-SDR dongle and the MMSSTV software. A tuned satellite antenna like a QFH, turnstile, or tracking Yagi would be preferred, but many people have had good success before using simpler antennas like a V-Dipole. Software like Orbitron, GPredict, various Android apps or NASA's Spot the Station website can be used to determine where the ISS is and predict when it will be over your location.

Over on the ARISS SSTV blog, they write:

The next big event will be the ARISS SSTV event that starts Thursday, April 11 about 18:00 UTC and will be operational until about 18:00 UTC on Sunday, April 14. Since this event will run continuously for 72 hours, folks in the higher latitudes should have a pretty good chance to receive all 12 of the images. Operators in the mid latitudes should be able to get most of them depending on location. Good Luck and Enjoy!

Alex also mentions that for this and other ISS events AMSAT Argentina is handing out ARISS-SSTV Diplomas to amateur radio operators who receive, record and upload at least 15 images received from the ISS, in at least two different radio operation with a month or more in between then.

If you cannot set up a receiver, it is possible to use R4UAB's WebSDR which will be available directly at websdr.r4uab.ru. However, note that internet reception is not valid for the AMSAT Diploma. An example of WebSDR SSTV reception and decoding from a smaller ISS SSTV event held a few days ago is shown below.

ISS SSTV R4UAB WEBSDR 12.04.2016 14:00 UTC