SSTV Transmissions from the International Space Station Set for December 18 and 20

[Jim S.]

http://www.arrl.org/news/sstv-trans...onal-space-station-set-for-december-18-and-20

A question for anyone who's done this before: how strong is the signal? I have a great pass of the ISS coming up on Saturday, but I probably won't be home. I know that for weather satellites, I have to turn the gain on my RTL SDR all the way up, past where normal signals would distort, or I don't get anything at all. Will I have to do this for the ISS, or should I keep the gain at a more normal setting?

 

[Jim S.]

 

[KE4EST]

Great Captures!!! Been 4 or 5 years since I did SSTV, used to do it a lot on 20 meters.

 

[Jim S.]

There's still tons on 20, especially weekends. (Unless there's a contest on, then the contesters don't respect the frequency.)

 

[Jim S.]

More SSTV transmissions coming up this weekend: http://www.ariss.org/news.html

 

[KE4EST]

Thanks for the reminder!!

 

[Jim S.]

No orbits at a decent elevation for me this time, didn't even bother trying.

 

[KE4EST]

I tried but nada here both days.

 

[KE4EST]

Coming in full scale right on on the east coast!!
But wasn't ready to decode.
After being on that freq for a solid 2 days I had gave up.

 

[KE4EST]

Well just in case I had everything again on standby and...

 

[Jim S.]

Apparently they decided to keep going outside of the announced times. If I'd have known that, I would've set up for it.

They're doing it again next weekend. I think this time I'll just keep trying the whole time!

http://www.arrl.org/news/another-ro...e-station-sstv-activity-set-for-late-february

 

[KE4EST]

Yep I caught a few the last time the next day.

 

[Jim S.]

Today's transmissions were cancelled due to a spacewalk. They say they might try tomorrow and Monday, though.

I have 7 passes tomorrow, so I might just leave the system running all day and see what happens.

 

[KE4EST]

Today's transmissions were cancelled due to a spacewalk. They say they might try tomorrow and Monday, though.

I have 7 passes tomorrow, so I might just leave the system running all day and see what happens.

Yep that is what I did the last time.

 

[Jim S.]

They're on the air today. I just had a pass with a maximum elevation of 6 degrees, and the signal was almost full-quieting! Unfortunately the timing was bad and I got the last half of one image and the first half of the next one, with a 3-minute break between to allow for transmitter cooling or whatever. Higher passes coming up the rest of the day! (Unfortunately that'll probably bring fading when overhead, because I'm just using a simple groundplane antenna.)

 

[Jim S.]

I think they stopped early -- my highest pass of the day, I heard nothing.

Here's what I got earlier (that wasn't cut off too badly -- I wish they'd go to a mode shorter than 180 seconds):

 

[Jim S.]

Supposed to be active this Saturday and Sunday again!

 

[KE4EST]

Another good time for guys to check it out.