ARISS SSTV Event - Dec 2021 - 'Lunar Exploration'

An ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) SSTV (Slow Scan Television) event occurred between the 26th December 2021 at approximately 18:25 UTC and 31st December 2021 at approximately 17:05 UTC.

Images are downlinked at 145.800 MHz +/- 3 KHz for Doppler shift and the expected SSTV mode of operation is PD 120.

The main theme will be for this event was 'lunar exploration' and, as always, there were some excellently designed images.

I use the Nooelec SMART IV RTL-SDR software defined radio receiver and an i7 laptop for receiving, with HDSDR and RXSSTV. I use a 120 degree folded dipole for picking up the signals.

The antenna is inside my flat and at ceiling level in my living room ... not in the loft!

These images have artefacts partly due to the antenna being indoors but, on this occasion, the weather has been poor with considerable signal degradation due to the wet roof tiles and probable rain static. 

I made a  virtual display card for the 11 out of the 12 images in total.

Click on the images to see them full size! 😉  

Weather balloons and radio sondes

 Using the following:

• i3 8Gb Windows 8.1 PC
• HDSDR
• Nooelec SMART IV RTL-SDR
• homebrewed 430MHz HB9CV
• and RS-41 Tracker - from IW1GIS webpage
  

I have been able to track a number of locally - Larkhill, Salisbury Plain - launched balloon which use the Vaisala RS-41 radio sonde to transmit atmospheric data.

The signals are quite weak, at 50mW, but trackable due to their being no physical obstructions between the sonde and the receiving antenna.

RS-41 Tracker will feed APRS.FI with GPS data, if you enter a suitable APRS level 2 server account code.

 

Click on the images to see them full size! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Receiving & decoding satellite telemetry data

I've recently been having a lot of fun with decoding telemetry data from a number of different satellites.

It's pretty straightforward, thanks to well written advice and fantastic software produced by Mike Rupprecht/DK3WN and Andrey Kopanchuk/UZ7HO.

I've made a small guide on how I achieved it with a very minimal set-up:

●  Receiving and decoding satellite telemetry data  ●

Some images from the guide:

 

Click on the images to see them full size! 😉

FT modes - operating hints and tips

I've made a set of notes that may help anyone who has started using FT8 and FT4 but who would like to know more about the operational side of things.

For the most part, this information is all available on the Web; but I have included details of little techniques and shortcuts that I have found work well for me:

●  FT8 - An operational perspective  ●

or use this link for mobile phones and tablets:

●  FT8 - An operational perspective - mobile version  ●

 

Click on the images to see them full size! 😉

 

Enjoy! 😄

PSAT

If you just happen to be trying to send APRS packets through PSAT (NO-84) and it returns the following:

it means the digipeater is turned off and it is only broadcasting telemetry!

It appends the SSID '-1' with the digipeater off. Compare with the screen images further down the page when I made a successful contact ... they show 'PSAT' - no SSID.

Scheduled AX.25 packet QSO via ISS

Confirmation of my 1st AX.25 packet scheduled QSO, with my good mate Dave/M3FGR, via the ISS. 

The ISS has a Kenwood D710GA transceiver with cross-band FM repeater support. 145.990 MHz uplink frequency and 437.800 MHz downlink.

It is regularly switched then to packet operation mode on 145.825 MHz.

😊

 

SSTV Awards from receiving ISS sent images

Here are the Awards, and images, I have gleaned from the latest ISS SSTV event organised by the Russian cosmonauts for MAI-75 during 6th and 7th August 2021.

 

 Click on the images to see them full size! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

These are some of the images I managed to capture from the

“Amateur Radio on Shuttle, Mir and ISS” Slow Scan TV (SSTV) event

from June 21st until June 26th 2021.

I applied for some awards too, and they appear below the pictures.

 

 Click on the images to see them full size! 😉

There was an SSTV MAI-75 'experiment' from on board the ISS on June 9th and 10th 2021 and the cosmonauts sent out a number of images once again. Fortunately; three of the passes yielded some nice captures.

 

 Click on the images to see them full size! 😉

 

 

 

 

This certificate - from the Radio Club 9 de Julio, LU4DLL, in Argentina - was available throughout 2021.

 

Another fantastic looking award from Indonesian Space Explorer - InSpacE - to commemorate the Moscow Aviation Institute - MAI - 75 SSTV experiment over 28th and 29th January 2021.

They are very generous as you only needed to submit one image of greater than 50% capture to get hold of this diploma.

 An ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) event took place from the International Space Station (ISS) over Christmas and year end 2020.

It was a special SSTV event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ARISS on board the ISS.

The event began on December 24th 2020 at 16:40 UTC and continued through December 31st 2020 ending at 18:15 UTC.

Images were downlinked at 145.8 MHz +/- 3 KHz for Doppler shift and the  SSTV mode of operation was PD 120.

I managed to download 11 out of the 12, with varying levels of quality!

Some passes required some very early wake-up calls!

 

 Click on the images to see them full size! 😉