[GCARC] Pictures from space - again!

[Jim Wright]

Thank you for this heads-up, Jon! Club members, it's not that hard. You too
can "catch a postcard from space!"  I got one last night. You should give
it a try! today and tomorrow!

Why today and tomorrow?  From the reference Jon gave, heavens-above, it
looks like two great passes for us each day, each lasting 6-7 minutes.

Friday:     3:45 pm,  and 10:15 pm
Saturday: 2:57 pm,  and   9:26 pm
(those are in local time, here in Southern NJ, when the space station
clears the horizon, and we might first start hearing their signal)

6+ minutes per pass??!!
That might be long enough to get 2 pictures each pass! We'll see!

Thinking about trying it?
How do it?

Bruce KD2LBU describes how it can be done the low budget way, using a radio
and your android phone or tablet.  At our great w2mmd.org web site, on the
left, click on the "post cards from space" tab to see how he does this.

I use the free software "MMSSTV" from JE3HHT, Makoto Mori, for Windows on a
laptop, available from https://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php.
On the main window, I have the "RX" tab selected, with "RX mode" clicked to
"Auto".  Under the "edit" tab, I have the "auto copy" enable selected.
Under the "View" tab, I have the "waterfall" enable selected.

As Bruce describes, you don't need to have a USB audio hookup to the
radio.  That's not a problem. Can just use the microphone on the laptop
with your radio's speaker nearby. That works!  When the tones start, the
software that is listening to the sounds begins to "paint" the picture one
row at a time in the RX window. Pretty amazing!

So think about it.
Take a "break" from work, or whatever you are doing, grab your 2 meter HT,
or turn on the mobile in your car, or click on your base station at home,
and tune to 145.800 FM, as Jon says. Importantly, then turn down the
squelch control on your radio to zero so that you hear constant static.
Now your radio is ready to go!

Fire up the software on your laptop, tablet, or phone as you have selected,
and now, with luck, you'll catch those tones and end up with your own
"postcard from space"!

(hint: If not hearing the signal at first, just wait a little bit for the
station to get a little higher above the horizon. The signal gets stronger
the more overhead the space station is. And  then it might also be that the
transmission is between pictures. There are gaps of silence between when
they finish sending one picture, and start sending the next. If want to
fine tune, could try +.005 for the first minute, just to make sure are
getting some FM quieting to show you are hearing the signal, but signal is
strong enough when it gets overhead that fine tuning like that shouldn't
really matter after the first minute)

Good luck everyone!


On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 4:21 PM Jonathan Pearce <jon at pearcefamily.org> wrote:

> The ISS is again transmitting SSTV images in memory of Owen Garriott W5LFL
> who was the first ham astronaut to have QSOs from space. The transmissions
> started today and will run thru 8/4. I just downloaded the audio tracks
> from one of the SatNOGS recording made by the clubhouse station and was
> able to copy two great SSTV pictures.  It looks like the audio problems
> have been solved, so users should be able to copy the signals with an HT
> and decode them on their iPads or other devices. Transmissions are on
> 145.800 FM. Check the Heavens Above website (
> https://www.heavens-above.com/) for pass times.
>
> 73 de Jon WB2MNF
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