[GCARC] ARLS002 ARISS Plans Do-Over of Slow-Scan TV Transmissions over February 15 - 17 Weekend

[Jeff Comcast]

Looks like another chance this weekend to get some pictures from the ISS.

D. Jeffrey Garth
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ZCZC AS02
QST de W1AW
Space Bulletin 002  ARLS002
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington, CT  February 14, 2019
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS002 ARISS Plans Do-Over of Slow-Scan TV Transmissions over
February 15 - 17 Weekend

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is planning another
popular slow-scan television (SSTV) event in the wake of an SSTV experiment
last weekend, during which signals were reported to have been weak. Even so,
more than 5,500 images were submitted. Transmissions are scheduled to begin
on Friday, February 15, at 0845 UTC and run through Sunday, February 17, at
1725 UTC.

"The ARISS team wanted to give the community another opportunity to download
the SSTV images we developed for you, given the weak-signal situation that
occurred last weekend," said ARISS-International President Frank Bauer,
KA3HDO. He clarified that the same 12 images transmitted last weekend will
be used for this weekend's experiment.

Bauer said it's not entirely clear what caused the low-signal issue last
weekend. "We believe it may have been either a loose feed-line cable or an
antenna switch that did not fully engage," he said. "Once the crew reset the
system and checked the cabling and switches, the radio system started to
perform nominally."

ARISS-Russia team member Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, worked with flight
controllers to schedule ISS crew time to configure the JVC Kenwood radio to
support SSTV operations, which take place from the Service Module. SSTV
images will be transmitted on 145.80 MHz using SSTV-mode PD120. These can be
received using equipment as simple as a 2-meter handheld radio, a scanner
that covers that band, or even an online WebSDR receiver. Copying the images
is as simple as connecting the receiver's audio output to the audio input of
a computer running free software such as MMSSTV.

Transmissions will consist of eight images from the NASA On The Air (NOTA)
celebration and four ARISS commemorative images. Received images can be
posted and viewed online. ARISS offers an ARISS SSTV Award for those who
receive and decode at least one SSTV image in the session.

As always, this SSTV event is dependent on other activities, schedules, and
crew responsibilities on the ISS and are subject to change at any time.
Check for updates on the ARISS or AMSAT websites, the AMSAT-BB reflector,
the ARISS SSTV blog at, http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/ , and the ARISS
Facebook page, as well as Twitter at, @ARISS_status.