Bonus opportunity Feb 15-17

The ARISS team expects that a second SSTV transmission event will occur from ISS this weekend.

ARISS Russia team member Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, worked with the mission control center flight controllers to schedule in ISS crew member time to configure the JVC Kenwood radio to support SSTV operations in the Service Module.  SSTV setup is expected to start around 8:45 UTC on February 15 and conclude around 17:25 UTC on February 17.  These dates/times are expectations and may vary.

The ARISS team wanted to give the community another opportunity to downlink the SSTV images we developed for you given the weak signal situation that occurred last weekend.  For clarity, these will be the same 12 images that were downlinked last weekend.

As a reminder, you can get the latest SSTV information on the ARISS SSTV Blog Spot:  http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/  Once received, Images can be posted and viewed by the public at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php   And you can receive a special SSTV ARISS Award for posting your image. See https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/.  For simplicity, we have added a new tab for SSTV, under general contacts, on the ARISS web site www.ariss.org

For those that are asking, we are still not totally clear what caused the issue last weekend.  We believe it may have been either a loose feedline cable or an antenna switch that did not fully engage. Once the crew reset the system and checked the cabling and switches, the radio system started to perform nominally.

Enjoy!!

73,  Frank, KA3HDO

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Feb ARISS SSTV recap

The first 24 hours or so had very low signal strength from ISS. Crew was asked to check the setup and nothing appeared out of the ordinary. A reboot of the system yielded no change. The next day the crew member rechecked all the connections and feed lines. Somewhere in that process the signal returned to normal levels. Below is a link to DK3WN's website where he has examples of all 12 images that were sent from the ISS. http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=93285

All 12 images captured by DK3WN

Announcing ARISS/NOTA Slow Scan TV Event

Feb 2, 2019:

ARISS is planning another of their popular Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment events. Transmissions are scheduled to begin Friday, Feb. 8 at 18:25 UTC and run through Sunday, Feb. 10 at 18:30 UTC. SSTV operations is a process by which images are sent from the International Space Station (ISS) via ham radio and received by ham operators, shortwave listeners and other radio enthusiasts on Earth, similar to pictures shared on cell phones using twitter or instagram. 

When this event becomes active, SSTV images will be transmitted from the ISS at the frequency of 145.80 MHz using the SSTV mode of PD120 and can be received using ham radio equipment as simple as a 2 meter handheld radio or a common shortwave or scanner receiver the covers the 2 meter ham band. After connecting the audio output of the radio receiver to the audio input of a computer running free software such as MMSSTV, the SSTV images can be displayed. 

Transmissions will consist of eight NASA On The Air (NOTA)

images (see https://nasaontheair.wordpress.com/). In additional, four ARISS commemorative images will also be included.

Once received, Images can be posted and viewed by the public at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php . In addition, you can receive a special SSTV ARISS Award for posting your image. Once the event begins, see details at https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ .

Please note that the event is dependent on other activities, schedules and crew responsibilities on the ISS and are subject to change at any time. Please check for news and the most current information on the AMSAT.org and ARISS.org websites, the AMSAT-BB@amsat.org, the ARISS facebook at Amateur Radio On The International Space Station (ARISS) and ARISS twitter @ARISS_status.

About ARISS

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS).  In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.

Feb 4 Update***
Setup and activation is now 14:00 UTC.