Nov 2024 SSTV

 With the new hardware and software installed and tested, here comes another SSTV event.

ARISS Slow Scan Television (SSTV) transmissions from the International Space Station are planned to start Monday, November 11 about 11:50 UTC and to end Monday, November 18 about 13:40 UTC. There will be some interruptions on Friday and Saturday to allow for the crew to conduct some school contacts. Downlink frequency will be 145.800 MHz FM. Images will be transmitted in SSTV mode PD-120.

The transmissions will consist of 12 imagers featuring activities from the 40th Anniversary celebrating amateur radio in human spaceflight. 

Note that there is a new SSTV gallery site being used for this event at  https://ariss-usa.org/ARISS_SSTV/ . 

**UPDATE** - Nov 12

Looks like we have a clearer idea of when the SSTV system will be off due to other ISS operations.

Nov 13 – Off 12:35. On 13:15 UTC (Progress test)

Nov 14 – Off 09:05. On 09:30 UTC (Soyuz test)

Nov 15 – Off 17:05. On 19:00 UTC (ARISS School contact)

Nov 16 – Off 17:55. On 19:30 UTC (ARISS School contact)

Oct 2024 SSTV

 

• SSTV (Kenwood D710E) – STATUS - Planned activation. ​​ Default mode is for​​​ scheduled SSTV operations (145.800 MHz down) using PD 120​​.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
• Planned installation and activation on Oct 8 about 14:15-16:00 UTC.
• Continuous operation from activation until Oct 11 about 07:25 UTC (to support school contacts that day).
• Reactivation Oct 11 about 14:50 and continuous operation until Oct 14 about 14:20 UTC.
• Specifically configured for SSTV ops. 
• Currently capable of ONLY supporting ROS scheduled voice contacts and SSTV ops.
• Future updates to be provided at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

ARISS 40th Anniversary event starting Dec 16

 ARISS is celebrating 40 years of human tended operations from space. STS-9 was the first time amateur radio was operated by a person while on orbit back in late 1983. To commemorate that beginning, an SSTV activity has been scheduled to start on Dec 16 about 10:15 UTC and run until December 19 around 18:00 UTC.

Operations will be on the standard 145.800 MHz downlink using SSTV mode PD120.

Received images can be posted at the ARISS Gallery. You can also apply for the an award at the  ARISS SSTV award site.

** UPDATE - Dec 16**

Sadly, seeing reports of nothing heard. Even the crew tried to listen using the COL ham radio. Looks like some additional troubleshooting will be needed to get the system working properly.

**UPDATE - Dec 19**

Still nothing heard (thanks for all the reception report postings) and the event is scheduled to conclude about 18:00 UTC today. Hopefully they can resolve the issue and we can try again soon.

MAI-75 SSTV targeting Dec 7 and 8

Now that the SSTV system in the Service Module appears to be back in working order, it looks like MAI will have some SSTV on Dec 7 and 8 during Moscow passes. The current periods of planned activity are:

Setup and activate Dec 7 about 08:55 UTC
Turn off Dec 7 about 14:25 UTC
 
Activate Dec 8 about 08:15 UTC
Turn off and tear down Dec 8 about 14:10 UTC

These should be the standard PD120 format transmitting with gaps of 2 minutes and using 145.800 MHz.

Reminder - No ARISS award will be available for this session since it is not transmitted globally (just a few of the daily orbits) .

**UPDATE** Nov 28.

It appears the theme for this session will highlight one of MAI's cosmonaut graduates - Yuri Usachov.

**UPDATE** Dec 7.

Several stations reporting nothing heard and the event time is concluded. Hoping that they resolve the issue and have better luck tomorrow.

Verification test - Oct 27-Nov 1

   The SSTV system in the Service Module will again attempt to verify a replacement piece of hardware during the period of Oct 27 until Nov 01. The system will be off around the required period of no transmissions during the planned EVA on Oct 31. Images will be transmitted on 145.800 MHz and in the typical PD120 format. Images can be posted to the Gallery.

Since this is a test of replacement components of the system, there still may be unexpected outages or issues.

Verification test Oct 3-5

  The SSTV system in the Service Module which has been down due to a component failure will be activated from Oct 3-5 to verify a replacement piece of hardware. Images will be transmitted on 145.800 MHz and in the typical PD120 format. Images can be posted to the Gallery.

Since this is a test of replacement components of the system, there may be unexpected outages or issues.

UPDATE - Oct. 4.

Seems there were some odd behavior by the radio so the test has been suspended to try and better understand the issue. Looks like they will have to try again a bit later in the month.

Short duration SSTV experiment (July 26, 2023) - part of Eastern North America

 Below is the press release from ARISS. This is an experiment for the ARRL Teacher Institute and will consist of one image sent several times. A clear uplink frequency is requested.

Special SSTV Experiment Scheduled for ARRL Teacher’s Institute

July 18, 2023— Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) in collaboration with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), plan to carry out a special Slow Scan TV (SSTV) experiment from the ISS on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. During the event, the Columbus Module Repeater, transmitting at 437.800 MHz, will carry a message to be received by teachers attending the ARRL Teacher’s Institute class. The pass will be over the Mid-Atlantic / New England area with transmissions scheduled to begin at 20:05 UTC (16:05 ET) and ending at 20:20 UTC (16:20 ET). If necessary, a backup window will be 21:40 UTC (17:40 ET) to 21:55 UTC (17:55 ET).

Radio enthusiasts are welcome to download the message and follow along with the event, but we ask that all hams please refrain from using the repeater for voice contacts during the event. 

Please understand this is a special experiment conducted through ARISS and the ARRL. All regular operation of the repeater should continue to take place in voice mode only.

Check ARISS Social Media below for any updates on this event.

 

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 ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) and NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see http://www.ariss.org

 

Media Contact:

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

                                                                              

Find us on social media at:

Twitter: ARISS_Intl

Facebook: facebook.com/ARISSIntl

Instagram: ariss_intl

Mastodon: ariss_intl@mastodon.hams.social

Check out ARISS on Youtube.com.

SSTV status - 2023

 As many are aware, there was a hardware failure on the older SSTV system operating from the Russian segment of the ISS. A replacement and upgraded system is currently going through ground verification and certification. The intended delivery and installation on the ISS of that new system is during the summer of 2023. 

Hoping to have more specifics as we get a bit closer to the middle of the year.

June 2022 MAI SSTV

The Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) will be conducting an SSTV experiment on June 8 and 9 during ISS orbits over Moscow. The scheduled times are listed below and the expected mode is the traditional PD120 using 145.800 MHz as the downlink frequency. This will be the first time the experiment will use the recently installed D710GA in the Service Module.

June 8 – Setup and activation between 09:45-10:15 UTC. Stop about 15:00 UTC

June 9 – Start about 08:35 UTC. Conclusion of experiment about 16:15 UTC

**UPDATE** June 7

Looks like the times have shifted a bit and for the end of day one as it has gotten shorter.

June 8 – Setup and activation between 09:35-10:15 UTC. Stop about 14:20 UTC

June 9 – Start about 08:40 UTC. Conclusion of experiment about 16:20 UTC

**UPDATE** June 8

Several reports of "nothing heard" during the scheduled activation period today. Crew marked event active during the indicated time. Guess the issue may not be apparent to them.

Cosmonautics day SSTV

 ARISS ISS SSTV event starting April 11 at 16:30 UTC until April 13 ending at 12:00 UTC. Note, operation times are tentative and subject to change due to crew availability. Images downlinked at 145.8 MHz and expected mode is PD 120. Details at FB, Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) - from @ARISS_Status on Twitter.

**UPDATE** April 11

Looks like the times scheduled have shifted a bit. Start time now appears to be 17:15 UTC on April 11.

End time of 12:00 UTC on April 13 appears unchanged. Event will celebrate Cosmonautics day and women in space.

MAI-75 activity April 7 and 8

 An MAI-75 SSTV event has been scheduled for April. The transmissions will be at 145.800 MHz and the mode is expected to be PD-120. The event is scheduled to begin at 08:00 until 15:30 UTC on April 7 and at 09:50 until 16:10 UTC on April 8.

**UPDATE **

April 7 start about 08:00 UTC, stop about 15:35 UTC.

April 8 start about 08:40 UTC, stop about 16:10 UTC

** UPDATE** April 7

Looks like they had some issue during the first orbit and it was not heard afterwards. Hope they resolve the problem before operations on April 8.

ARISS experiment to test KG-STV on Feb 20 (Clear channel requested)

 Received the following news release from ARISS. Please provide a clear channel during the Feb 20th experimentation tests. Downlink will be on 437.800 MHz plus and minus Doppler.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISS Europe to Perform Special Digital SSTV Experiment

February 15, 2022—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is planning for a special SSTV experiment. ARISS is the group that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS) and develops and operates the amateur radio equipment on ISS.

As part of its ARISS 2.0 initiative, the ARISS International team is expanding its educational and life-long learning opportunities for youth and ham radio operators around the world.  ARISS Slow Scan Television (SSTV), which is the transmission of images from ISS using amateur radio, is a very popular ARISS mode of operation.  To expand ARISS SSTV capabilities, the ARISS Europe and ARISS USA teams plan to perform special SSTV Experiments using a new SSTV digital coding scheme. For the signal reception, the software "KG-STV" is required, as available on internet.

We kindly request that the amateur radio community refrain from the use of the voice repeater during this SSTV experiment on 20th of February 2022 over Europe.

This is a unique and official ARISS experiment. We kindly request keeping the voice repeater uplink free from other voice transmissions during the experiment time period.  Also note that ARISS is temporarily employing the voice repeater to expedite these experiments and make a more permanent, more expansive SSTV capability fully operational on other downlink frequencies.

The first experiment in the series will utilize ARISS approved ground stations in Europe that will transmit these digital SSTV signals.  These will be available for all in the ISS footprint when SSTV transmissions occur.  The first SSTV experiment is planned for 20 February 2022 between 05:10 UTC and 12:00 UTC for five ISS passes over Europe.  Please be aware that this event depends on ARISS IORS radio availabilities and ISS crew support, so last-minute changes may occur.

To promote quick experimental SSTV investigations—to learn and improve--the ARISS team will employ the ISS Kenwood radio in its cross-band repeater mode.  The crossband repeater operates on a downlink of 437.800 MHz.  Each transmission sequence will consist of 1:40 minute transmission, followed by 1:20 minute pause and will be repeated several times within an ISS pass over Europe. 

The used modulation is MSK w/o error correction. For the decoding of the 320 x 240 px image, the software KG-STV is required.  The KG-STV software can be downloaded from the following link: "http://amsat-nl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/kgstv_ISS.zip"

The ZIP file contains the KG-STV program, an installation and setup manual, some images and MP3 audio samples for your first tests as well as links for additional technical information about the KG-STV use.

The members of the ham radio community youth and the public are invited to receive and decode these special SSTV signals.

Experiment reports are welcome and should be uploaded to "sstvtest@amsat-on.be"

More information will be available on the AMSAT-NL.org web page: "https://amsat-nl.org/?page_id=568"

(for the team: Oliver Amend, DG6BCE)

-----

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 ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) and NASA’s Space communications and Navigation program. ARISS Europe is in close cooperation with the European Space Agency and its national space agencies, the space industry and the amateur radio member associations. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org and www.ariss-eu.org.

Moscow Aviation Institute SSTV activation Feb. 2022

The Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) will be conducting their routine SSTV experiment during orbits that pass within range of Moscow, Russia on February 7 and 8. They typically operate PD120 on a downlink frequency of 145.800 MHz using the Kenwood D710E located in the Service Module. The images are sent with about 2 minute gaps between transmissions.

Feb. 7 - Start about 08:35 UTC, stopping about 15:05 UTC.

Feb. 8 - Start about 10:40 UTC,  stopping about 14:30 UTC.

Received images can be uploaded at https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php

** Story initially indicated mode PD180 and 3 minute gaps but that was in error.

***UPDATE - Feb 7***

The scheduled time on Feb 8 has shifted to be 10:40-14:00 UTC

ARISS end of year SSTV

 The ARISS team will be supporting SSTV operations from the ISS during the period of Dec 26-31. The images will be related to lunar exploration. The transmissions should be available worldwide on 145.800 MHz. The planned mode is PD 120.

Planned start and stop times are currently listed as:

Start - Dec 26 about 18:25 UTC

Stop - Dec 31 about 17:05 UTC

After posting a copy of your image to our  to https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/  you can acquire a special award by going to  https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ and following the directions to receive a  digital copy of your award.

**UPDATE Dec. 26**

Looks like the stop time got nudged a bit earlier

Stop - Dec 31 about 16:15 UTC

December MAI experiment

 Planning for a couple of Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) SSTV experiment sessions are in work and targeting December 1 and 2. The targeted times are currently listed below but subject to change.

December 1 – Start: 12:10 UTC. Stop: 19:10 UTC

December 2 – Start: 11:40 UTC. Stop: 17:20 UTC

Expected SSTV mode is their traditional PD120 and images will be transmitted on 145.800 MHz. 

**UPDATE - Nov 29**

Looks like the times have shifted a little bit.

December 1 – Start: 12:25 UTC. Stop: 18:45 UTC

December 2 – Start: 12:00 UTC. Stop: 18:05 UTC

**UPDATE - Nov 30**

EVA on Nov 30 has been delayed until Dec 2. This eliminates Dec 2 as a possible transmission day for SSTV. Awaiting info for additional changes.

**UPDATE - Dec 1**

SSTV activated a bit late but heard over Europe around 13:00 UTC. Crew schedule confirms MAI will not be active on Dec 2.

August 2021 MAI-75 SSTV

 Looks like the folks at Moscow Aviation Institute are going to do a couple of quick experiment sessions of SSTV during parts of August 6 and 7. The setup is planned to start at 10:50 UTC on August 6 and transmissions will stop around 19:10 UTC. The activation on August 7 should start about 09:50 GMT with the conclusion of the experiment scheduled for 15:55 UTC. 

It is anticipated that they will use the usual PD120 format on the standard downlink frequency of 145.800 MHz.

ARISS "Amateur radio on Shuttle, Mir and ISS" SSTV event - June 21-26

 The ARISS team will be transmitting SSTV images continuously from June 21 until June 26. The images will be related to some of the amateur radio activities that have occurred on the Space Shuttle, Mir space station and the International Space Station.

The schedule start and stop times are:

Monday, June 21 – Setup is scheduled to begin at 09:40 UTC (transmissions should start a little later).

Saturday, June 26 – Transmissions are scheduled to end by 18:30 UTC.

Downlink frequency will be 145.800 MHz and the mode should be PD120. 

Those that recently missed the opportunity during the limited period of MAI transmissions should have numerous chances over the 6 day period to capture many (if not all 12) of the images.

**UPDATE - June 19**

The addition of a EVA by the US crew on June 25 will change the dates of operation related to this activity. The exact schedule has not yet been updated but no ham radio activity can occur during the EVA period.

**UPDATE - June 22**

SSTV will be OFF June 25 from ~06:35 until ~19:35 UTC to support the U.S. EVA.

**UPDATE - June 23**

Looks like we have some changes to the operational dates. ARISS SSTV will  get another day to make up for off period. Transmissions should run until June 27 ~18:30 UTC after coming back on post EVA. 

MAI-75 SSTV June 9 and 10

MAI-75 will be conducting their experiment of transmitting SSTV images over specific orbits that overfly Moscow on June 9 and 10. Amateurs along the ground track of these orbits should have the opportunity to receive these images as well. Modes and targeted transmission periods are listed below.

SSTV images will be transmitted at 145.800 MHz using a Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver. They are expected to use the PD-120 SSTV format .

Schedule:

• June 09, 2021 (Wednesday) - from ~ 09:35 UTC until 13:45 UTC (time may change).
• June 10, 2021 (Thursday) - from ~ 08:55 UTC  until 14:25 UTC (times may change).

Thanks to R4UAB for the initial info.

****Update - June 1, 2021

Times on June 10 have been extended due to some other scheduling requirements. Looks like N. America will get one more pass now.

June 9 - 09:35 - 13:50 UTC 

June 10 - 08:55 - 15:50 UTC.

MAI-SSTV experiment Jan 28 and 29

 Moscow Aviation Institute will be operating SSTV for a few passes that overfly Moscow on Jan 28 and 29. It is anticipated this will be the recent used PD-120 mode and will be on the 145.800 MHz.

Times for the experiment are currently scheduled as follows:

Jan 28 - Setup starts at 12:10 UTC and transmissions stop at 17:15 UTC

Jan 29 - Transmissions start at 13:10 and experiment concludes at 18:05 UTC

ARISS 20 years of operations on ISS (SSTV event)

 An ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) event is scheduled from the International Space Station (ISS) for late December. This will be a special SSTV event to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of ARISS operations on the ISS. The event is scheduled to begin on December 24 and continue through December 31. Details to follow later. Dates are subject to change due to ISS operational adjustments.

***Update (Dec 21) - times for the event appear to have the activity being setup and starting after 16:40 UTC on December 24 and running continuously until 18:15 UTC on December 31.