The Slow Scan TV (SSTV) experiment MAI-75 on the International Space Station (ISS) was active on July 2-3, on 145.800 MHz FM.

The Russian ham radio call sign is RS0ISS. Two Russian hams, Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, and Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, are aboard the ISS as part of the Expedition 36 crew.

On July 2, Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD received the picture opposite and on July 3, Joshua Nelson KB1TCI at the International Space University (ISU) GENSO ground station received the picture below.

All you need to do to receive the SSTV pictures from the space station is to connected the audio output of a scanner or amateur rig via a simple interface to the soundcard on a Windows PC or an Apple iOS device, and tune in to 145.800 MHz FM. You can even receive pictures by holding an iPhone next to the radio’s loudspeaker.

The ISS puts out a strong signal on 145.800 MHz FM and a 2m handheld with a 1/4 wave antenna will be enough to receive it. The FM transmission uses 5 kHz deviation which is standard in much of the world.

Many FM rigs in the UK can be switched been wide and narrow deviation FM filters so select the wider deviation. Handhelds all seem to have a single wide filter fitted as standard.

On Windows PC’s the free application MMSSTV can be used to decode the signal, on Apple iOS devices you can use the SSTV app. The ISS Fan Club website will show you when the space station is in range.

For more on Slow Scan Television SSTV, see this article SSTV – The Basics.

How to be successful with the ISS Slow Scan Television (SSTV) imaging system

http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/howtoisssstv.html

Information on the MAI-75 SSTV experiment

http://www.energia.ru/eng/iss/researches/education-26.html

IZ8BLY Vox Recoder, enables you to record the signals from the ISS on 145.800 MHz while you’re away at work http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/VoxRecorder/

ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) Blog and Gallery http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.co.uk/

Watch this video showing MMSSTV receceiving a SSTV picture November 9, 2012



For the latest status of amateur radio activity on the ISS and real time tracking see http://www.issfanclub.com/