CCARC NEWS 15-11
THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
ISSUE No 15-11 10th April 2015
In this Issue:
- WICEN Meeting & AGM This Saturday
- Business Meeting Following Saturday
- ISS Slow Scan TV active this weekend
- AX-prefixed QSL carded stations now have an ANZAC award
- Announcing the STREAM board
- History This Week
- Broke & fixed
- Reminders
1. WICEN Meeting & AGM This Saturday
The Bi-Monthly WICEN meeting will be held on Saturday 11th April 2015, commencing at 1300 hours.
This will be followed by the WICEN AGM
2. Business Meeting Following Saturday
The next CCARC Business meeting will be held on Saturday 18th April 2015, commencing at 1315 hours.
3. ISS Slow Scan TV active this weekend
The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has announced another round of amateur radio Slow Scan Television (SSTV) activity from the International Space Station (ISS) will take place.
Continuous operation, using the call sign RS0ISS, is expected to start at 1000 UT on Saturday, April 11 to commemorate the anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin which took place on April 12, 1961. Previous SSTV sessions have run for two days.
Twelve different images will be sent on 145.800 MHz FM using the SSTV mode PD180, with a 3-minute off time between transmissions.
One of the photos shows the commemorative diploma created by PZK, the national Polish Amateur Radio society, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the birth of first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
The equipment used will be the Kenwood D710 transceiver located in the Russian Service Module. It is thought the equipment may be producing about 25 watts output which should provide a very strong signal.
Plans are being discussed for transmitting new images from space enthusiasts around the world in the coming months. Additional details will be released.
The images received by amateurs world-wide during previous transmissions can be seen athttp://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/ and you are invited to upload any pictures you receive during the upcoming transmissions.
In the UK newspaper the Daily Mail, Jonathan O’Callaghan wrote about how 22-year-old Radek Karwacki, an AMSAT-UK member, received pictures from the ISS using a £10 ($15) RTL-SDR dongle and a dipole antenna, see http://amsat-uk.org/2015/02/04/iss-sstv-in-uk-press/
All you need to do to receive SSTV pictures direct from the space station is to connect the audio output of a scanner or amateur radio transceiver 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 loudspeaker.
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 for compatible modes. (Note: see comments below about MMSSTV clock adjustments which may be needed to reduce picture slant)
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 apart from the British Isles and Europe where 2.5 kHz deviation is more common.
Many FM rigs can be switched been wide and narrow deviation FM filters. For best results you should select the wider deviation filters. Handhelds all seem to have a single wide filter fitted as standard.
The ISS Fan Club website will show you when the space station is in range.
Paul Turner G4IJE, co-developer of the SSTV PD modes, says regarding the MMSSTV PD180 mode: “Don’t forget to either enable “Always show RX viewer” or use the “Picture viewer” (magnifying glass icon) to show the picture at its real resolution of 640 x 496. If you just view as normal you will only see 320 x 248 resolution, which kind of defeats the object of using a high resolution mode.”
On the AMSAT-BB Rick W2JAZ and Alan WA4SCA comment on the need to set the MMSSTV sound card setting to 48 kHz instead of the default 44.100 kHz
• Options
• Setup
• Misc
• Then the Clock section at the bottom of the page
The MMSSTV default setting may need to be set to 24000 (exactly half of the sound card setting). You then should get good clean images.
The sound card adjustments will vary slightly depending on the version of the OS you are running, but usually will be under the advanced properties for the device. You can probably use a higher sampling rate for the sound card so long as it is a power of 2 multiple (2,4,8, etc) of the value in MMSSTV. For instance 192k (8x) has no issues. The same applies to most similar software.
You can receive the SSTV transmissions online using the SUWS WebSDR remote receiver located near London along with the MMSSTV softwarehttp://amsat-uk.org/2014/08/15/suws-websdr-moves-to-new-site/
ISS Fan Club – Tracking / Predictions http://www.issfanclub.com/
Free MMSSTV Slow Scan TV softwarehttp://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php
iOS SSTV App https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sstv/id387910013
For more on Slow Scan Television SSTV, see this article SSTV – The Basics http://www.essexham.co.uk/sstv-the-basics
How to be successful with the ISS Slow Scan Television (SSTV) imaging system http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/howtoisssstv.html
IZ8BLY Vox Recoder, enables you to record the signals from the ISS on 145.800 MHz while you’re away at workhttp://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/VoxRecorder/
ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) Blog and Gallery
http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.co.uk/
Information on the MAI-75 SSTV experiment
http://www.energia.ru/eng/iss/researches/education-26.html
Video showing reception of SSTV using the FUNcube Dongle Pro SDR and SDR-RADIO going into Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) then to MMSSTV software https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6MOrX9iZCk
ISS SSTV received online with SUWS WebSDR
http://amsat-uk.org/2014/09/06/iss-sstv-on-suws-websdr/
Mauricio PY4MAB
4. AX-prefixed QSL carded stations now have an ANZAC award
If you intend to use the alternative prefix of ‘AX’ in your callsign on April 25th and 26th, then consider registering now on the WIA website to let others know, and possibly qualify for an operating award. To register simply go to the registration page (via this Link) enter your name, AX callsign and intended location and it will be added to the online list, it’s that simple.
Award rules are easy. Log a symbolic 100 points for the Gallipoli Century, each ordinary VK callsign is worth 1 point, ANZAC-suffixed callsigns including ZL100ANZAC or any WWI commemorative station which includes the TC100-prefix stations Turkey, the OP0PPY station in Belgium and at overseas war memorials and cemeteries, are worth 10 points each.
All award claims are done electronically and must include an image of the claimants AX callsign QSL card.
The registration, rules and how to claim are all on the WIA website simply select ANZAC Centenary under the News And Events Menu on the WIA website. The following two links will take you directly to the web pages.
AX Callsign Award Information Page Link
Register Your AX Callsign Page Link
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC
5. Announcing the STREAM board
A feature-packed FPGA development platform built around an Altera Cyclone IV device, this includes RFDIO and FMC connectors, enabling use with the Myriad-RF 1 transceiver, future modules and other FMC cards.
Source: MYRIAD RF
From Shane VK2ABZ
History This Week
A look back at events that made history this week – compiled by the Summerland Amateur Radio Club of Lismore, NSW
Monday, 6 April, 2015
1751 Ebenezer Kinnersley advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette that he was to give a lecture on “The Newly Discovered Electrical Fire.”
1803 A patent was issued for the engine used on a twin-screw propeller steamboat built by John Stevens of Hoboken, N.Y
1833 Gauss & Weber, Germany, demonstrate electromagnetic telegraph.
1849 The first U.S. patent for a safety pin was issued to Walter Hunt of New York City.
1872 Dried milk was patented by Samuel R. Percy.
1879 Milk is sold in glass bottles for first time
1903 Fred Skinner, New York, first ‘amateur’ with 42 person, 6 mile telegraph line.
BROKE & FIXED
No items for Broke & Fixed this week – all CCARC infrastructure is operational.
REMINDERS
This section lists important announcements and possibly items from previous CCARC NEWS editions that are still current and may need your input:
Anyone reading this on the website who is not yet a member of the CCARC, please consider joining by emailing ccarc at ccarc dot org dot au for full details.
For submissions to this newsletter from CCARC club members please email the editor news-editor at ccarc dot org dot au
For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar, accessible from the header on any page on the website.
Dave VK2DLS … News & Publicity Officer …
