Apr 15 2015

ISS Ham Radio SSTV Video

On the weekend of April 11/12 Randy Hall K7AGE used his Arrow dual band J-Pole antenna, FT-817, Signalink USB interface and MMSSTV software to capture some great amateur radio Slow Scan Television (SSTV) images from the International Space Station (ISS).

Watch SSTV Images from the International Space Station

ISS Slow Scan TV Active on Weekend of April 11 https://amsat-uk.org/2015/03/31/iss-sstv/

Using WebSDRs Worldwide for the ISS https://amsat-uk.org/2015/04/14/using-websdrs-for-iss/

ISS SSTV in the UK Press https://amsat-uk.org/2015/04/15/iss-sstv-in-the-press/

Apr 15 2015

ISS SSTV in the Press

ISS SSTV Image 2 of 12 received by Andrew Garratt M0NRD April 11, 2015

ISS SSTV Image 2 of 12 received by Andrew Garratt M0NRD April 11, 2015

AMSAT-UK member Andrew Garratt M0NRD got some good publicity for Amateur Radio from the recent ISS Slow Scan Television transmissions.

The SSTV pictures were sent in celebration of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first human to reach space, on April 12, 1961. The Russian cosmonauts on board the station transmitted images from Gagarin’s life which were received by radio hams worldwide. Andrew said he hoped it would encourage more people to become interested in radio.

Read the full story at
https://web.archive.org/web/20160405015704/http://newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/A-message-from-space-picked-up-in-Newark

Local newspapers are generally only too glad to publish stories like this if someone takes the time to get in touch and tell them about it. Andrew made sure the newspaper was aware of his local clubs website URL and Facebook page enabling those reading the story to contact the club.

Follow M0NRD on Twitter http://twitter.com/nerdsville

ISS Slow Scan TV Active on Weekend of April 11 https://amsat-uk.org/2015/03/31/iss-sstv/

Note the ISS transmissions on 145.800 MHz FM use the 5 kHz deviation standard rather than the narrow 2.5 kHz used in Europe. If your transceiver has selectable FM filters try the wider filter.

The ISS Fan Club website will show you when the space station is in range http://www.issfanclub.com/

ISS SSTV information and links at https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/

ARISS-SSTV Images http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.co.uk/

If you don’t have an amateur radio receiver you can still listen to the ISS by using an Online Radio, also known as a WebSDR. Select a Frequency of 145800.0 kHz and Mode FM:
• Farnham WebSDR when ISS is in range of London http://farnham-sdr.com/
• R4UAB WebSDR when ISS is over Russia

The RSGB produce a handy Media Guide and Template press release, see
http://rsgb.org/main/clubs/media-guide-for-affiliated-societies/

If you receive a full or partial picture from the Space Station your Local Newspaper may like to know http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/july/now-is-a-great-time-to-get-ham-radio-publicity.htm

Apr 14 2015

Using WebSDRs Worldwide for the ISS

ISS SSTV and Packet Radio signals on the SUWS WebSDR

ISS SSTV and Packet Radio signals on the SUWS WebSDR

Martin Ehrenfried G8JNJ describes how he uses WebSDR’s to listen to ISS transmissions on 145.800 and 145.825 MHz. The SUWS SDR at Farnham can even receive the 143.625 MHz ISS comms channel.

We were treated to more Slow Scan Television (SSTV) pictures from the International Space Station (ISS) on the weekend of April 11/12.

During the Sunday evening passes a Cosmonaut suddenly decided to try some ad-hoc voice contacts between SSTV transmissions. Quite a few other stations were calling RS0ISS, but I didn’t hear any actual two-way exchanges. I made a very late, hurried and half-hearted attempt to call near the end of the pass, when my collinear antenna was most likely to be effective, but the ISS was very quickly out of range.

144 MHz G8JNJ prototype helix antenna used at SUWS WebSDR

144 MHz G8JNJ prototype helix antenna used at SUWS WebSDR

I was also monitoring the Russian VHF-2 comms frequency 143.625 MHz FM on the new extended 143 MHz band on the SUWS WebSDR in a second browser window, and heard a very short transmission from a Cosmonaut near the end of the UK pass. I suspect they were attempting to call Moscow as they started to come into range.

When the ISS dropped out on the SUWS WebSDR, I swapped over to the Russian http://sdr.22dx.ru/ WebSDR and heard some full contacts during a long pass over the Russian mainland.

With the exception of Asia (Bangkok SDR seems to be very deaf) it’s now possible to switch between WebSDR’s at different locations and catch just about all Amateur transmissions from the ISS. In fact it’s possible to set-up multiple browser tabs, one for each WebSDR and just leave them set on 145.800 MHz FM with squelch enabled, so that voice or SSTV traffic can be heard on each SDR in turn when the ISS passes into range.

These are two sound files captured on the WebSDR’s record function

SDR 22 DX recording


SUWS recording

Martin – G8JNJ
http://www.g8jnj.net/
http://www.tc2m.info/

WebSDRs which may be used to receive the ISS and some amateur satellites are:
United Kingdom Farnham IO91OF http://websdr.suws.org.uk/
Russia Ruzaevka LO24LA http://websdr.r4uab.ru/
Russia Belgorod http://websdr.radiotx.ru/
Eastern Russia Barnaul NO13TH http://sdr.22dx.ru/
Canada East coast http://ve2nnx.no-ip.org:8901/
USA West Coast http://eids.eecs.berkeley.edu:8080/
Brazil http://appr.org.br:8901/
Brazil http://sdrsp.dyndns.org:8901/
Brazil http://websdr.ddns.com.br:81/
Germany http://129.187.5.188:8901/
Germany http://websdr.ramge.de:8901/
Belgium http://websdr.khbo.be:8901/
Hungary http://www.websdr.hu/
Italy http://ik8ysw.ddns.net/
South Africa http://zr6aic.giga.co.za:8902/
Thailand Bangkok http://hs2jfw.noip.me/

Apr 12 2015

Hacker at AMSAT/TAPR Dayton Banquet

Mike Ossmann AD0NR – Image Credit www.insinuator.net

Mike Ossmann AD0NR – Image Credit www.insinuator.net

Michael Ossmann, AD0NR, will give a talk “Adventures of a Hacker Turned Ham” to the AMSAT/TAPR Banquet at the Dayton Hamvention.

The ninth annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be held on Friday night, May 15, at 1830 EDT. This dinner is always a highlight of the AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corp.) and TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio) activities during the Dayton Hamvention.

This year’s speaker will be Michael Ossmann, AD0NR, “Adventures of a Hacker Turned Ham”. Michael Ossmann, AD0NR, grew up as a computer nerd embracing the hacker ethos. Eventually Michael became very interested in the security of wireless systems such as remote keyless entry, garage door openers, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. He designed Ubertooth One, a Bluetooth sniffer that was successfully funded on Kickstarter.

Not one to rest, Michael later designed and successfully funded HackRF One, an open source SDR platform that attracted the attention of the amateur radio community. Michael will talk about his unique perspective on the community as an outsider looking in, why he resisted getting a license for years, and why he finally decided to join. Michael will also share his thoughts on what it means to be a hacker, what it means to be a ham, and what amateur radio may look like in the decades to come.

Tickets ($35 each) must be purchased online in advance on the AMSAT-NA website at http://www.amsat.org/ through the AMSAT Store tab. Tickets will not be sold at the Hamvention or at the door. Tickets purchased online may be collected at the AMSAT booth (433-435, 444-446).

The Banquet will take place at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4572 Presidential Way, Kettering, OH 45429 (just south of Dayton). The cash bar will open at 1830 EDT, with the dinner commencing around 1900 EDT.

Source ANS

Michael Ossmann AD0NR on Twitter https://twitter.com/michaelossmann

HamRadioNow: What’s a Whitebox? http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2014/june/hamradionow_whats_a_whitebox.htm

DEF CON 22 – Michael Ossmann – The NSA Playset: RF Retroreflectors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAai6dRAtFo

AD0NR SDR Course videos http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2015/february/sdr_course_videos.htm

Apr 3 2015

ACMA consults on removing 3400-3410 MHz

ACMA Logo 940x627The Australian regulator the ACMA is consulting on a number of changes to the amateur radio licence including removal of a key 3400 MHz allocation.

3400-3410 MHz is allocated to the Amateur Satellite Service in ITU Regions 2 and 3. It  is used by amateurs in many countries around the world for weak signal communications including moon bounce (EME).

The ACMA consultation closes on April 24.

The WIA announcement is at http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2015/20150314-2/

Consultation documents
http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/remaking-amateur-lcd-and-overseas-visiting-amateurs-class-licence

UK Microwave Group 3400 MHz page http://www.microwavers.org/3400mhz.htm

Mar 31 2015

ISEE-3 Spacecraft on BBC World Service

BBC World Service Click Radio Show Audience - Credit Kate Arkless Gray

BBC World Service Click Radio Show Audience – Credit Kate Arkless Gray

Radio amateur Dennis Wingo KD4ETA along with freelance science writer and broadcast journalist journalist Kate Arkless Gray were on the BBC World Service Click radio show.

The show – Space and Citizen Science – was broadcast live from the BBC Radio Theatre, London on Tuesday, March 31, 2015.

Prior to the broadcast Kate Arkless Gray, who hopes to become an astronaut, tweeted:
“Goodness. Didn’t realise #BBCClickRadio was actually going out live. No pressure, says @billt [Bill Thompson], it’s only going to a third of the world. Ah”

Dennis KD4ETA described how in 2014 radio amateurs and other volunteers gained control of of the NASA-abandoned ISEE-3/ICE spacecraft. They even succeeded in firing the spacecraft thrusters. During the show Dennis managed to squeeze in a mention of amateur radio satellites and CubeSats.

The BBC description reads:

Our excitement over space has taken on new dimensions with nations such as India showing they too have the technical expertise and energy to mount a mission to Mars. Citizen Science has also shown how ordinary people can make important contributions to the space adventure.

Myriad groups of volunteers have launched their own ambitious projects: such as the team who decided to awaken a spacecraft, more or less forgotten by NASA; and another team who plan to build the first crowd-funded moon lander. In a special edition of Click, Gareth Mitchell and Bill Thompson are joined by a panel of experts to explore our fascination with Space, and to discuss how our knowledge of life beyond earth benefits from the input of volunteers and Citizen Science.

Listen to a recording of the show at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02mnn3c

Podcast http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/digitalp/digitalp_20150331-2005a.mp3

Telegraph newspaper – Meet the British woman fighting to go into space
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/9937173/Meet-the-British-woman-fighting-to-go-into-space.html

ISEE-3/ICE Thrusters Fired
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/07/09/isee-3ice-spacecraft-fires-thrusters-for-a-return-to-earth/

Watch the presentation on ISEE-3/ICE given to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in July 2014 https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/presentation-videos/