Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Get Ready for Winter Field Day 2022

This recorded video was our Beginner's Academy Talk on Zoom on Jan 17th, 2022. We encourage all hams to participate in Winter Field Day coming up on Jan 29/30. This contest on the amateur radio bands encourages hams to be prepared for emergencies and to have fun.



Saturday, January 1, 2022

Matthew Hickey KO4RGZ Participated in the ISS SSTV Event

I participated in the ISS SSTV event for the end of the year and have attached the best of my SSTV images for anyone who might be interested in seeing the results. I used a Yaesu FT3D to demodulate the FM signal on 144.800MHz as each pass went over my QTH (EM70de). I used gpredict on Linux for pass prediction and hand tracked the satellite with a compass and Arrow Antenna Yagi (2m/70cm, produced in the USA). For the decode, I used qsstv on Linux which has an auto-slant correction and was able to produce a number of clean images from recordings I made on the FT3D. I worked all possible passes (even those at 3am!) during the event, except 3. The image collection this year was 12 images focused on Lunar Exploration, including craft and events of historical importance. 

You can see some of my best decodes on the ARISS gallery homepage at https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php and if you search for my call sign you will see all images captured in total. I also posted regularly throughout the event to Twitter with each pass and capture, you can find me there as@KO4RGZ.  

I wish all members a Happy New Year and an excellent 2022. 

Matthew Hickey KO4RGZ














SSTV image statistics received:
1/12: 7
2/12: 6
3/12: 4
4/12: 2
5/12: 3
6/12: 4
7/12: 3
8/12: 2
9/12: 2
10/12: 4
11/12: 6
12/12: 8
Total images received: 51
Images accepted to ARISS Gallery: 13 
Images pending review: 8
ISS passes worked from EM70de: All except 3.
Awards received: 2