[Sarex] SSTV Ready for limited Testing

[MM]

ISS Amateur Radio Status: July 28, 2006

SpaceCam1 Slow Scan TV project for ISS, Update

By Miles Mann WF1F,

MAREX-NA News

Manned Amateur Radio Experiment, North American
Division

SpaceCam1 Slow Scan TV project for ISS, Update

During this weeks ARISS meeting with the engineers at
the Russian Space Agency, it was announced that ISS
Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov,, may have
some time to start testing Slow Scan TV from the 
International Space Station.

http://www.arrl.org/?artid=6627

This testing may be very limited.  It is not know when
the Project will be officially opened to the world
wide public.  The tentative down link for SSTV will be
on 144.490 FM.  The uplink will not be published until
testing has been completed.

SpaceCam1:
The MAREXMG / ARISS SpaceCam1 SSTV System is an
entry-level PC based Slow Scan Television system
designed to be used on board the International Space
Station.  This system will support multiple common
SSTV transmission modes.  SpaceCam1 has been
specifically designed to be accessible to as many
Amateur Radio stations as possible around the world. 
The original proof-of-concept system was built by the
MAREX-NA team and successfully flown on the Russian
Space Station Mir (December 1998 until August 1999). 
The proof-of-concept system has proven the ability of
the hardware design and it has taught us how to make
additional improvements for the next generation SSTV
system for ISS.
http://www.marexmg.org/marexmirweb/fileshtml/galleryimagepage1.htm

In January 2001 the SpaceCam1 the ARISS program
accepted project at one of the future Amateur Radio
projects for the International Space Station.  
http://www.marexmg.org/
The SpaceCam1 software has been under development
since 1999 and is being created by the SiliconPixels
team managed by Jim Barber (N7CXI).
http://www.barberdsp.com/spmain.htm

The ARISS Hardware Manager Lou McFadin (W5DID) was
assigned the task of building an Audio interface box
for the SpaceCam1 project.  The Audio interface box
will allow the audio from a standard Laptop PC to be
plugged into the existing Amateur Radio station on
ISS.  

When will SpaceCam1 fly?

In October 2005 the last component needed for
SpaceCam1 arrived on ISS. All of the required Hardware
and software is currently on ISS.  The initial big
problem was locating a computer on ISS to use for this
project.  All of the existing laptops on ISS were
considered mission critical computers.  Recently a
computer was released to Amateur Radio usage, and the
software packages have been loaded. 

We are now just waiting for the ISS crew to be giving
permission to start testing the SSTV applications.


SpaceCam1 FAQ:

http://www.marexmg.org/spacecam/spacecam.html

Will I be able to receive images from SpaceCam1?

Yes!  SpaceCam1 will transmit and receive images on
amateur radio frequencies, using standard SSTV
formats.  Although SpaceCam1 is capable of operating
in several modes, the standard format will be Robot
36.  This format offers the best standard compromise
between image quality and transmission time.

In addition to two-way "interactive" operation,
SpaceCam1 provides the following fully automatic
functions:

•	Transmission from a live camera or disk at specified
intervals 
•	“Slide Show" operation from a set of images stored
on the system 
•	SSTV Repeater

What equipment will I need to receive the images?

Radio receiver with an outdoor antenna.  The radio
receive will need to be able to receive FM signals in
the Amateur Radio satellite band (ITU 144.000 –
146.000 MHz)
A PC with SSTV software or a dedicated SSTV scan
converter. 
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/sstvlinkpage.html
Tracking software (optional, although it helps a lot!)



Take care all and good luck and please be courteous.

73 Miles WF1F MAREX-NA


www.marexmg.org

Until we meet again

DOSVIDANIYA Miles WF1F







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