SSTV ACTIVITY
I like SSTV and I think it is a very interesting way to get started in ham radio.
When I want to make a SSTV transmission, I take a photo with my smartphone
and I add
some text (the callsign is required).
Then all I need is a FM radio and a pc
or smartphone with some software to encode the image. The other operator
who is receiving just needs a radio and another software, to decode the
image.
The image may arrive with some distortion, but what is nice is the fact of sending images from one point to the other without a digital connection.
If you want to try, there are these two software to put on your smartphone (there may be others as well but I don't know them):
- Robot 36 for decoding images
- SSTV Encoder for encoding images
Please refer to the help menus and their authors for any information or troubleshooting regarding these softwares. I am not responsible for any of these apps.
It would be nice to have a cable to link the radio with the smartphone, but there aren't many for sale out there, so you may just keep them close together, so the smartphone picks up the audio from the radio's speaker, and vice-versa when sending out an image. It will work in silent places, but if you are on a mountain and there is a lot of wind, that won't work well.
Anyway, I am linking here some of the images I sent via SSTV, and I also include the audio tracks so you can have fun decoding them even if we are not actually making a radio contact. Or even if you only have a phone and just want to see how this works out.
MOST USED SSTV MODES
Martin 1 -
Martin 2 -
Robot 36 -
Robot 72 -
PD 50 -
PD 90 -
PD 120 -
PD 160 -
PD 180 -
PD 240 -
Scottie 1
-
Scottie 2 -
Scottie DX -
Wraase -
Raw -
HOW TO MAKE A SSTV IMAGE
Virtually any image can be sent, but it's very important that every image
sent shows the callsign of the operator that is transmitting (this is not
a stylistic choice, it's the law).
On some images I like to add an
horizontal band, whether on top or on the bottom of the image, with the 6
main colors (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow, those teletext
colours again!), in order to let those who receive the image make a check
of the signal they received.
You can add other text, emoticons, paste
more images and so on. Amateur radio discipline forbids to send political
stuff, commercials, and so on (like in every amateur radio contact).
The sending of a SSTV image from one OM and the receiving of said image by
another one effectively counts as a valid contact (or QSO), much like a FM
call.
WE ❤ RADIO
INDEX
73 de IU4NLA
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4567 90AB
CDEF #?!è
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