Fun Project - communicate with the ISS and learn about radio

[Helen]

This looks fun 😎

https://www.esa.int/Education/Get_pictures_from_the_ISS_and_learn_about_radio_communication

Helen

[JamesF]

It does.  Even more fun if you could receive the radio signal yourself, I reckon.  The photo downloaded in the demo looks like a land-based photo though, which would be a bit disappointing.  Do you know if that's the sort of thing they send, or have I misunderstood?  Or do they actually send photos taken from the International Playstation?

James

[Victor Boesen]

2 hours ago, JamesF said:

It does.  Even more fun if you could receive the radio signal yourself, I reckon.  The photo downloaded in the demo looks like a land-based photo though, which would be a bit disappointing.  Do you know if that's the sort of thing they send, or have I misunderstood?  Or do they actually send photos taken from the International Playstation?

James

They often send images of previous cosmonauts or missions to the ISS. Almost like post cards sometimes include images of historic events or people.

[strinjf]

Example of an SSTV image received by a friend of mine yesterday

[wxsatuser]

If your using a websdr it ain't amateur radio, it's just amateur radio relayed via the net.

It's a good way to get familiar with amateur radio if you have no receiver.

The SSTV pics you see come from the Russian part of ISS, the callsign is RS0ISS and are broadcast on 145.800MHz FM.
A cheap sdr dongle should be able to receive these pics with a modest antenna.
Here is a link on how to do it.

https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/

[wxsatuser]

Another websdr which you might find interesting, you can listen to amateurs on the Eshail geostationary satellite.
This satellite is called QO-100, the downlink is 10GHz and the uplink is 2.4GHz.

https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

A fun project to receive the downlink is a simple setup of an old Sky dish, a cheap LNB plus a bias tee for power.
A cheap SDR dongle as a receiver should be ok.

[wxsatuser]

Here are some Slow scan tv from the geostationary sat Es'hail-2 or QO-100
These were direct off the satellite at 10GHz with a 1.1metre dish.