Russians activate SSTV

It appears that the Russians will have SSTV active for parts of May 26 and 27 as part of an experiment ( http://www.energia.ru/eng/iss/researches/education-26.html) they are conducting at the Moscow Aviation Institute. Enjoy the images out the window while they last. See some of the captured images at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/index.php

Final days on ISS for Simonyi

Space flight participant Charles Simonyi continues to transmit SSTV images and make random voice contacts. He will be leaving the International Space Station on April 8. Preparation for the return of the Expedition 18 crew of Mike Fincke and Yuri Lonchakov has already begun. The two will have spent nearly 6 months in space. Simonyi will return with them after his second trip of 13 days in orbit.
Images being sent by Simonyi are being sent manually. The images are taken earlier and then transmitted in rapid succession during passes mainly over N. America and Europe.

Manual imagery

Charles sent numerous images in rapid succession over Europe during the ~1550 UTC pass. These are manually transmitted so the interval between images will vary and can be extremely short. One of the images from that pass of Charles was captured by PD0RKC. Charles is expected to continue sending images and making random QSOs in addition to the school contacts that are planned during his visit.

Automatic mode

It appears that the VC-H1 has been left on in the window in auto mode after the crew has gone to sleep. This means it should capture and send whatever it can see about once every 3 minutes until the batteries run down. The bad news is for folks where it is night time, only a black image with possible interior reflections will be seen. For the folks in daytime, the image might be of your part of the world as seen out one of the windows in the Russian service module. Once the batteries go low, a purple image with the callsign will get sent and then eventually that will stop.

A recently published image from today showing the faint outline of the Soyuz as the ISS moved into darkness. Image caputured by W2DNR

Simonyi transmitting SSTV during visit

Some initial SSTV images were transmitted today (March 29) by Charles Simonyi using the VC-H1 unit on the ISS. Look for more images during his visit to the ISS.

Activity on Jan 26

Seeing a few reports that the SSTV system using the VC-H1 is active today on the International Space Station on the 145.80 downlink frequency. Hope some are fortunate enough to catch an image or two.

This image was captured by PD0RKC over Europe around 1745 UTC. The ISS was still in sun but the earth was in shadow. The reflections shows the VC-H1 unit quite clearly in the window.

More inside shots

Reports from S. Africa (ZS6TW) and Florida (W5DID) indicate that SSTV images of the inside are being transmitted today. A note is visible in some shots with other images showing the Expedition 18 Commander, Mike Fincke.
The following image is from WB9IIV.

Sunday SSTV

The ISS was sending SSTV images using the VC-H1 today. Images included some shots of the Earth and of the crew. Expect more SSTV imagery occassionally over the next few weeks as the crew celebrates 25 years of ham radio operators being in orbit.

Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, Back on Terra Firma

ARRL article on Richard's activities at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/11/06/10437/?nc=1

Exp. 17 and Garriott land safely

See the NASA release for details at http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/oct/HQ_08-269_Expedition_17_landing.html