Down Memory Lane: ZS1I 2008 and 2011 ARISS SSTV Historical Archive

In the previous post you can read all about the 2024 ARISS  Series 21 SSTV Experiment.   Click HERE

I wanted to submit two images that I downloaded from the ISS.  When I entered my call sign I was amazed to find archived images that I submitted in 2008 and 2011.  Now what makes this so special you would say?

No I did nothing special but there is a fair amount of history now involved in the images I downloaded in 2008 and 2011.  Let's take a closer look.

ISS SSTV Images during the 2008 Richard Garriot 1 Mission:

In 2008 I downloaded 3 images from the ISS on the 17, 18, 19 October 2008 during the Richard Garriot 1 Mission.

Richard, the son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, became the second space traveler, to have a parent who was also a space traveler. On October 12, 2008, he flew aboard the Soyuz TMA-13 mission to the International Space Station as a space tourist (sixth private astronaut to live aboard the ISS), returning 12 days later aboard Soyuz TMA-12.

Richard is an avid explorer, having traveled around the globe from the jungles of the Amazon to the South Pole, the deep seas of the Titanic and hydrothermal vents to orbiting the earth aboard the International Space Station, and most recently to Challenger Deep, the deepest point in our Oceans. He currently serves as the President of the Explorers Club, the first explorer to have explored pole to pole, orbited the Earth, and reached the deepest point in the Ocean.

During his spaceflight, Garriott took part in several education outreach efforts. The free Metro newspaper in London provided him with a special edition containing details of British primary school students' space experiment concepts that Garriott took to the ISS. The Metro has claimed, as a result, that it was the first newspaper in space. He communicated with students and other Amateur Radio operators and transmitted photographs using the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) slow-scan television system, and placed a geocache while aboard the ISS.

Images I downloaded :  Click on images for larger view.

Submitted by: Johan, ZS1I, Africa
Acquired: 2008-10-17 17:49:00
Mission: Richard Garriott 1

Submitted by: Johan, ZS1I, Africa
Acquired: 2008-10-18 18:16:00
Mission: Richard Garriott 1

Submitted by: JOHAN, ZS1I, Africa
Acquired: 2008-10-19 17:06:00
Mission: Richard Garriott 1

2011 ARISSAT-1 SSTV Images on the 50 th aniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first manned space flight:

In 2011 I downloaded 1 image from the ARISSAT-1 Satellite on the 7 August 2011.  At the time of downloading the satellite was rotating less and the images were getting much cleaner. Here is the image I downloaded.

 

Submitted by: Johan Terblanche, ZS1I, Africa
Acquired: 2011-08-07 16:29:00
Mission: ARISSat-1_Aug_2011

Now what is interesting about this image?

On the 13 April 2011 it was reported that the ARISSat-1 satellite will be deployed in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first manned space flight.  Roscosmos has announced that the satellite will be deployed into orbit during the next EVA in late July of this year (2011).  ARISSat-1 was deployed at 1843 UTC by Sergey Volkov on the 3 August 2011.

ARISSat-1 is a new Amateur Radio satellite that was deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) during a space walk.

Amateurs were able to communicate through it’s linear transponder using SSB/CW and receive it’s FM, BPSK and CW downlinks. The FM downlink also transmitted Slow Scan TV that was received using the free MMSSTV software.

The amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1, fell silent on Wednesday, 4 January 2012, as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere."

I am privileged to have downloaded the above SSTV image from ARISSAT-1 with the call sign  RS0IS.

Final Comments by Johan ZS1I: 

Now why would one write an article about yourself and also about a experimental project that was undertaken in 2008 and 2011?  

1.  Definitely not to brag or boast about it at my age as it is rather late to look for attention now.  Those who know me will know that I am not an attention seeker. Neither do I enjoy to be in the limelight.

2.  One reason is the above mentioned events are now historically and forms part of my series of articles called "Down Memory Lane" that I publish on the ZS Link Network Blog to save it for future generations.

3.  Another and very important reason is that I am getting on in the years and this article serves to inform the younger generation that they have a responsibility to assist ARISS with experimental projects.   ARISS lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, inspiring them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio.   More information about ARISS is available HERE.  (Worthwhile the read) 

4.  This article should be an example to the younger generation in Amateur Radio that there is always an opportunity to learn and experiment more.  We as Radio Amateurs have the resources to assist with space exploration.  I would like to see that radio amateurs increasingly become involved in ARISS projects.

5. I trust that this article will kindle and energize radio amateurs anew to get involved in future space experiments, projects and thereby also contribute to amateur radio space history.

 

Johan Terblanche ZS1I
Mossel Bay
15 October 2024

Feed Back from the Southern Cape: Mission - Expedition 72 - ARISS Series 21 SSTV Experiment

The official portrait of the International Space Station's Expedition 72 crew. At the top (from left) are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin, NASA astronaut and space station Commander Suni Williams, and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore. In the middle row are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Don Pettit. In the bottom row are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Nick Hague. Credit: NASA/Bill Stafford and Robert Markowitz

The recent ARISS Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment from the International Space Station took place from Tuesday, October 8, at 16:00 GMT and run until Monday, October 14, at 14:10 GMT.  Great interest was shown in the experiment by radio amateurs in the Southern Cape Area, Bloemfontein and Orania, with several participating in the project.

What did the Experiment entail?

"The SSTV transmissions will be made using the amateur radio station in the ISS Service Module. The transmission frequency will be 145.800 MHz (+/- 3.5 kHz Doppler shift) FM, using SSTV mode PD120.

Many FM rigs can be switched been wide and narrow deviation FM filters. For best results you should select the filter for wider deviation FM. Handhelds generally have a single wide filter fitted as standard.

The ISS call-sign will be RS0ISS.

Reports are requested: please send ARISS uploading your decoded pictures in the official ARISS SSTV gallery: https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/

Useful information to receive the pictures can be found here: https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/

Follow ARISS on X for official updates during the event https://x.com/ARISS_Intl  "

ED - Congratulations to Gerrit ZS1KLO, Rulhof ZS4RM and Zayn ZR3VO in receiving your ARISS SSTV Award.  Well done!!

Herewith some images (Click to enlarge) of the radio amateurs that participated in the ARISS SSTV Experiment:

Gerrit ZS1KLO  Rheebok, Mosselbaai:

Johan ZS1I Heiderand, Mossel Bay:

I used this ARISS SSTV Event to experiment with Doppler Shift, 2 element Quad Antenna, Nagoya NA-771 Whip Antenna, 1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna, Robot36 Software, GPredict and Baofeng UV82 HT.  I tried to use the same or similar pass predictions, Az and El for each antenna in KF15bt.  Unfortunately the weather was different every time I downloaded an image.  None the less a very interesting experiment.

 

 

Rulhof ZS4RM,  Bloemfontein:

Thys ZS1TBP Heiderand, Mossel Bay:

Zayn ZR3VO,  Orania:

Tweet by ARISS - Amateur Radio on the ISS:  @ARISS_Intl

Suggestion by ZS1I:

Great PR project for ARISS, Ham Radio and New Radio Amateurs. New interest in space coms in S/Africa. Suggestion: Shorter gaps between TX would be great. Thanks for making this project available.

New Series - Building Low Budget Antennas - "1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna for 2 Meters - Project 6

I continue with the series "Building Low Budget Antennas" for Radio Amateurs. Nothing fancy or with high gain.... no just simple low budget antennas!

In this article I will be looking into building a 1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna for 2 Meters. Now I know there are thousands of ways to construct this antenna, but how cheap can you build one? R10, R20 or R50. You decide how much such an antenna will cost.

General Specifications:

Resonant Frequency: 145.550 Mhz

Frequency Span: 145.000 - 145.800 Mhz

Modes: FM ( Local repeaters and simplex)

Polarity: Vertical (Note: Repeaters use vertical polarization.)

Antenna Impedance: 50 Ohm or very close to 50 Ohm

Gain: Approximately 2 - 3 dBd

I found a very useful quarter wave calculator if you want to change the measurements to suite your needs. This calculator is used to determine the length of each element of the antenna. That includes the vertical monopole radiating element and the 4 radials.

The calculator is available HERE

Enough said let's start building the 1/4 Wave Antenna.

Materials I used:

3d Printed Ground Plane Support Parts (3 items) Available HERE (Note you do not need these parts. I will explain later how to build the antenna without these parts.)

1 x PL239 Socket Connector (Not ideal rather use BNC or N-Type Connectors but I used what I had on hand)

1 x 1 meter 25mm Electrical Conduit pipe

1 x brass 5A Electrical Connector Block ("Chocolate" Block)

1 x 1.5 Meter (2.5 mm) Copper Wire (Ideal would be brazing rod but I used what I had on hand. Brazing rod is far sturdier but more expensive.)

Odds and Sods:

Cable Ties

Silicon Sealant

Insulation Tape

Solder

Solder Paste

5 -10 m Coax Cable (RG58CU Mil Spec) 50 ohm with 2 x Connectors (Feeding line to radio)

Self Amalgamating Electrical Tape

Tools:

Hack Saw or PVC Pipe Cutter

Soldering Iron

Sharp Utility Knife

Screw Driver (Small flat)

Test Equipment:

VHF SWR Meter

Antenna Analyzer (If you have one but not compulsory)

VHF/UHF Radio

Coax Patch Leads

Mast (Non conductive)

Power Supply or Battery for Radio

Building the Antenna:

I am not going to go into detail how I constructed my version of the antenna as there is more than enough info via the links and images how to construct this antenna. A word on the 3d Printed parts. You can use the SO239 without the 3D printed parts. Just fit the bottom threaded part of the SO239 and the PL259 in the one end of the 25mm electrical conduit pipe. To make it fit tightly you can use self amalgamating tape around the connectors and then push it into the pipe. Hot-glue can also be used to hold the connectors tight in the pipe. Improvise is the answer here. You can also make an aluminum L bracket and secure the SO239 to the bracket.

Testing the Antenna:

I ran a quick test on the antenna with my HT just to see what the SWR was like. Well the images speak for themself. SWR was 1: 1 between 145.000 - 145.800 Mhz. With the antenna just above the roof, I can work the 145.750 Mhz Aasvoelkop- and all the other repeaters in the area. I did some more tests with the VNA Antenna Analyzer. See the images below.

Side Notes:

I found that the antenna works just as well on 70 cm's. SWR 1.2:1 on 70cm. Unfortunately I did not do any measurements with the VNA on 70 cm's .

Conclusion:

This antenna will be good to download SSTV images from the ISS. It is lightweight and easy to setup/install. To the new radio amateurs this antenna is an ideal first time antenna project.

I am very happy with the performance of this 1/4 wave antenna on 2m and 70 cm's. Well worth spending my time on building this antenna.

Final cost to build this antenna: R45.00 ($2.5 US)

Images: Click on images for larger view.

 

What's in the Box?

Here is another "What's in the Box?"

Contents:
   

1.  Raspberry Pi 5 Power Supply

2.  HDMI Cable or Raspberry Pi 5

3.  Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB RAM)

4.  Raspberry Pi 5 Active Cooler

What do I have in mind for the above items?

Will be used to control, monitor and switch the ZS HUB Network in Mossel Bay.  I will post a article on how I plan to "control" all the systems via this little marvel computer.

Images:  Click on the images for large view.