SSTV from SPAAAAACE! International Space Station Sends Images

The crew on the space station have been transmitting SSTV images.   This morning I threw together a receiving system:  I used my four element refrigerator tubing quad feeding the an RTL-SDR Dongle with HD-SDR software in the computer.  For the SSTV decoding I downloaded a program from Japan: MMSSTV (very nice).  To get the signal from HD-SDRto MMSSTV I just plugged a cheap little electret computer mic into the computer and taped it to the speaker.  

At 0838 local today ISS flew almost directly over me.   I aimed the quad south-west, and almost as soon as it was above the horizon very strong signals started pouring in.  They produced the first picture (above).  

ISS went silent as it passed over head. I swung the quad to the north-east hoping to catch another image as the station moved away.  That is the second image (below). You can see that I was losing the signal about halfway through.  

The distortion in the video image may be the result of me manually adjusting the receiver for Doppler shift. 

Here is a little video of the action in the shack during the first half of the pass. 

Here is the RTL-SDR Dongle Receiver in an Altoids Box: 

Here is that the programs looked like on the screen -- HDSDR on top, MMSS on the bottom:  

Here is what the orbital pass looked like. ISS was East of New Zealand when I took this picture.  ISS came up over the Eastern Pacific and Mexico before passing over N2CQR.  This display comes from the excellent Heavens Above web site:  

Listen to our Podcast while wearing a beret!

This is the official headgear of the Color-Burst Liberation Army. 

For a mere 16 dollars, you can wear the kind of beret worn by Pete Juliano, N6QW. 

Here at SolderSmoke, we are all about style, panache, savoirfair,  je ne se qua... 

If you send us a picture of yourself wearing a beret while either operating or building a rig,  you will win FOR FREE a one year subscription to the SolderSmoke on-line podcast.  ACT NOW!  Please tell them that SolderSmoke sent you. 

N8NM: Homebrew FT8 Worked All States

Congratulations Steve! 

https://n8nmsteve.blogspot.com/2019/02/homebrew-was.html

Pete's Latest SSB Transceiver -- And Lots of Wisdom on Homebrew Phone

Don't miss Pete's latest blog post decribing his most recent SSB transceiver.  

http://n6qw.blogspot.com/2019/02/2019-building-ssb-transceivers.html

Indie Documentary: Apollo 11

Thanks to Bob Scott for the alert on this.  This new Indie film promises to be even better than the recent "First Man" movie (which was somewhat disappointing, with too much focus on family drama).   Armstrong looks so young in this trailer. 

The Wizard of Wimbledon M0JGH: "Always Listen to Pete!"

Dear Bill and Pete,

Sincere apologies for my chronic lack of correspondence but life has proven exceedingly eventful of late. As a long-standing member of our international brotherhood I am aware of a reoccurring, often subliminal, theme: “Always listen to Pete!”. What follows is a cautionary tale of one humble ham following the sage advice offered to him during Soldersmoke 186’s Mailbag…

You might recall the report of my Christmas 2015 escapades from rural Italy, making homebrew CW contact with friends operating GB2RN aboard HMS Belfast, whilst trying to fend-off curious locals from tampering with the wire I’d strung through their trees. Throughout these shenanigans my remarkably-understanding girlfriend was nearby minding her own business (albeit with a certain degree of eye-rolling).

The following year we returned to the same summit above Frascati. Before setting off I advised her that, being a generous chap, there were now two miniature radios in my coat pocket: one for each of us to enjoy. She was politely thrilled by the prospect... but still faithfully assisted with antenna rigging. 

Once operational I insisted that we should try her radio first and, following Pete’s advice from SS186, I slipped the tiny red box out of my jacket pocket and knelt down on one knee... (Fear not, Pete, other sage opinions were consulted in the matter first too!).

Remarkably, she said yes! And, exceedingly generously, I was allowed me to make a few contacts too... after all, we had gone to the trouble of lugging it from London and setting up the antenna. Owing to poor telephone reception the first person to learn of our wonderful news was an unsuspecting DL on 40m CW.

We are now happily married so I’m pleased to report that, unsurprisingly, the SolderSmoke tribal knowledge offered to me back in 2016 appears to have been spot on. To return the favour here is my own life lesson to take from the story:

Should one ever need to conceal a surprise gift from a loved one, a radio shack is a cavernous world which even the most curious spouse is unlikely to dare explore.

Furthermore, if one “has previous” (as British policemen say) for smuggling tiny boxes of radio wizardry away on holiday, what better cover could there be for the unsuspected transportation of an engagement ring? 

The power of QRP knows no bounds...

All the very best for 2019 and thanks again for the life-changing advice.

Jonathan

M0JGH

Editor's note:   In case you don't remember SS186, Pete's advice -- upon hearing of the ham radio tolerance of Jonathan's then-girlfriend -- strongly advised him to "marry that woman!" 

This Weekend: The AM Rally (with trailer video!)

I liked the groundhogs.

More info: 

http://www.amrally.com/  

UK Wartime Radio -- The Secret Listeners

We had this video on the blog before, but it was seven years ago, so it it time for a re-run.  

http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/5108

Thanks to Graham GW8RAK for reminding us of this. 

Listening to it again, I was struck by the claim that the nationality of the operator could be discerned purely by his or her CW sending style.  Is there really an Italian accent in Morse Code? 

A SolderSmoke Message to the Vintage SSB Net

Inspired by what I heard on the Vintage SSB Net web site, I wrote to the group: 

Esteemed Vintage OTs: 

As the proud owner of an HT-37/Drake 2B station, I immediately identified with the values embraced by your inspiring preamble. It is almost as good as that other preamble that we all hear about from time-to-time.   

On our SolderSmoke podcast, we often discuss the cluelessness of many of the operators of modern appliance "radios" :   

-- How often have we called CQ on a clear frequency on 40 meters, only to be answered by a chorus  of "YOU ARE ON THE WRONG FREQUENCY!"?  (How could that be?  What was WRONG with my frequency?  It took me a while to realize that they think 40 has been channelized and that emissions must be on whole kilohertz frequencies.) 

-- How many times has someone whose "rig" is really a computer complained that your "60 over S9" signal is "too wide" on his waterfall? 

-- How many times have we had to deal with the apparent psychological trauma caused to some hams by an ancient VFO that drifts a little bit? 

"You are drifting ALL OVER THE BAND!"

"How far have I moved?" 

"More than 40 hertz!"  

Oh the humanity! 

Anyway, we really liked your preamble, especially the bit about how "smoke and flames may occur at any time." Words to live by my friends.  

Could we please have a written version of the preamble?  We want to recommend that all SolderSmoke listeners post it on the walls of their radio shacks.  Some of them may want to have it tattooed on their backs (we leave that to them). 

73 and keep warm out there (the boatanchor rigs really help with this). 

Bill  N2CQR

Putting the QCX on SSB

Here is a very cool mod to Hans Summers' amazing QCX CW phasing transceiver.  This rig seemed to have been crying out for an SSB mod.  Guido has come up with a very clever way to put this rig on phone. 

Guido PE1NNZ wrote: 

Jan 28   2019

Over Christmas I have been playing around with a simple modification that transforms the QCX into a Class-E driven SSB transceiver. With this setup I have been able to make several SSB contacts and FT8 exchanges across Europe and so far this experiment is working reasonable well. It can be fully-continuous tuned through bands 160m-10m in the LSB/USB-modes with a 2200Hz bandwidth, provides up to 5W PEP SSB output and has a software-based full Break-In VOX for fast RX/TX switching in voice and digital operations.

The SSB transmit-stage is implemented in a completely digital and software-based manner: at the heart the ATMEGA328 is sampling the input-audio and reconstructing a SSB-signal by controlling the SI5351 PLL phase (through tiny frequency changes over 800kbit/s I2C) and controlling the PA Power (through PWM on the key-shaping circuit). In this way a highly power-efficient class-E driven SSB-signal can be realized; a PWM driven class-E design keeps the SSB transceiver simple, tiny, cool, power-efficient and low-cost (ie. no need for power-inefficient and complex linear amplifier with bulky heat-sink as often is seen in SSB transceivers).

An Open Source Arduino sketch is used as the basis for the firmware, a hardware modification bypasses the QCX CW filter and provides a microphone input in-place of the DVM-circuit; the mod is easy to apply and consist of four wires and four component changes and after applying the transceiver remains compatible with the original QCX (CW) firmware.

This experiment is created to try out what can be done with minimal hardware; a simple ATMEGA processor, a QCX and a bit of signal processing to make SSB in an artificial manner. It would be nice to add more features to the sketch, and see if the QCX design can be further simplified e.g. by implementing parts of the receiver stage in software. Feel free to experiment with this modification and let me know your thoughts or contribute here: https://github.com/threeme3/QCX-SSB

73, Guido

PE1NNZ

Schlitz Beer and Ham Radio

Another necktie in the hamshack. Can anyone identify any of the gear? 

The Vintage SSB Net

This group looks like a lot of fun.  I like how they record the entire session and put it on the web.  

http://www.vintagessb.net/index.htm

You should listen to their "preamble."  It describes the purpose of the net and the group's belief system.  Very well done.  These are our people!  I will request a full transcript of this important and inspirational document. 

Here is a link to a reading of the net preamble:

http://vintagessb.net/wimpy/WB9KGZ%20Pat%20Sturgeon%20Bay,%20Wi.%20Net%20Control%20Pre-amble%20via%20N9RK%20Rick%201.26.19.mp3

"Smoke and flame may occur at any time!" 

DON'T BE A VIOLATOR! NO MODERN RIGS!