ISS SSTV Expedition 73

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Between the 5th -12th May, there was a special ARISS/Russia SSTV expedition celebrating Victory Day on May 9, representing the victory of the Soviet Union over Germany in WWII.

Conditions were challenging with the timing of the SSTV transmission intervals often resulting in being only able to receive one complete image in the 9-11min AOS window, rather than being comfortably able to comfortably receive two images. The image above was the only 100% copy I received, with all other images experiencing some form of signal fade.

The other big challenge was that due to a quirk in choice of twelve images, it can be particularly difficult to get a copy of all 12, and quite often you get many of the same. During the event I ended up collecting 3 of image numbers #1,#2, #10, two images of #12, #3 and a single image of the remaining images.

Thanks to Karn E20ZFD, who often makes these fantastic backgrounds for people to collect and share their images from SSTV Events. Do click on the Image to enlarge!

AX7BEN – Anzac Day 2025

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Map depicting contacts made on ANZAC Day 2025

There are 3 days each year that Australian amateur radio operators are permitted to operated with an ‘AX’ prefix:

This year has been the first year in a very long time that I have remembered I can use the AX prefix, I have had the motivation and the radio shack readiness have converged to where I spent the day working the world on FT8.

Over the course of several hours, I managed to work a total of 255 contacts starting on the 10m (28.074Mhz) band in the morning, and then moving down to the 17m band (18.1Mhz) in the afternoon.

To put this into some perspective, in recent years I have only been making less than 50 contacts for the entire year (outside of contesting).

For those who did make a contact with me, a special eQSL(tm) card should now waiting for you:

AX7BEN ANZAC Day special event QSL Card.

Please note that there were quite a few stations with incomplete QSOs, often with failure to acknowledge my sent report – those QSOs have been not been added to the log.

IARU 100 Year Anniversary Diploma

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To celebrate 100 years of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), the Spanish Unión de Radioaficionados Españoles (URE) has made available a diploma for successfully contacting special event stations during the 100 year celebration throughout April.

Over Easter I was lucky enough to contact the requisite number of stations during some exceptional propagation conditions, with the provisional diploma available shortly after.

The event concludes on 30th April, so you still have time to earn this award.

Running MMSSTV Under Linux

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If you have been receiving SSTV, then you’ll typically know the go-to application is MMSSTV by JE3HHT. It’s s as old as the hills, first released in April 2002 and runs on pretty much anything. I find that its TX template design is particularly good to use.

If you have been a Linux enthusiast, then the go to application to run windows applications is WINE. It’s as old as the hills, with development starting in 1993 and runs on pretty much anything.

Not being entirely happy with QSSTV’s UI, I went about seeing if MMSTV could operate under WINE.

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ARISS SSTV Event 26 -Humans in Space

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Over the past week, amateur radio operators have been enjoying receiving SSTV images from the International Space Station (ISS) celebrating April 12, the International Day of Human Space Flight.

As you may have seen before, there is quite an active local group of Amateurs who tune in for space SSTV events, and this one was no different, with images being shared in the REAST discord by:

  • VK7BEN
  • VK7TW
  • VK7OO
  • VK7ZBX
  • VK7TO

This event has been particularly challenging, with deep fadeouts (QSB) impacting reception. In some cases I have created a composite image, stitching several “bad” images together to form one good image:

2 bad images (left: Loss of Signal, Center: Interference), joined to make a “reasonable” (right) image. Composite images are not uploaded to the ARISS gallery, as they are not an accurate representation of reception

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eQSL eJapan & eDX Awards

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Not much to say other than I have managed to achieve the eQSL eJapan award 🙂

There has been some exceptional propagation activity in the last week on the 10m band into Asia, which has resulted in a lot of FT8 contacts in the region:

Shortly after confirming the eJapan certificate I was able to work1 more country and also was able to obtain the eDX certificate too!

A Tiny SI4732 Receiver

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I love electronic toys, especially when they are to do with radio.

In the past couple of months, Youtube has been starting to pop up with reviews of a new SDR receiver based on the Si4732 chip from Skyworks Solutions:

The device is relatively inexpensive and with a recent sale on a popular China-based website that could be thought of as “a boxer in a hurry”, I was able to obtain one of these devices for $45 AUD.

My impressions so far:

  • Material quality was better than expected. Going by the video feature frames I was expecting a poor quality 3D printed case. The case, while 3D printed is fitted tightly together, does not feel brittle or flexible, and generally looks well machined, with no movement of internals inside the case.
  • It’s actually a little heavier than I thought, which I imagine is due to the batter.
  • It is using the v1.01 firmware from G8PTN out of the box, however it still feels a bit cumbersome to use, and it took me a while to realise that certain menu items were not available based on the frequency and mode.
  • Pleasantly surprised to find it was able to receive broadcast shortwave and amateur radio signals on the 60cm telescopic whip antenna that it shipped

The easiest mod I will do for portable fun will be an alligator clip attached to a long wire to increase the antenna’s reception.

It’s hardly going to replace my Yaesu, but for being able to put in your pocket while travelling, or to do some localised testing, it’s a fun piece of kit!

Switching QSO Logging to Wavelog

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Main Dashboard of Wavelog, depicting a global map showing the last 20 contacts, as well as QSO details

Over this past week I have taken a leap of faith and moved my contact logging platform to Wavelog. 

Ever since I first obtained my amateur radio license some 20 years ago, I have used Ham Radio Deluxe which truly has been the “Swiss Army Knife” for the casual amateur radio operator, primarily incorporating multi-rig control, logging, digital modes and satellite tracking. It’s a great application and I have no problem in recommending it, but it’s slow development roadmap has resulted in me seeking an alternative.

My hand was ultimately tipped by Microsoft’s announcement that support for Windows 10 ends in October. Normally this would not be an issue, I would just upgrade to Windows 11, but unfortunately it would appear my CPU is no longer supported with the only solution being to upgrade the hardware to something newer. In true ham radio frugal fashion and as an IT professional by career, I think this is a load of bollocks. Having been given several earlier generation Lenovo Thinkcenter computers in the past that are more than capable for my needs, it would appear I need to revisit whether Linux is a viable option for the ham radio shack in 2025.

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A Plethora of Projects Q2 2025 Edition

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It’s hard to believe it’s been 3 months since I last posted – which roughly coincides with my return to work post-Christmas. It should therefore come as no surprise that I am on leave from work and am now trying to catch up.

I’ve had many projects happening, but the problem with having many projects is that you get less time to focus on each one. Here’s what been going on:

Radio Club Website

My local radio club, REAST, has a website that I maintain. With the need to migrate web hosting providers it was time to, as part of the process to give the site some TLC, with much of it’s platform code having been neglected for 5 years or more. Fixing the site theme, replacing plugins that were no longer developed and adding functionality for editors have been just some of the things being worked on.

Packet Radio

I definitely have not forgotten about my packet radio project, though it has taken a back seat in recent times. I now can re-welcome an MFJ-1720B back into the fray with the help of another hobbyist and might post on that again shortly. I still need to do some more work on trying to understand how to connect my node to the greater 44Net.

Portable Operations

As I have discovered, summer has not been particularly good to attempt portable radio operations in the general Hobart area, with strong sea breezes making the nearby POTA locations impossible to operate from. While we are now seeing more moderate conditions, we’re also seeing a loss of daylight much earlier again now, with daylight savings ending next week which will make it dark by 6pm, and then in a couple of months it will be dark by 4.45pm. Realistically POTA on weekdays probably will not start up again until September/October.

Outdoor Upgrades

Outside, it’s time to replace coax. Most of my coax was originally gifted to me when I started in the Hobby – 20 years ago, which an expectation it is at least that old again. There are signs of water ingress, so it’s time to replace.

I recently bought some aluminium poles to assemble a second fence-mounted mast at home, with the plan that the packet radio node can get a dedicated antenna.

Also mulling the idea of retiring my Bushcomm antenna from service, which while it has performed admirably, I feel like a 80m EFHW may now be a better option for my changing antenna setup and coax placement.

Indoor Upgrades

Frustratingly Microsoft in their infinite wisdom have decided that Windows 11 cannot run on the CPU of my existing ham radio computer, despite being more than adequate for its needs. Along with the stagnation of development of Ham Radio Deluxe, this has left me agonising over what the upgrade/replacement path, given the choice of running Win10 without security patches, purchasing a second-hand Win11 capable laptop, or switching to Linux and using alternate ham radio applications.

Anyway, I am sure there will be more posts in the coming weeks as I make my way through my backlog!