My first SSTV

Thu, 14 May 2026 20:00:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with receiving data from satellites. I built a ground station for both TinyGS and SatNOGS using spare parts.

The most interesting signals received so far were pictures from the International Space Station and a Russian satellite UmKA-1, transmitted using SSTV.

ISS image 1 - the cleanest I received from the ISS

Whilst the ISS is a giant space station, UmKA-1 is a tiny cubesat that would fit in a backpack. Both transmit images regularly, the IIS images in this blog post are from SSTV Expedition 74 Series 32 titled “Cooperation in Space”.

ISS image 2 - a slightly noisier lake

All images in this blog were received with ~£100 (€114 EUR / $135 USD) of equipment in my garden. These were transmitted from a satellite ~400KM away moving at 17,500mph, so it is remarkable they can be received with such a basic setup.

ISS image 3 - a peace dove

ISS image 4 - earth through the ISS Cupola window

Many of the images transmitted by UmKA-1 are drawn by schoolchildren.

UmKA image 1 - a cosmonaut

There is a strong space or astronomical theme to pictures also, with planets and the moon featuring regularly.

UmKA image 2 - Saturn and its third largest moon (ЯПЕТ / Iapetus)

Sometimes the signal quality is not good enough to receive a whole image, and multiple passes of the satellite are needed, as shown below.

UmKA image 3a - rockets and a planet

UmKA image 3b - the moon

SatNOGS makes automated recording of the satellite data very easy, though I had to use MMSTV for decoding. Over the coming weeks I plan to build a better antenna to receive these, and experiment with other satellites that transmit SSTV on a regular schedule.

Sdr | edeca.net

My first SSTV