Windows Based SSTV Software

Unfortunately all of the new software is Windows based these days. There are perhaps a dozen versions of Windows based SSTV software on the market. Go to http://www.kiva.net/~djones and page down to the Windows software for a full listing.

A recent Freeware SSTV program from Japan called MMSSTV gives you a chance to run a full featured SSTV program at no cost. It works quite well for both receiving and sending SSTV. Download it by clicking on its name.

The most commonly seen software is either by KA1LPA or N7CXI. They both have 2 versions of their Windows based SSTV programs avialable.

KA1LPA's first effort was mispelled as Winskan. It came out at a reasonable price and was widely used. It can be downloaded at http://cyberzone.net/jamie/winskans.zip

A newer version by KA1LPA appeared in the last year, called SSTV32. I have not obtained either version, but many SSTVers currently enthusiastically use SSTV32. It can be downloaded at http://cyberzone.net/jamie/Sstv32s.zip

N7CXI intially came out with a Windows based SSTV program called W95SSTV. I obtained it and occasionally used it, but I preferred my SAWSCAN at the time. W95SSTV can be downloaded from     ftp:1164.224.220.171/w95290   The registration cost for W95SSTV is $50.

N7CXI later came out with his "Top of the Line" SSTV software called ChromaPIX. This is the software that I currently use at my station. ChromaPIX can be downloaded from     ftp:1164.224.220.171/CPIX15_setup.exe   The registration cost is $120, but is less if you are upgrading as a registered user of W95SSTV. The downloaded version is fully functional but is nuisance crippled. It times out every half hour and has to be restarted. Registration removes the nuisance.

N7CXI recently wrote the SSTV software for use by the hams aboard the International Space Station. A version of this software may appear for earth based hams some time.

I use CPIX with the 21" monitor in the 1024 x 768 resolution mode with 2 CPIX windows opened, one for receive and one for transmit. While one window in the upper right is receiving a picture, I am loading the 2nd windowin the lower left with a picture to be transmitted. It also supports TWAIN compatible devices, so I have a flatbed scanner on one USB port and an IBM Net Camera ($70 from Best Buy) on the second USB port. Using a ChromaPIX provided software add-on call ChromaCAP, I capture schematic drawings or photographs from the scanner into ChromoPIX, or, I capture a real time picture of my self (shown in the lower right below) or the hamshack from the Internet color CCD camera. If working Satellite SSTV, I also have a small window open in the upper left corner of my 21" monitor showing a map from my satellite tracking program, Nova, which can be obtained from http://www.nlsa.com

I also have a freeware screen capture program running called PrintKey 2000, that allows me to capture exactly what my scrren looks like and after loading this image into CPIX, transmit it out a few seconds later. The picture below shows it all. PrintKey 2000 can be downloaded at http://geocities.com/~gigaman