Unique Characteristics of Satellite SSTV

Satellite SSTV is much different than SSTV as found on the HF bands.

The most obvious difference is that satellites use much higher frequencies, generally in the VHF & UHF region.

A major difference is that an HF SSTV rig is operated 1/2 duplex, whereas satellite SSTV operates full duplex. Unless you are running a separate transmitter and receiver, this requires a rig capable of simultaneous transmit on one band and receive on the other. The SSTV system must also be capable of sending & receiving pictures simultaneously. Older SoundBlaster soundcards like the SB16, AWE32 and AWE64 came with software drivers that only operate in 1/2 duplex mode, but a full duplex software driver can be downloaded from http://www.soundblaster.com .

The availablility of the satellites is much shorter than on HF. The lower the satellite, the less time you will be covered by the footprint. Additionally, the satellites often have a considerable amount of QSB due to uncontrolled spin making the quicker SSTV modes more appropriate.

The signals from the satellites are much weaker than the signals on HF. The signals are so weak that high gain yagis and azimuth/elevation rotators with antenna mounted preamplifiers and 100-200 watt amplifiers are the norm. This translates to $2500 before you get the bill for the transceiver. It's a rare signal that hits S5, but an S0 SSTV signal is often solid copy with no multipath.