How to Submit SSTV Images to ARISS SSTV Image Archive

How to Submit SSTV Images to ARISS SSTV Image Archive

As we are preparing for the SSTV (Slow Scan Television) image transmission event from International Space Station starting from 3rd October 2023 at around 14:40 UTC and ending on 5th October 2023 at around 18:15 UTC, I thought of checking how to submit the recevied images to the ARISS (Amateur Radio on International Space Station) SSTV image archive.

ARISS SSTV Image Submission page gives information to be submitted on that page. As you can see from the screenshot, submission is open to anyone who can capture the images and is not restricted to radio amateurs. Only GIF, JPG and PNG files are allowed, with maximum file size of 800 kB. It is limited to 800 x 800 pixels. Only “clean” images with no added callsigns or other text can be submitted. Please note that screenshots are given here only as representative images and to see details, you have to visit the webpage link given. Anyway you have to visit the page for submitting the images!

All submissions will be reviewed before being displayed on the website. There is a callsign search facility on the main page to check whether your image has been published on the main or archive galleries. Number of unreviewed images will also be shown. All images may not be displayed on the gallery due size constraints, but all images are stored and the information is used for future engineering analysis. Our submissions will help the ARISS team to improve ham radio capabilities on board the ISS.

ARISS hardware manager has requested help for characterizing the signal from the ISS. Hams can submit details like signal strength, AOS, LOS, antenna gain, preamp gain, estimated cable loss, and FM sensitivity (microvolts or dBm) of your radio. There is an optional comments box below the image upload button, for these details. Other details like location, date and time of image capture etc are given as drop down menus for selection.

If you wish to get QSL cards from ARISS, you should send a physical QSL card by mail with SASE to address listed for your region, available on ARISS webpage. QSL report should include date, time in UTC, frequency and mode (voice, packet or sstv). Email address given on the page is only for inquiry and not for sending QSL cards.

There are also various diplomas available for your SSTV reception. These details are available at the page for ARISS Frequently Asked Questions.

Polish ARISS award webpage lists rules for the previous session. I presume that the rules for the present session will be available soon. For the last session it was mentioned that one should receive and decode at least one picture in the session. It was not mandatory to have good quality image, but must be good enough to identify. Picture need not be full and even part of the picture can be submitted on that page.