Can you receive SSTV from Space Station using a WebSDR?
|This question was asked by a viewer on my YouTube channel. Most WebSDRs cover only HF. There are a few which cover VHF including 145.800 MHz, the frequency of usual SSTV transmissions from Space Station. Goonhilly WebSDR (https://vhf-goonhilly.batc.org.uk/) is one option. Type in 145800 in the kHz box below the waterfall display. Use ‘Click to start sound’ above the waterfall to start the audio. If you want to record and download, click on ‘Audio recording Start’ a bit below the frequency box. The difficult part is to find the time when the space station is over Goonhilly Earth Station.
Go to Argentinian Amsat Satellite pass prediction page https://mail.amsat.org.ar/pass.htm and scroll down. Enter Grid Locator: IO70JB and click ‘Resolve and Set New’. Now the website will show timing of satellite passes over Goonhilly Earth Station.
N2YO.COM (https://www.n2yo.com/passes/?s=25544) is another place where you can set the coordinates (50.0524, -5.1823) and track space station timing. Here are the next four passes over Goonhilly Earth Station shown on the website. My local time zone is GMT+5.5. Note that my local time and UTC are shown in the images captured by toggling between UTC and Local Time.
Once the audio is recorded from the WebSDR, you can decode it by playing it to mobile phone in which Robot 36 app is open. Live decoding can be done by keeping the phone with Robot 36 open near the speaker of the computer. Robot 36 can be downloaded from Google Play Store. Shall try out during the passes coming up tomorrow morning (my local time) over Goonhilly Earth Station and post my results. For anyone wishing to try out from other regions, UTC timing can be used. PD120 is the usual mode of SSTV transmission from International Space Station and lasts 120 seconds.