Welcome to the ARISS Frequently Asked Questions

• Keep up with ARISS SSTV progress by visiting the ARISS General Contacts Current Status page.
• Learn about SSTV by visiting the Wikipedia SSTV entry.
• Don't have an amateur radio but want to receive images? The European Space Agency (ESA) has published this YouTube video about using free online radio receivers for capturing SSTV images from the ISS.
• ISS will be transmiting mostly in the PD120 mode.
• The normal downlink frequency of 145.800 MHz will be used.
• Many people use the MMSSTV system to receive SSTV images.
• How do I know when the ISS will be within range? There are a number of resources. Some of them are:
  • NASA Spot the Station Page
  • Heavens Above
• How can I test my SSTV system? Kenneth N5VHO has supplied a sound file from the SuitSat-1 satellite that you may play into your SSTV system to verify reception. Kenneth has also supplied the corresponding image so that you can evaluate your results.
• I submitted an image but it isn't being displayed.
  • All submissions first go into a review process before being displayed on the web site. During special events we can get hundreds of submissions every day, so it may take a little while for our volunteer reviewers to catch up.
  • Please check to see if it was moved off of the main page onto the archive page. We have added a callsign search feature to the main page so you can see what images have been published to the main and archive galleries. If you have unreviewed images, a line at the bottom will show you how many of yours remain in the queue.
  • In order to keep the size of the gallery reasonable we may not display every image. We may have to limit the number of duplicate images we post. And we may not be able to post some images due to image quality issues. We are storing every image and the information you supply with it for future engineering analysis. Your submission will help the ARISS team improve the ham radio capabilities on board the ISS. Thank you very much for your help!
• How do I QSL or SWL? Official cards and certificates are available only from these sources:
  • When you submit an image, the "thank you" page has an option to sign up to receive an award certififcate by email. More details at the ARISS SSTV Award page.
  • ARISS QSL/SWL cards
• What is a QSL (or SWL) card? Amateur radio operators have a tradition of exchanging special postcards to acknowledge contacts. These are called "QSL cards." More details are avaliable at this Wikipedia article. Some hams will also supply a commemorative card to people that have only heard their station. These are called "SWL cards". Traditionally the ARISS program honors both QSLs and SWLs. See above for details, please.

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Go to the archive page here.

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