ISS SSTV: Wrapping up Expedition 64 and 2021

The current ISS event has wound down. It's now 2021 in VK - Happy New Year!!!!

I've managed to get some reasonable photos, and I've had a bit of disappointment with the overall quality of the SDR obtained images compared to the 20 year old IC-706.

Still, from my perspective, it was successful. I learned a lot - having convoluted audio configurations on a PC that you only use via remote desktop with the audio kept on the source machine is particularly problematic. It adds a layer of abstraction that is unique to that specific box, and when you're in a hurry, it's going to bite you on the behind.

It's also risky to spin up new applications, overlay them into the above environment, and let them go without having time to really bed them down. I really should *know* this stuff given my profession, but alas, sometimes complacency creeps in when you think you know what you're doing. 

The SDR Console application certainly seems to do what it said on the box, though the initial doco was a bit weird, and I had a bit of a struggle early on getting it to enable the satellite functionality. Beyond that, it seems to do what it says on the box. It's just let down by the RTL-SDR not being sensitive enough. $40 USB receiver vs old school Icom still going for 20 times that much... you'll get what you pay for...

The pics you can actually make out:

 

I decided to see how I'd go getting some awards.. because, well, they're being offered, and maybe I'll feel like I've achieved something. 

And Russia decided I could have one too:

Update: So did Indonesia..

In light of the new year, it's time to think about my own goals in amateur radio for the year. 

To start:

- The license upgrade. I started it in 2020, and lost traction after a week (Christmas did not help!). I really need to nail this down and get the upgrade done. I'm also really sick of trying to balance the power settings on the IC-706 as it's a bit fiddly. What was about 9 watts 30 minutes ago is now 11 watts. I'm not sure anyone cares quite *that much*, but this radio wasn't designed for use by a pleb with a hard limit that is a fraction of its capabilities. 

- More HF time. I've put time, money and effort in to HF antennas with mixed results and it's time that I start actually pushing out of my comfort zone, calling CQ more and having a go. The actual "speaking" to people is where the challenge is for me. I've never been great at talking to "random" people. Outside of professional necessity it's never been something I've ever been good at. 

- A bigger VHF/UHF antenna. The D150 discone was really aimed as a scanner antenna that I'd purchased for my SDR without much thought to use in AR. The scope has changed and the antenna needs to get replaced with something a little more capable and much higher gain. I'm not sure it'll get much use for UHF beyond the uplink for satellites that need it. I really don't find myself drawn to UHF. Possibly because most of the closest UHF repeaters are all part of a linked system so there isn't much challenge involved in using it - it has a place for those who like to ragchew and to foster those relationships between hams who are too far away to otherwise talk on their radios. It's just not something I'm drawn to. I'm less interested in the social side and far more interested in the challenges and learning side of things. I'm not the most social creature to have walked the Earth. Pretty much the opposite of everything I thought before I got my license.

- Another radio. I wouldn't mind another radio. Something that has decent CAT control that does VHF/UHF so I can tie it into the SDR Console software and use that for satellite/ISS work. I can deal with it manually with the IC-706 for now, but it'd be nice to be able to let the software handle some of that.. and free up the IC-706 for other things. It's a little tedious having the radio set up for something specific, then having to change things to use it for something else, then set it back up. First world problems. 

- More satellite/ISS time. This is what landed my interest back into amateur radio, and it's something I really haven't put much time into. It's something of a conversation perk.. when someone hears that you're into ham radio, their assumption is just old blokes talking crap.. or worse.. they confuse you with your little cousin, the CBer. Their interest span is usually seconds.. throw in being able to bounce a signal off a repeater on the ISS, the possibility of talking to an astronaut.. or being able to pull images straight from the ISS, and all of a sudden you've just gone from "boring old bloke who talks to boring old blokes" to the dude doing cool space stuff with radios. I'll take it. It's a little reminiscent of my own career.. people think I'm a hacker because I can use UNIX, can live without a GUI and can make computers do "things". Mostly I'm just a nerd who learned to use computers before they were point and click, I make them do what I want... and "hacking" in the sense of "cracking" was something I did as a single subject as part of my post-graduate qualifications in Cyber Security.