Jumping on the SSTV Bandwagon

Yesterday there was a lot of chatter about some SSTV activity on 10m, using the regular 28.680 MHz frequency. 

I didn't hear anything earlier in the day, but I decided to see how I'd go transmitting. 

The Xiegu G90 is already hooked up for FT8,  so the audio setup is already there. 

The first issue I ran into was the radio control. I quite simply have none. WSJT-X for FT8 needs OmniRig to interface the radio. MMSSTV will talk direct to the COM port, and  expects one of the more common radios. 

Eventually I realised that the software believed it was transmitting when I hit TX, but the radio wasn't. So, I held the PTT and off it went. I had the IC706 tuned to the same to confirm a signal was getting out. 

I got bored quickly and came back later to find some random pictures had been received. None that I could quite make out much less know if they were responses to me. 

It dawned on me that perhaps I should try swapping over to the dipole. I put the vertical on the IC706, and just as I was doing that the IC706 started making noise. The G90 wasn't receiving a thing. Switch back, and the G90 was picking it up. 

I learned later that the bulk of the SSTV work was being done in VK2 using a Stationmaster MK1 - a vertical. That might explain why my vertical was the only thing hearing it. 

Later the in day as I appeared to be receiving images with more frequency and I could start to make out pictures of mostly dogs, I decided to jump in and have another go. 

A while later on Facebook, a post was put up by the above mentioned VK2. Low and behold,  I was in there:

The picture in case you're wondering is a species of live coral commonly referred to as a Zooanthid. I'm also a marine aquarium keeper, and spent a while propagating live coral a few years ago. This was a picture taken in my aquarium, handheld using an SLR with a rather large lens doing macro work. 

I noticed during the few attempts I'd made that the vertical hadn't always quite  tuned. It'd start out OK, but the SWR meter would quickly start bouncing around, and my power output was all over the place. A quick re-tune and it was right. Not sure why that was the case. That antenna should be tunable without much drama on 10m.

Looking at some of the other pictures others had posted, I should have been able to get better images than I had, so something isn't quite right. 

Possibly it's all just to do with that vertical not having radials (though the switch boxes seem to cause the dipole to become something of a counterpoise for it, sometimes cutting the static down). Possibly I just need something better dedicated for 10m.  I hear a lot of people talking about 10m going off, and I don't hear a thing. In theory I should be able to hear 6m, and I can't even pick up the local net on it either.  More things suggesting that I should probably think about replacing that vertical. Either way, 10m isn't that great for me, so it's going to be a work in progress.