Receiving SSTV images from the International Space Station is fairly easy and the reward is somewhat significant (in my opinion). The tools you need to receive and decode the images are probably already in your possession if you're a licensed ham. Of course, you can always improve and "complicate" things, but both the minimum equipment and effort requirements are cheap.

The quick and hassle-free way is to use a smartphone app like Robot36 together with a handheld radio to decode the images in real time. No need to record anything, you get the results right away.

The slow and dirty way - record the audio and later decode it using a variety of programs on the computer.

Receiver: Yaesu FT-65 handheld radio with stock antenna (any receiver capable of getting 145.800 FM should work).
Audio recorder: Smartphone (any audio recorder should work).

That is all you need to acquire and record the signal. Once you have the audio recorded, you can always decode it later on the computer.

All the listed programs are freeware.

• Skipping Silence Recorder for Android - used on the phone to record audio. Alternatively you can install Robot36 and directly decode the image, without recording the audio.
• Audacity for Windows - used to playback the recorded track.
• VB Cable for Windows - a virtual audio device working as a virtual audio cable which allows you to playback and input the recording into the SSTV image decoding program.
• RX-SSTV for Windows - a SSTV decoder that will allow you to convert the ISS recorded audio to images.
• Gpredict for Windows - a satellite tracking and orbit prediction app that will help you plan your receptions (will basically tell you when the ISS passes over your location so you can record it). I also used Orbitron for sat tracking. Make sure your telemetry data is up to date (otherwise the ISS visualizations and predictions will be incorrect and your efforts useless).
  

Once I know there's gonna be an ISS SSTV transmission, I use Gpredict or Orbitron to get the ISS pass predictions - a schedule with the times, elevation and direction of the ISS in respect to my location.
Then I prepare my handheld radio and make sure my radio/phone battery and phone memory are all up to the task. The equipment is portable so I can carry it around in my pocket or backpack.
So when the time comes I move into position, trying to find a spot where the horizon line toward the ISS is the most open. Even when inside the city, between buildings, you can still get some results (my first two images were recorded in such conditions).
I open the radio, check that I'm on the right frequency (145.800 FM) and remove the squelch so I can hear everything. I also press record on my phone. I have no cable to connect the radio to the phone, so the recording will pick up any external noise as well, but the whole SSTV business is far less susceptible to external noise than I imagined.
After I record the track, I go to my computer and I play it back through the Virtual Cable to the RX-SSTV app, which converts the audio to an image (if the settings are right and the audio quality is decent).

I've heard about this scheduled SSTV transmission thanks to YO8AZQ and other ham ops in the area. From the official ARISS announcement:
"Expedition 72 - ARISS Series 26 Humans in Space" mission
April 11-16, 2025 – Humans in Space
April 12 is the International Day of Human Spaceflight so, what better theme for the April 11-16 Slow Scan TV transmissions.
Start: Friday, April 11 1700 GMT
End: Wed, April 16 1430 GMT
Frequency: 145.800 MHz FM (+/-3.5 kHz Doppler Shift)
The callsign is RSØISS, frequency is 145.800 MHz, and the mode is PD120. (Transmission cycle 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off)."

I've uploaded the received images to the https://ariss-usa.org/ARISS_SSTV/ gallery and applied for a certificate of participation which came via email in a couple of days.

Here's an audio file sample recorded on 16 Apr 2025, if you're curious:

Image quality, in general, depends on your equipment (quality of antenna, receiver), on your position (buildings, wires and urban/industrial noise could affect the reception), on the elevation of ISS over your location (how good the pass is) and on the attitude of ISS (how the Intl Space Station and its antenna is turned in respect to your location). In addition to this, the ISS transmission has 2 minute pauses between each emission, so even if you get a good ISS pass, the 2 minute pause might fall at the worst time possible. Still, there should be plenty of chances to get decent reception during a 5 day SSTV transmission such as this one that just ended yesterday.

Read about it here.

Looking back at 2021, apparently the pandemic took a toll on our SOTA activity, having activated 23 summits, a fraction of the more prolific numbers of the past.

By far, the best summits of the year had to be YO/EC-137 (Bâtca Tătărcii) and YO/EC-004 (Toroiaga) in May, on which we had our eyes for quite some time, but YO/EC-005 (Toaca), YO/EC-065 (Pietrosu), YO/EC-080 (Scăricica) and YO/EC-104 (Lespezi) were noteworthy as well.

First off, August was pretty hot. Still, after a long hiatus, we started doing SOTA activations again. We began in July with only two (best one was on Magura Domesnic, great scenery!), but we did even more in August. Andrei, having some time off, activated a few summits alone (13 in total), while I managed only 5.

Last activation in August was Cearcanul - you can read more about it, see the pics and the GPS track here.

On the 16th we participated in the 6th Stage of YO VHF/UHF Marathon and got the ODX with a confirmed contact at 677 kilometers (in 2m).

On the 29th we participated in the YO HF DX contest with poor results. The extended team (working on two rigs) was YO8AZQ, YO8TLC, YO8SST (rig1, 7MHz, SSB and CW) and YO8AGA, YO8SSQ, YO8SBR (rig2, 14MHz, SSB only). Contest site was set in a copse on the outskirts of Suceava.

Hi, we participated in the opening stage of the YO Marathon 2020. You can read more about it here. There's also a new section where all the info of this nature will be published - Contests.

We've found a better route to the top, much easier and probably quicker. Also, we've found out that the hill is actually named Zigreva. Chicera Neagra is a different hill, nearby, but lower and thus not a valid SOTA summit.

The GPS track - http://www.wandermap.net/en/route/3611955-chicera-neagra-v2-ec-572/ .

A short video taken during the activation.

Since June 2019, we started to participate in the national VHF/UHF contest. It's a new and exciting ham activity for us. As per usual, the whole thing was Andrei's idea. He did the research and gradually made better antennas and improved our overall set-up. I did the log sheets :D Yay!

For the 3rd round of the YO VHF/UHF Marathon (in June) we've operated while on a SOTA trip, so we weren't exactly prepared for the contest. The number of QSO's clearly reflects that, but it was enough to spark our interest and formulate a better plan for the next month's round.

In July we were ready to give it another go. This time we dedicated the day for the contest, no SOTA or mushroom picking. Andrei made a brand new 5 element Yagi antenna based on a design by DK7ZB. For the location we chose a hill some 20km outside the city. Shade and ease of access were the main requirements in choosing the spot. We used the FT-857D with 40W from a LiFePo4 battery. We were three operators this time, YO8SSQ, YO8AGA and YO8SBR, all /P, and we passed the mic from one another between contacts. It went OK, managing about 10 contacts each. Longest QRB for me was 487km (check the QSO map here).

Come August, Andrei and I participated in the 5th round of the YO USW Marathon. For this round Andrei built a new antenna, this time a 6 el. Yagi with better gain. We chose a different, higher and more open spot, but still near the site we used in July. Besides the antenna, the rest of the equipment remained unchanged. We made more contacts this time, Andrei "bagging" 18, one more than myself. My longest QRB (at the moment unconfirmed) was 676km (check the contacts map for YO8SBR/P). I personally expected more contacts with YO stations, but for some reason that wasn't the case. Even though there were some stations from Poland working in the contest, we couldn't hear them at all. Also, too bad Ukraine is absent from these contests, I'd expect some nice contacts with them.

In all rounds we worked mainly on 2m (144MHz) and only made minimal contacts on 70cm.

Hopefully September's round will find us in good health and good weather. Can't wait! :D

Here are some useful links:
1. The YO (Romanian) Ultra Short Wave "headquarters" - http://uus.ro
2. Online EDI generator - ​http://ok2kjt.net/edi/
3. EDI Map Visualizer for logs - http://www.opencontest.org/edi/
4. An interesting article about troposcatter / USW propagation - https://www.qsl.net/oz1rh/troposcatter99/troposcatter99.htm
5. More info on troposcatter (PDF) - ​https://www.comtechsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Troposcatter-Introduction-Nov-2013.pdf
6. Earth Curve Calculator ... for fun - https://dizzib.github.io/earth/curve-calc/?d0=100&h0=2&unit=metric
7. Tropospheric Ducting Forecast - http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_eur.html .

Just published a new short activity report for Hasmasul Negru.

Big Thanks! to our chasers on 2 and 40m:
YO3IXW/P
YO6BZL
YO6CFB
YO6OZN
YO8AZQ/P
YO8SST/P
YO8SFF/P
SV2HJW

You can read about our muddy adventures here. Chasers: Thanks for waiting and sorry for being late, muddy conditions and a flat tire hampered our progress.

Check the activity report and video here.

​Many thanks to our chasers:

• 12:22z - YO8RAA - 144MHz/FM
• 12:22z - YO8SCV - 144MHz/FM
• 12:23z - YO8SKY - 144MHz/FM
• 12:24z - YO8BDV - 144MHz/FM
• 12:24z - YO8SSH - 144MHz/FM
• 12:24z - YO8SST/P - 144MHz/FM
• 12:24z - YO8SSX - 144MHz/FM
• 12:25z - YO8SS/P - 144MHz/FM
• 12:25z - YO8SSA/P - 144MHz/FM
• 12:26z - YP8XMAS - 144MHz/FM
• 12:29z - YO8RAA - 433MHz/FM
• 12:29z - YO8SCV - 433MHz/FM
• 12:29z - YO8SST/P - 433MHz/FM
• 12:30z - YO8SXX - 433MHz/FM