Memory's

Tony Writes :

MY HISTORY WITH SSTV.

My first exposure to SSTV was in my last day's of the CB era and I had started my Novice Amateur Radio studies back around the late 70's.

Les VK6WL (SK) from Bunbury came to show our group of novices what SSTV was all about...this was when the mode was first popular and it was a dedicated passion where one had to build your own decoder and encoder to receive the Images on a 6 inch green phosphorous tube, and it took 8 seconds to show an image! However the bug hit home and after gaining my Novice licence I was shown SSTV Images in all their glory in colour and it was much quicker scan times depending on the modes used, I was hooked.

SSTV software was then easy to download and install with many different sites available on line, most popular was software called MMSSTV by Mako Mori which had a very user friendly help files for the beginner.

This software is still one of the most popular programs used all over the world for Analogue Image transmissions. In later years and with the development of DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) Digital software became popular with the SSTV enthusiasts with one of the most popular program called EasyPal and was developed right here in Gimpy North Queensland by Erik Sundstrup (SK) This program has been translated into many different languages all over the world and so far its still the most popular Digital SSTV program since Erik's passing in 2014.

There are many stations and clubs all all over Australia using this software so if you do a Google search you will be amazed how much SSTV is being enjoyed by the operators and the interesting content of the Images sent and received.

In Western Australia, our group of SSTV enthusiasts run an SSTV session every afternoon at 0800 UTC on 7.214 MHz LSB or on 3.360 MHz LSB when propagation on 40 Meters is not working.

Our local Group known as the “WA SSTV.NET GROUP” have a very informative Web Page where software can be downloaded for free and also has a contact form for anyone wanting to know more about our hobby or for help if needed.

The link to the groups web page is....www.wasstv.net

Interestingly we have a large group of SWL's who also copy our SSTV images and get involved in online reporting on Image quality, research and comment.
Our group of SSTV hobbyists cover a great part of Western Australia ranging from the Pilbara up North, down to Albany and even Interstate when propagation is working well.
Online SWL listeners report in from as far as Wales in the UK.

My contact details for any further information is:

Email via our Web Page contact form.

73 de VK6ATI.

Tony.