Slow-scan Television

The nature of the SSTV chapters was to emphasize off-the-shelf interfaces and operation, so there are no construction projects to support. As such, the ICH Slow-scan pages will be devoted to treating other subjects of interest that, for various reasons, could not be included in the book. The pages linked below reflect a variety of topics in this area.

• Fax480 is a high-resolution image mode I developed to compliment the many other SSTV image modes presently in use. This is a linked series of pages devoted to various aspects of the Fax480 mode.

• SSTV modes takes a brief look at the history of SSTV and how it relates to the development of the many grayscale and color modes now in use.

• SSTV DX provides some examples of DX stations I have worked on SSTV. If you think you need large antennas and high power to work DX on slow scan, you should check out what I have been able to work using just five watts!

•  High Resolution Color SSTV. One of the more interesting developments in recent years is a series of SSTV modes that permit the transmission of much higher resolution color images. These pictures take significantly longer to transmit than normal SSTV color images and thus are rarely seen on bands such as 20 meters. When conditions are good on the higher frequency bands, such as 15 and 10 meters, you can get some spectacular results.

 
• Ever wonder how the various SSTV systems would perform, head-to-head, when it comes to weak-signal performance? The SSTV Testing page describes an accurate (and fair!) test procedure, long with the results of noise testing of three popular systems - Pasokon Classic, WinPix Pro, and CromaPix.

 
• Stereo (3D) Photography Lots of folks like to mess with sending stereo (3D) pictures via slow-scan. The results are highly variable and often hardly worth the effort. Here is a set of pages, based on decades of involvement in stereo photography, that can teach you the basics of 3D photography. If you are going to send 3D pictures, do it right!

•  VHF/UHF SSTV . Around the country there is considerable local SSTV activity on FM on both 2 meters and 70 cm. This page explores the long-haul potential for SSTV using 2 meter SSB.

•  Great Lakes SSTV Net . An active group of analog and digital slow-scanners that gather on two-meter SSB (144.175 MHz). 

Progress in Digital SSTV

Digital SSTV had not quite progressed far enough to justify inclusion in the First Edition of the Image Communications Handbook, but now represents an option you may wish to consider. This link will let you download a PDF file of my QST article on the subject: