Jason Meyers (KC2TDS) and I (N2QG) had a fun weekend receiving SSTV from the ISS. We tested many different radio/antenna configurations. Along the way, we once again found out that Amazon “China-Special” connectors are worthless. I’m trashing any connectors in my adapter box that are not real AMPs!
The real interesting finding from this weekend’s campaign was that the SDR-RTL (fancy version) does slightly better for this application than an AOR AR5000, ICOM IC-R7000, and Yaesu FT-736R! We also tried the FunCube+ Pro against the SDR-RTL against weak terrestrial signals, and saw just a tiny bit extra SNR (the FunCube+ Pro has dedicated SAW filters).
Antennas used: 2MCP8A and log-periodic on Yaesu 5500 rotator, and eggbeater with Mirage preamp.
