HAMTV from the ISS - Revision history

M0DNY: /* Social media */

2026-04-18T02:06:04Z

Social media

2025-10-11T14:31:58Z

Relevant Presentations and Video

2025-10-11T14:29:54Z

Youtube videos

2025-10-02T00:51:36Z

How can I build my own ground station to receive HAMTV?

2025-09-20T09:41:33Z

Transmission Details

2025-09-20T09:41:17Z

2025-08-30T12:20:58Z

Components of a typical ground station

2025-08-30T00:14:00Z

How can I build my own ground station to receive HAMTV?

2025-08-30T00:07:11Z

How can I watch HAMTV? (without a ground station)

2025-08-30T00:05:52Z

Social media

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 ARISS International on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/arissintl.bsky.social
-Join and ask questions in the ARISS Discord: https://discord.gg/dQUEE48C
+Join and ask questions in the ARISS Discord: https://discord.gg/MjhZeQWc
 ==BATC forum==

@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 Next generation HamTV presentation by Phil M0DNY at the AMSAT UK conference in October 2023: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQvRdG1FBo4 YouTube]
-HamTV Ground Stations presentation by Phil M0DNY in October 2024:
+HamTV Ground Stations presentation by Phil M0DNY in October 2024: [ YouTube (coming soon)] [https://wiki.batc.org.uk/images/c/cd/M0DNY_-_HAMTV_-_AMSAT-UK_2025.pdf Slides]
 ==Comments on this wiki page==
 If you have any comments on this wiki page or if you think we should add more information to it, please email them to wiki @ batc.tv

@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 A lot of information is available on the BATC forum: https://forum.batc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4389
-==Youtube videos==
+== Relevant Presentations and Video ==
-Colin G4KLB made a video on how he received HamTV in 2014
+Colin G4KLB on how he received HamTV in 2014: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9keVA21DPBc YouTube]
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9keVA21DPBc
+Video of HamTV in action during the Tim Peake Principia mission contact with Norwich schools in 2016: [https://youtu.be/DnJmxNCX4V4?si=RySuD0ft1Bcl1nTN YouTube]
-Video of HamTV in action during the Tim Peake Principia mission contact with Norwich schools in 2016.
+G8GTZ on receiving HAMTV at the AMSAT UK conference in October 2023: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J_JA3Syv6Y YouTube]
-https://youtu.be/DnJmxNCX4V4?si=RySuD0ft1Bcl1nTN
+Next generation HamTV presentation by Phil M0DNY at the AMSAT UK conference in October 2023: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQvRdG1FBo4 YouTube]
-G8GTZ presentation on receiving HAMTV at the AMSAT UK conference in October 2023
+HamTV Ground Stations presentation by Phil M0DNY in October 2024:
 ==Comments on this wiki page==
 If you have any comments on this wiki page or if you think we should add more information to it, please email them to wiki @ batc.tv

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:51, 2 October 2025
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	'''For more information read: [[HAMTV from the ISS - How to build a ground station]]'''		'''For more information read: [[HAMTV from the ISS - How to build a ground station]]'''
		+
		+	== Can I help support HAMTV downlinks for ARISS Educational Contacts? ==
		+
		+	To assist our volunteer teams with providing a reliable HAMTV experience for the participants at Educational Contact events, a Ground Station Merger facility has been developed to crowd-source the HAMTV data in realtime from geographically diverse ground stations.
		+
		+	Before getting involved you'll need to have a reliable station up and running, however there are also some requirements on the equipment involved that can be found at the link below.
		+
		+	'''[[HAMTV from the ISS - How to contribute to the ARISS Merger]]'''

	=Social media=		=Social media=

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 Whilst the transmitter has a number of possible configurations, it is anticipated that most transmissions will be:
-* RF: 2395 MHz, RHCP, 2W power at the patch antenna pointing down from the ISS.
+* 2395 MHz, RHCP, 2W power at the patch antenna pointing down from the ISS.
 * Modulation: 2.0 Msymbols/second, DVB-S (QPSK), FEC 1/2
 * Content: MPEG-2 video with MP2 audio.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 __NOTOC__
 [[File:HAMTV 1.jpg|400px|right]] HAMTV is the name of the Digital Amateur Television (DATV) transmitter on board the Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS). It is a DVB-S digital audio and video transmitter, normally on 2395MHz (13cm band).
 The HamTV unit was first installed on the ISS in 2013, commissioned in April 2014 and was used for a number of ARISS school contacts in 2016 - 2018.

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 === Components of a typical ground station ===
-* Antenna - Typically a dish of 0.6-1.2 meters in diameter, needs some motion mechanism to point and follow the space station across the sky.
+* Antenna - Typically a dish of 0.6-1.2 meters in diameter, with a helix or patch feed.
-* Feed - Typically a helix or patch.
+* Pointing Mechanism - to follow the ISS across the sky. Can be motorised, or manual for smaller antennas.
-* LNA - Required, and mounted as close as possible to minimise coax loss at microwave frequencies.
+* LNA - Required, and mounted as close as possible to the antenna feed to minimise coax loss at microwave frequencies.
 * Filter - May be required to prevent overload if you have strong WiFi (2400MHz+) or 5G (2380MHz-) nearby.
 * Downconverter - Optional, allows use of non-microwave capable receivers, also reduces loss in long coax runs.

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 Building a ground station to receive HAMTV from the ISS is challenging.
-The link budget is a lot less forgiving of non-optimal stations than VHF/UHF, the 'microwave' frequency brings lots of pitfalls, the equipment can be expensive and/or hard to source, and the limited visibility and fast movement of the space station across the sky can make it time-consuming and frustrating to troubleshoot any problems that occur.
+The link budget is a lot less forgiving of non-optimal stations than VHF/UHF, the high 'microwave' frequency brings lots of pitfalls, the equipment can be expensive and/or hard to source, and the limited visibility and fast movement of the space station across the sky can make it time-consuming and frustrating to troubleshoot any problems that occur.
 The result however is being able to receive live video from an Astronaut (during school contacts), with your own S-band ground station! You could also talk to ARISS Ops about joining the ground station network and using your antenna to contribute directly to School Contacts.

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 == How can I watch HAMTV? (without a ground station) ==
-A network of ARISS ground stations contribute to a central feed to enable high-quality reception for School Contacts, when stations are active you can watch this here: https://live.ariss.org/hamtv/
+A network of ARISS ground stations contribute to a central feed using the BATC Merger to enable high-quality reception for School Contacts. You can watch the video output whenever ground stations are receiving the signal.
 == How can I build my own ground station to receive HAMTV? ==

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 =Social media=
-Follow ARISS international on twitter for the latest status updates
+ARISS international on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ARISS_Intl
-https://twitter.com/ARISS_Intl
+ARISS International on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/arissintl.bsky.social
 ==BATC forum==
@@ Line 60: / Line 62: @@
 Please post any questions, comments and status updates here: https://forum.batc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8398
-A lot of information is available on the BATC forum:
+A lot of information is available on the BATC forum: https://forum.batc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4389
 ==Youtube videos==