Firefighters calibrate the wavelength on their phones to identify and decode the transmitted SSTV images.
MIRI: The Lopeng Fire and Rescue station hosted the first Amateur Satellite of Malaysia (AMSAT-MY) Slow Scan TeleVision (SSTV) Party here recently, where the firefighters got the chance to try their hands at capturing and decoding SSTV images via smartphones.
Organised by the Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitters Society (Marts) and run by Amsat-My Sarawak in cooperation with Miri Amateur Radio Club (MARC), the activity was meant to expose the firefighters to SSTV and train them to use it.
For the AMSAT-MY SSTV Party, images were transmitted from Canada Hill. With the help of the ROBOT36 apps, which could be downloaded for free, these images could be sought and decoded via smartphones.
“The firefighters can make use of the SSTV in emergency situations,” said MARC chairman Vincent Lo.
“SSTV is one of the components in the communications system contributed by MARC to the Fire and Rescue stations in Lopeng and Marudi. It is used during operations in areas where there is no network coverage or mobile data connection.”
To date, the SSTV reception areas cover the Klang Valley, Penang, Bera in Pahang, Ledang in Johor, Jerai in Kedah, Kuala Pilah in Negeri Sembilan, Sandakan in Sabah, as well as Miri and Kuching in Sarawak.
The AMSAT-MY SSTV PARTY is not a contest – it is an activity to receive and decode SSTV images, based on a few simple instructions. The objective is to encourage amateur – or ‘ham’ – radio operators to decode the SSTV images.
This activity is also open to ‘Short Wave Listener’ (SWL).
To know more, go to amsat.my/web/.