The hardware for a system to transmit digital TV over the over the amateur radio station on the ISS was carried aboard the Japanese HTV cargo module recently launched to the station .
There has been slow scan TV but not true video over the ISS ham system. This document gives the history and status of efforts to implement video transmission : Ham Video: A DATV transmitter on Columbus – AMSAT.org – 2013 (pdf).
From the latest AMSAT News Bulletin:
HamTV Transmitter Launched to ISS
On Saturday, August 3 at 1948 UT the Japanese HTV-4 cargo vessel was successfully launched to the International Space Station (ISS). On-board was the HamTV transmitter and a number of CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads.
The Japanese space agency JAXA has announced details of four CubeSats on the launch. They will be deployed from the ISS by the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) between October 2013 and
March 2014.
The four CubeSats are:
• PicoDragon a 1U CubeSat developed by Vietnam National Satellite Center(VNSC), University of Tokyo, IHI aerospace. CW beacon on 437.250 MHz and 1k2 AFSK AX.25 telemetry on 437.365 MHz
• ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X 1U CubeSats developed by Nanorack, NanoSatisfi. ArduSat-1 437.325 MHz 9k6 MSK CCSDS downlink. ArduSat-X 437.345MHz 9k6 MSK CCSDS downlink.
• TechEdSat-3 a 3U CubeSat developed by NASA Ames Research Center
The company NanoRack has announced it is sending 36 Units of CubeSats to the ISS (believed to be 26 separate CubeSats, some 2U or 3U in size). At the time of writing it is believed they will be going on a later cargo vessel.
The main mission of HamTV is to perform contacts between the astronauts on the ISS and school students, not only by voice, but also by unidirectional video from the ISS to the ground within the ARISS program.
The ESA Columbus module on the ISS will host the 2.4 GHz video transmitting station in addition to the existing 144 MHz FM amateur radio station. This new equipment can broadcast images from the ISS during the school contacts or other pre-recorded video images up to 24 hours a day to allow ground stations tuning.
It is planned to transmit DVB-S signals on 2.4 GHz at either 1.3Msps or 2.3Msps with 10 watts of RF.
The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have announced frequencies of 2422.0 MHz and 2437.0 MHz.
HamVideo is the name of the onboard DATV S-band transmitter. HamTV is the name of the complete system, comprising DATV downlink and VHF voice uplink. Kaiser Italia SRL was the prime-contractor for the design and development of the flight and ground segment
http://www.kayser.it/index.php/exploration-2/ham-tv
Read the HamTV overview paper here.
HamTV Link Budget
http://www.amsat.it/Amsat-Italia_HamTV.pdf
HamTV on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Hamtvproject
ARISS DATV Antennas Installed on Columbus
http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm
Spaceflight story – Japan’s HTV-4 launches supplies and science to
the ISS http://tinyurl.com/ANS-216-C