"Roger Conroy" wrote in message
...

You might want to take a look at Slow Scan TV. It is
potentially faster than packet but does require some
specialized equipment.

All it takes these days is a laptop with a soundcard and a cable with a
couple of resistors in it. Not all that specialized. Well, OK, if you want
to do it right you need another cable with a transistor and a resistor. If
you would prefer a pretty box to something homebrew you could go out and buy
a RigBlaster or something along those lines. Works just as well on VHF as
HF. There are plenty of RigBlaster clones out there, and some of them cost
less than you pay for the box.

I tend to wince a little at getting a commercial interface because I'm
inclined to prefer melting solder, and it's terribly simple. But these
interfaces are awfully cheap, and having it all in a neat little box is
probably worth it.

Most of the common software includes the wiring diagrams in the help files,
and they pretty much all show the same circuit. The only thing the least
little bit tricky, and the commercial boxes won't help you with this, is
setting the input level. You need resistors or a pot between the laptop and
the mike input of your radio. The level needed varies A LOT from rig to
rig, and you need to get the level down to where the rig won't distort the
audio. This will take some tinkering. With FM, a deviation meter might be
handy to do this, but you can probably get close by having someone listen to
your audio. A lot of repeaters will report your deviation given some touch
tone beeps. Don't be thinking more audio is better - it's decidedly worse.
This is probably even more true on FM than on SSB. All you need is enough
to be clear on the other end.

Take a peek at MMSSTV, which is probably the most popular SSTV program and
it's free. MixW is another popular one ... it's shareware, and it's not as
good for SSTV as MMSSTV, but it does about every mode known to man, so it
does give you a chance to experiment a bit. I think you can use it for some
period of time before it starts nagging you to pay, so you can get a feel
for whether it's worth it.

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