IVCA Vision News No. 15

IVCA VISION NEWS LETTER
No.15 March 21- 2002

THE INTERNATIONAL VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION

Keeping Amateurs informed on Developments in Visual Communication around the world

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The Kenwood VC-H1 (some useful tips for fixed operation,big pictures and more storage etc.)

As we live In a small town that has no VHF or UHF SSTV operation I use the little VC-H1 hand held SSTV unit connected to my HF Kenwood transceiver using a special cable to the kenwoods TS-940 rear DIN socket and for fixed operation I use a power cube supply in place or the VC-H1 internal batteries. As the VC-H1 internal memory only stores 10 pictures we can also use an older model Sony DSC-F! digital cam with it's NTSC output using a special cable plugged in place of the removable kenwood VC-H1 cam. (this arrangement then permits a storage of 30 pictures with 640X480 with high quality or up to 108 snap shot quality in 640X480 using more JPG compression. I am also able to use a shielded cable connected to a large screen TV's video in-put using the VC-H1's NTSC video out to view SSTV on the large TV and the small TFT screens simultaneously. Note: If you have a computer capture card or capture device the SSTV pictures from the VC-H1 NTSC output can also be sent to and saved with the computer! (I have also used a capture card and my Sony DSC-F1 digital cam and also a camcorders NTSC output to make AVI video movie files and send them as v-mail on the web.) Perhaps if I just had the ATI All- in-Wonder video/ TV capture card installed with it's NTSC video in and video out functions I could then really do some cute stuff with the VC-H1! Ray W5NOO

Language Translation (do you need to see the VISION in your native language ?)

The foreign stations with limited English knowledge may wish to use one of the free programs to convert the IVCA news letters to any number or languages. If you go to the "Altavista Babel Fish" translation site located at the following URL http://help.altavista.com/babelfish/babel_faq and scroll down and type in the location URL for the VISION back history web site

that Frank DL1FH has located at http://www.sstv.de/News/news.html then with the use of the Babel search engine you can next click on the web page on any of the back VISION News copy links listed and they will be translated and displayed with your choice of language! (to obtain a print out of this I believe you will need the required language fonts installed, (As my knowledge of Japanese, German, etc. is limited I am unable to tell how accurate the translation is but would like to hear from any of the foreign stations and find out how this works for them and if they find it useful. Ray W5NOO

Computer Tips

To obtain SSTV pictures one useful method is the "Screen Grab" approach. Although you can use Windows I-E and Outlook Express to capture any graphic displayed in e-mail or on the web using a simple right mouse click with the mouse pointer on the picture. You can also use the key board "Print Screen" key to save the full screen to the Windows clip board and use a program like Paint Shop Pro's clip board function to view or save it etc.. However several more free windows programs can be used to capture what's on the monitor screen or just part of the screen like the "Area" or the "Full Screen" or "Client Area" or a "Window" or perhaps just the "Object" when using a program like Paint Shop Pro using it's capture functions. One more free screen grab or capture and print program "Hard Copy" is available at http://tucows.myriad.net/preview/994.html when down loaded and installed puts a small Icon in the task bar that you can left mouse click on to send the screen display to your printer or use a right mouse click to permit the various capture program functions to be used. (Note:The hard copy program permits a screen display location to also be saved in various styles or shapes like Square,Round,Triangular etc.using various formats like BMP.JPG etc. and using several types of compression settings!

Computer Clock Setting (the easy way)

A handy free program to set your computer clock when you go on line automatically is the "Dimension 4" program available for down load at http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/ it permits the synchronizing of your computer clock with a choice of several time standard locations. It checks and sets your clock on start-up and then goes away! If we could only just set SSTV program timing so easy!. (Note:accurate computer time is necessary with programs like Satellite Tracking etc.) Bad computer clock batteries can also fail to keep proper time settings when the power is off and some systems may also gain or loose clock time. Some computers have the battery as part of the mother board and this requires the mother board replacement for a battery repair..

Silent Key/Dark screen

We are sad to announce the death of Donald J. Rotier K0HEO age 69 of Rosevill, MN. that passed away March 11 2002.. An.active inventor who held 19 US Patents and was also the inventor of WINPIX PRO SSTV program. Don was an outstanding amateur that will be missed by friends and family.

Help Wanted

We still need some one to act as MC at the up and coming Dayton Hamvention, As I will be unable to attend contact me Ray W5NOO at ray@junct.com for details. We also need suggestions for candidates to fill the position as the new IVCA Director and Editor, contact me with names and or suggestions.ASAP ray@junct.com

Operating Suggestions

With the increased number of new operators that are joining the ranks using programs like MMSSTV etc. that request technical help to adjust timing or picture slope etc. Several have suggested that we have them move off the popular 14.230 frequency to a different frequency for this activity and free up 14.230 for picture use only. The practices of sending a graphic CQ using only a single SSTV frame should be avoided. (As we have more than 30 SSTV modes and due to weak signals or noise etc. the VIS code detection may not properly sync or start and display a picture.The CQ should be made first with voice giving the Call sign and location and SSTV mode to be used so receving stations can point beams at the calling station for improved signal strength and picture quality with the proper SSTV mode selected, .

Happy Viewing Ray W5NOO


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