SSTV sends and receives Slow-Scan Television images on Ubuntu Touch. It is vibe coded using AI by PC1K.

What is SSTV?

SSTV is a way of sending a still picture as a sequence of audio tones. It is commonly used by amateur (ham) radio operators over voice radio channels. This app handles the audio encoding and decoding: TX plays an SSTV image through the phone speaker, while RX listens through the microphone and reconstructs an incoming image. You can also try it acoustically between devices without connecting a radio. Using SSTV over radio requires separate radio equipment and compliance with the rules that apply where you operate.

Transmit

TX supports Scottie S1, Robot 36 and Robot B/W 8. Select a picture or use the bundled default image, rotate and crop it to fill the SSTV frame without black borders, optionally add a callsign, then transmit through the phone speaker.

Receive

RX listens through the microphone and automatically detects Scottie S1, Robot 36 and Robot B/W 8 from their VIS header. The received image is drawn progressively as scan lines arrive, saved internally as PNG when complete, and can be exported through Content Hub.

Other features

- Automatic VIS mode detection for supported RX modes
- Progressive line-by-line receive preview
- Callsign overlay for transmitted images
- 0, 90, 180 and 270 degree image rotation
- Aspect-ratio-preserving crop that fills the transmitted frame
- Persistent callsign, TX mode, rotation and appearance settings
- Light and dark themes
- Confined Ubuntu Touch integration

TX encoding uses libsstv. RX decoding is implemented natively using the documented slowrx mode and VIS design as reference material.

MIT No Attribution

Copyright 2026 Barry de Graaff

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
