Some operators get very creative, as did WB0UNB who sent the picture at left from St. Louis to my station on 12/8/00.
During the early days of SSTV, many pictures were of "girlie calendars", but today some operators send pictures they have captured of unusual sights, such as the ice-laden microwave tower (below, right) sent to me from WX7Y in Utah on 12/14/00.
And how about a gigantic bee? The one below certainly was colorful and interesting. It was received here at my station in Amarillo, Texas from WB9VCL in Mexico, Indiana.
SSTV also proves that ham radio can work with the Internet: Sometimes stations send a received picture via e-mail so the distant ham can see exactly how well his transmission was received. Received pictures are also sometimes recorded by a "SSTV Cam" like the one operated by WD7F This is how he posted two of my own SSTV pictures sent from my station in Amarillo and received by him in Tucson, Arizona:
Several hams are now experimenting with QRP (very low power) when sending pictures! Here are two which KF6HQC sent me from California-- using only 5 watts with his Yaesu FT-817 "Backpack" transceiver (measuring only 5.31" wide x 1.5" high x 6.5" deep).
This was an evening transmission on 14.230 MHz with around a S-5 reading of noise on receive here in Amarillo. As you can see, the pictures are almost "Closed Circuit", the slow-scan term for a picture with quality which would be present if sent through a wired connection.
SSTV is unique among the ham radio modes-- in that it gives the operators a big incentive to experiment with digital photography and computer creations-- although any type of picture is usually appreciated. The same evening KF6HQC sent the above with his 5 watts, I sent him this one-- which he returned to me via the Internet:
The only part of its creation I can claim is the layout and my call letters-- the picture was borrowed :-)
Why not just send the picture via e-mail in the first place? That would eliminate the challenge and all the fun!