FAQ

Questions, answered.

Pricing, radios and cabling, SSTV modes, and how this all relates to FT8AF. Still stuck? Open an issue on GitHub.

Getting it
Yes — the app is open source under the GPL-3.0 license, and you can download the signed APK free from the GitHub Releases page or build it yourself from source, with every feature unlocked and no account required. There's also an optional $3.50 one-time version on Google Play for one-tap install and automatic updates — the identical app, and a way to support development. Either way, every feature is included.
Yes — SSTV-AF is on Google Play for a one-time $3.50. It's the identical open-source app, delivered through the Play Store so it installs in one tap and updates itself automatically, and the purchase directly funds ongoing development. Prefer not to pay? The same app is always free as a signed APK from GitHub Releases.
If you installed from Google Play, updates arrive automatically in the background. If you sideloaded the APK, watch the Releases page or join the Discord — new builds are announced there, and you install each new APK yourself.
Download the latest .apk from GitHub Releases, tap it, and approve the one-time "install from this source" prompt Android shows. Then open SSTV-AF and grant the USB and microphone permissions. Full step-by-step instructions are on the Download page.
Radios & setup
Over 75 rig models across Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, Xiegu, Elecraft, FlexRadio, Lab599 and more — picked from a list in Settings along with control mode and audio device. Popular rigs like the Icom IC-7300 and Yaesu FT-891 are well supported. SSTV-AF inherits FT8AF's rig support, including ALC auto-leveling and an SWR-triggered TX halt. If your rig isn't listed, open an issue and let us know.
A single USB connection from your phone to the rig's USB port handles both CAT control and audio on most modern radios. Newer phones connect with a USB-C cable directly; older phones need a USB-OTG adapter. Your device must support USB host (OTG) mode.
Yes. SSTV-AF can decode from the phone's microphone, so you can hold it up to a speaker playing an SSTV signal — a WebSDR, a YouTube clip, another rig — and watch a picture come in. It's a good way to learn the interface before wiring up CAT control.
The classic HF SSTV watering holes are 14.230 and 14.233 MHz (20m), 7.171 MHz (40m), 3.845 MHz (80m), 21.340 MHz (15m) and 28.680 MHz (10m), all USB. On VHF, 144.500 MHz FM is common. Put your rig in USB (or FM on 2m) on one of these and you'll usually find activity, especially on weekends.
Modes, images & maps
The main families: Scottie 1 & 2, Martin 1 & 2, Robot 36 & 72, and PD 50, 90 & 120. On receive, the VIS header at the start of each transmission selects the mode automatically, so pictures just appear. On transmit, you choose the mode that fits the band and picture.
Every image you receive — and every one you send — is saved to a built-in gallery, stamped with the date, frequency and SSTV mode. You can scroll back through a whole session, tap any frame for the details, and share or export the ones worth keeping to your phone's photos.
Yes. When you log a contact you can enter the other station's grid square, and the map tab plots your worked stations and draws the great-circle path from your grid to each — with distance and US state borders. Pick miles or kilometers in Settings.
When you save a contact, SSTV-AF can auto-upload it to Cloudlog and Wavelog, and you can export your whole logbook to ADIF for any other logger. Each service is configured once in Settings and then runs in the background.
The project
SSTV-AF is built from FT8AF, our Android FT8 app — which is itself a fork of FT8CN. The rig CAT control, USB serial and audio, band picker, Material 3 theming and logbook all carry over; the FT8 engine is replaced with a clean-room SSTV codec. Huge credit to BG7YOZ, the original author of FT8CN, and N0BOY — the whole radio stack stands on their work.
SSTV-AF ships in 16 languages: English (the default), Greek, Spanish, Japanese, French, Russian, Chinese, Italian, Polish, Korean, Dutch, Czech, Turkish, Indonesian, Ukrainian, and Arabic (right-to-left). The app auto-detects your Android device locale and switches automatically. All translations are community-contributed — to add or improve a language, pull requests are welcome on GitHub.
It's built by Patrick Burns (K1AF) and Reid (N0RC) — the same crew behind FT8AF, much of it vibe-coded on I-70 on the way to Hamvention. Credit also to BG7YOZ and N0BOY, whose FT8CN work the radio stack is built on.
Please do. The code lives on GitHub — open an issue for bugs or feature ideas, send a pull request, or just star the repo to follow along. Field reports from real on-the-air use are especially welcome while the app is young.
That's the plan — development is active and ongoing as the SSTV codec fills out. Watch the Releases page or the repo for new builds. Want a nudge when something ships? Join the update list on the home page.

Still curious? Just try it.

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