Amateur looking for some help

[erncamsa]

Hello everyone,

I must first admit that I have an extreme lack of knowledge for anything radio related, so I'm looking here for some help.
I apologize in advance if my questions are too stupid and offend anyone.

I'm an art student working on a project, where I basically want to send a few images, in the form of sound waves, into outer space. I've emailed a large number of space observatories and other SETI-related institutions/individuals and have received no response.

So I've decided to take the matter in my own hands.

I've been doing some research but haven't really found anything that answers all of my questions.
I know radio waves can travel thousands of mile in space, but they have to be a certain frequency.

I'm stuck. I don't know where to start, or what to do next.
I've considered plugging an ipod to a two-way radio and sending that up on a weather balloon. (You may now laugh at my ignorance).

If any of you could please help me in any way, to try and find a way to do this, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks again.

[5B4AJB]

Have a look for MMSSTV, good slowscan TV software.
If you want something simpler, try Chirppix.

I have used pre-rendered images in the form of MP3 for quick CQ's, beacons, replies etc.

All radio waves travel through space. Our atmosphere reflects most of them back to Earth.
The higher in frequency you go, the less they spread out, ie:- laser light is high frequency.
Once you have enough power to cut through our ionised layer, or are in orbit, they travel relatively unhindered.

Your limiting factor is licensing, any more than a few milliwatts requires some kind of license.
Transmitting whilst airborne is not generally allowed in Europe.

Saying all that, a big part of our hobby is making contact with as little power as possible, QRP. Picture modes don't fare too well at low power levels though.
It is possible to encode a data stream to represent a small image, but I think your best bet is a looped chirppix image.
A frequency waterfall set at (nearly) the right speed will show the image without being encoded in any way, plus, it can use a very simple transmitter.

Have a look at http://qsl.net/5b4ajb/WFcalc.zip, a calculator for making Chirppix images.
Chirppix.exe is part of http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/hdsstv/teste1.html#digtrx.

[KM3F]

We need to get a better feel for exactly what your needs are so a good way can be reccomended.
First are the photos to be sent from earth or from a platform of some type back to earth?.
Are they intended to be transmitted from earth then repeated back again to some receiving point?
Once you get this down, a way and legal issues can be addressed.
For instance, model Radio Control equipment might be a way without legal issues involving a lisc.
There are many miniture cameras, R/C equipment etc to be conidered once you get the needs figured out..
Understand there will be expense to accomplish this and even some possability of some failed attempts before success.
Good luck.