Good front end. Either single band or dual band. CTCSS&DCS DTMF VFO front panel programable. 200 or more channels. If many channels, banks a big plus. FM, digital mode would be neat too but not a deal breaker. Narrow band capable. Must have VOX. Dual watch or recieve would be nice. Capable of 20-30 watts with a low power option of 10 watts or less(preferably 5). Remote head or a compact is a big plus. Recieve of commercial and public service VHF high would be nice as long as the front end isn't over loaded easily. No BCL enabled by default(darn TYT-9800).
What band does the ISS use for SSTV? There are people for whatever "reason" use PSK-31 on FM eventhough there are quicker text modes to use for that bandwidth.
We used to have a group that owned a repeater in the Waco area that was used for SSTV, they used to have a nightly net, I joined in a few times, it was a lot of fun. It does happen though I would agree not very common.
2 Meter Slow Scan TV Net - Monthly Hams in range of Appleton, WI are invited to check into the Fox Cities Amateur Radio Club (FCARC) SSTV net. The purpose of this net is to help hams learn, experiment and use Slow Scan TV in the quiet and safety of 2 meters. This net meets at 6 pm on a designated Sunday each month. We use the FCARC repeater frequency, 145.330 MHz with Tone 100.0. If that is busy, we will use the SSTV national calling frequency for 2 meter simplex which is 145.500 MHz.