In this issue

Editorial............................................................. 2
News & World Roundup......................................3
Contest Results.................................................. 7
Grass Valley Mixer Conversions ­ Part 7............. 8
RSSI Field Strength Meter Re­Visited............... 11
Apollo 11 ­ 50 years ago...................................13
Boulder TV Repeater Rebuild Update................16
Micro Corner ­ Easy Debugging Board ­ Part 1..19
Pike’s Peak, SOTA, DVB­T, DXpedition..............22
UK only VHF Contest ­ June 2019..................... 26
North German ATV Meeting 2019 ­ A Review....27
One from the vault........................................... 30
Information......................................................32
Coming up........................................................ 33

Production Team
Ian Pawson G8IQU Trevor Brown G8CJS
Terry Mowles VK5TM Jim Andrews KH6HTV

Contributing Authors
Jim Andrews KH6HTV Trevor Brown G8CJS
Peter Cossins VK3BFG John Hudson G3RFL
Rainer Mueller DM2CMB Clive Reynolds G3GJA
Mike Stevens G7GTN

CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 1

 Editorial I will not spoil it for you, Trevor has the full story in this
issue.

Clive Reynolds G3GJA, BATC Contests Manager has the

results for the IARU International ATV Contest held over the
8th and 9th June 2019 and also in this magazine the results
for BATC contest for 2m & 4m ATV held concurrently.

Congratulations to Martin for taking first place in the 4m

section and Noel G8GTZ who just secured first place with a
dual site entry of five contacts from Colin G4KLB with just 2
points less in the 2m section.

Trevor is still working on his GVG mixer panel and its I2C
interface. Trevor now has a whole host of push buttons
working and is still singing the praises of Annex Basic and the
ESP8266 module which it is driving. Next issue he promises
connection to the outside world! Keep watching and looking
for a panel. Unfortunately no more seem to have surfaced on
eBay, but we all live hope. You can see the buttons working
on the CQ­DATV facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/285807174898375/

Peter Cossins VK3BFG and John Hudson G3RFL have revisited

the article in CQ­DATV 54 for a using an AD 8318 module as
a power meter. Yes it was ahead of its time with a bandwidth
of 1MHz to 8GHz and has a logarithmic detector providing a
Photo credit: NASA DC output voltage ranging from about 0.6V to 2.18V. Not
wishing to spoil the project, its enough to say it was worth a
I am sure it cannot have escaped anyone’s attention that its second visit.
50 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the
moon! Perhaps those of us that are old enough can Jim KH6HTV has been working portable on Pikes Peak which
remember where they were when we heard the immoral is the highest mountain in the southern part of the front
words "the Eagle has landed". It was watched by an range of the Rocky mountains. It is 14,115 ft. high and
estimated TV audience of over 600 million viewers. What you towers over the city of Colorado Springs at 6,000 ft. That
may not know is the TV pictures from the moon were 320 does sound like an ideal spot to go portable with ATV. Jim has
line, 10 frames per second, relayed back to earth via a also been working on improving the Boulder TV repeater,
500KHz bandwidth link. together with Don, N0YE.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 2
They have added a quad HDMI switcher box that has RS 232 News and World Round-up
control. Don has written some Arduino code to control the
RS232 interface. Sotherby’s Quad tapes

While on the subject of computer code, Micro Corner is back! A set of original
Mike G7GTN has put a compendium of projects together from videotape recordings
a debug board, a logic probe and an I2C VGA generator all in of the Apollo 11
this issue. Welcome back Micro corner. Moon landing that
were bought for
We also have a report by Rainer Mueller, DM2CMB from East $217.77 at a
Germany which featured a QO­100 3 cm RX demo with a government surplus
converted LNB. Es´hail­2/QO­100 was also the focus of the auction by a former
lecture programme, but not to be out done Hubertus Rathke, NASA intern in the
DC1OP, showed everyone how to generate the DATV signal 1970s have sold at
with the Raspberry Pi. auction for $1.82M.

Again we have one from the vault, which was first published The un­­restored, un­enhanced and un­remastered tapes are
in CQ­DATV issue 6 and has Trevor looking about the new 4k described as “the earliest, sharpest, and most accurate
television standard and what we could expect in the future. surviving video images of man’s first steps on the moon,” by
How quickly the future becomes the present and 4k is no auction house Sotheby’s.
longer something on the horizon, but something we can all
see demonstrated in any high street store. Has the world The tapes, which have a run time of 2 hours and 24 minutes,
moved so far in just 68 issues of CQ­DATV. had a pre­sale estimate of $1 million to $2 million. The
artifacts were auctioned in New York on Saturday, the 50th
Where will we be in another 68 issues time…. anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Viewed only three times since they were bought directly
As we always say, sit back and enjoy CQ­DATV 74. from NASA at the auction in 1976, the tapes are the only
surviving first­generation recordings of Neil Armstrong’s first
From the CQ­DATV production team steps on the Moon, according to the auction house.

Please note: articles in this magazine are provided One of the original
with absolutely no warranty whatsoever; neither the videotapes of the Apollo
contributors nor CQ­DATV accept any responsibility or 11 Moon landing.
liability for loss or damage resulting from readers (Sotheby's)
choosing to apply this content to theirs or others
computers and equipment.

CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 3

 News and World Round-up ctd... ­ Shipping to all other international customers is US$35.00

DATV­Express Project ­ MiniTiouner­Express The project team will fix the website typo on EU shipping
Update costs.
73…de KenW6HHC
All MiniTiouner­Express RX assemblies are depleted at the UK
distribution location. More stock should arrive in UK July DATV reception of low symbol rates (RB­TV)
26th. from QO­100

The MiniTiouner­Express PayPal function is DISABLED until Helmut Schroeder, DG3KHS (DB0KO­Sysop), at AGAF online
these units are in the hands of Charles G4GUO. forum

The DATV­Express Project website for ordering both DATV­ Hello DATV enthusiasts, the digital TV receiver “SF8008
Express TX units and MiniTiouner­Express RX units is located Single” from Octagon and also various Dreamboxes with the
at: www.DATV­Express.com Si2166D tuner and the current firmware are able to receive
low symbol rates down to 250 KS/s.
1. Make sure that you have registered on the website.
2. Log­in before you try to go to the PURCHASE page The Octagon can receive DVB­S and ­S2 and decodes H.264
3. Click on the PURCHASE A PRODUCT link on the home page and H.265 video signals, but the frequency setting is not easy
­ smallest steps are 1 MHz, e.g. 10496 MHz.
A TYPO crept into the first website update to announce the
PayPal price for MiniTiouner­Express RX being purchased for It can happen that if there are several 333 KS/s signals, it
shipments to EU customers who order. locks on the stronger one. You can use a special transmitter
list to show every 333 KS/s signal without knowing the PIDs.
The website PURCHASE A PRODUCT page should say:
MiniTiouner­Express Orders to EU: MiniTiouners are bulk I own the RX for about 1 month now and am thrilled ­ it is of
shipped from USA to the UK. We then charge reduced course not comparable to the MiniTiouner.
shipping and prepay the VAT for the EU community. We
notice, however, due to the untracked shipping, delivery time I once created a station list for the QO­100, which you can
could be greater, usually 1 to 2 weeks for orders outside the import with the Openwebif of the RX under “Bouquet Editor”.
UK. The price for the MiniTiouner­Express assembly for EU
and UK customers is US$75 + $24 shipping including VAT.
Limit 1 board per order for European Union.

MiniTiouner Orders outside EU:

The price for the MiniTiouner­Express assembly is US$75 +
shipping.
­ Shipping in the USA is $7.00
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 4
 Peter Guelzow, DB2OS,
at the QO­100 ground
station of the AMSAT­DL
Bochum observatory
(Germany)

G7JTT (bottom center) and DG3KHS 2m reflector

parabol (bottom right) via QO­100 on the DB0KO ATV
repeater output (near Cologne) received there by two
“Digital Video Recorders” which filter automatically
for 333 resp. 500 KS/s signals

Awards for innovations community by developing and installing a narrowband

transponder WebSDR and a broadband transponder spectrum
At the RSGB Annual General Meeting in Birmingham on monitor (at Goonhilly earth station, Cornwall).
Saturday, April 27, 2019, two awards were presented for
work related to the amateur radio transponders on the Source: https://amsat­uk.org
geostationary satellite Es’hail­2 / QO­100.

The prestigious “Louis Varney Cup” for progress in space QO­100 ground station in Bochum
radio was awarded to Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, for his
leadership of the team responsible for the now operational Thilo Elsner, DJ5YM, head of the observatory in Bochum and
Qatar­OSCAR­100 mission. member of the board of AMSAT­DL, is pleased: “The
operation of the ground station for this special satellite
The Fraser Shepherd Award for radio microwave applications project is a challenge for us and makes us proud. Above all,
was presented to Dave Crump G8GKQ, Phil Crump M0DNY, however, this development confirms that Bochum was the
Noel Matthews G8GTZ and Graham Shirville G3VZV for right choice for the location of “esero Deutschland”.
providing access to the QO­100 for the entire amateur radio
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 5
It is the ESA Space Education Office, which was founded last
year with the participation of the Ruhr University, the Bochum
Observatory and other partners. Within the framework of
“esero”, we are looking forward to establishing contact with
the world via “our” satellite QO­100 in the coming years from
South America through Europe and the Arabian Peninsula to
Asia ­ i.e. from the North Pole to Antarctica ­ and to using it
for radio experiments, international understanding as well as
education and training of schools and universities. The
possibility of transmitting not only speech but also pictures
and videos is particularly attractive. For example, the
(almost) worldwide transmission of astronomical observation
data from a telescope is planned”.

Thanks are due to all those who made the project possible in
principle, but also to the members of AMSAT­DL who
prepared and accompanied the commissioning of the
technology at the ground stations in Doha (Qatar) and
Bochum.

Source: https://www.darc.de

Translations by Klaus, DL4KCK www.agaf.de

CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 6

 Contest Results
Supplied by Clive Reynolds G3GJA, BATC Contests
Manager

Results for the IARU International ATV Contest held over the
8th& 9th June 2019

These are for the IARU section only and the separate BATC
contest for 2m & 4m, held concurrently, are elsewhere in this
issue.

Re­publication of CQ­DATV magazine material is encouraged

as long as source credit is properly given.

Exception: “Reprinted by permission” material must have

the original publisher’s/authors permission.

CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 7

 Grass Valley Mixer Conversions - Part 7 if B=1 and e=254 then let q = q+64 'if key 0 pressed
turn on
Written By Trevor Brown G8CJS if B=1 and e=253 then let q = q+16 'if key 1 pressed
Pleased to report that since I turn on
switched from ESP BASIC to if B=1 and e=251 then let q = q+4 'if key 2 pressed
Annex BASIC, I have had no turn on
problems with the ESP 8266 if B=1 and e=247 then let q = q+1 'if key 3 pressed turn
module talking to my PC. It on
connects first time every time
and has allowed me to get on gosub strobeq
with developing the code. gosub strobeo
gosub strobet
I now have all three banks PST, PGM and KEY responding. return
When you press the buttons the lights come on and latch. I
know this sounds like a small step, but it was an even bigger When working with any of the three banks you need to clear
problem than I first thought. all the lights in that bank before you add the new selection.
The data for each key button is not stored in the same latch,
My original plan of soft latches stored as programme so this clear code routine needs to be in every one of the soft
variables and updated with key presses and then their latch update routines that has KEY info. It could have been a
contents moved to the GVG hardware latches worked. The subroutine and I may yet adopt that approach, but for the
detector for deciding if a lamp is illuminated and then and moment I am just trying to make it work and I have already
only then to subtract the correct value that will turn it off, had the Annex warning “too many nested subroutines” so I
was a problem and I am indebted to someone known as have repeated its code.
“BUGS” who came up with a solution via the Annex forum.
Each soft latch needs partitioning into separate sub routines
Code for Storing a KEY Press in the soft latch and for the bits with KEY info, the bits with PGM and again the
clearing the other key presses from that bank or group bits with PST information. That is the only way to ensure that
only KEY, PGM or PST latches only get cleared by that
if (q AND 64) <> 0 then let q = q­64 'if key 0 lit turn off subroutine! It took a while for that penny to drop, but I now
if (q AND 16) <> 0 then let q = q­16 'if key 1 lit turn off have my head around it.
if (q AND 4) <> 0 then let q = q ­4 'if key 2 lit turn off
if (q AND 1) <> 0 then let q = q ­1 'if key 3 lit turn off At the end of each soft latch routine is a gosub routine called
if (o AND 2) <> 0 then let o = o ­2 'if key 4 lit turn off strobe and the latch letter, this calls another long­winded
if (o AND 1) <> 0 then let o = o ­1 'if key 5 lit turn off subroutine that updates the hard latch in the GVG panel via
if (o AND 8) <> 0 then let o = o ­8 'if key 6 lit turn off the I2C bus. It does produce a latch strobe, but it also moves
if (o AND 4) <> 0 then let o = o ­4 'if key 7 lit turn off the data. I have repeated the code for every latch, just
if (t AND 8) <> 0 then let t = t­ 8 'if key 8 lit turn off changed the soft latch address containing the data and the
if (t AND 32) <> 0 then let t = t­ 32 'if key 9 lit turn off address of the hard latch.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 8
It might be possible to come up with a more compact This may or may not be a problem as we add external
algorithm that updates all the latches once a key has been hardware to the mixer and set the functions of the buttons,
pressed, but again, this routine works. Once the programme which may or may not be the function etched on the key. It
is running I can try refining the code if we are staying with would be wonderful to find a source of blank key­tops and to
BASIC. get them custom etched with more fitting functions E.G. turn
24cms TX on or video insert 1, but it’s early days yet and
Code for Strobe Routine having mastered the soft latch storage that enables more
strobeq: ' move the soft latch q into hard latch 03 than one button to be illuminated in any group or bank, if
i2c.begin PRT1 ' switch all maps off required then we can change the software.
i2c.write tristate
i2c.end Code for writing to a GVG latch direct
i2c.begin PRT4 ' load Q contents onto data bus '­­­­­yellow buttons no memory cannot read latches­­own
i2c.write Q strobe within the routine­­­­­­
i2c.end tran:
i2c.begin PRT3 ' Address hard latch if B=5 and e = 223 then let z = 2 'Transition wipe
i2c.write 03 if B=5 and e = 191 then let z = 8 ' Transition mix
i2c.end if B=6 and e = 191 then let z = 1 ' Fade to Black
i2c.begin PRT1 ' Control port 'if B=6 and e =254 then let Z =16 ' KEY1
i2c.write lamps ' load hard latch with Q 'if B=6 and e =253 then let z =32 ' KEY
i2c.end 'if B=6 and e =251 then let z= 64 ' BKGD
i2c.begin PRT1 ' switch lamp map off
i2c.write tristate i2c.begin PRT1 'strobe routine to move data to GVG latch
i2c.end
return i2c.write tristate 'no command
i2c.end
For the GVG buttons that control the Yellow and Orange i2c.begin PRT4 ' Data bus
buttons, I have written directly to the GVG latch without i2c.write z ' Y address
going through the process of first writing to a soft latch and i2c.end
then updating from the soft latch or variable as it is called in i2c.begin PRT3 ' Address bus
programming. This produces code that is simple to follow and i2c.write 5 ' X address
is only stored in the GVG hardware where it cannot be read. i2c.end
i2c.begin PRT1 ' Control port
This removes the need to clear the latch before you add a i2c.write lamps ' Scan lamps
key press as all the information is stored in a single latch so i2c.end
that when we add a new key press it automatically removes i2c.begin PRT1 ' Control port
the existing data. This restricts us to only one button being i2c.write tristate ' Scan buttons
latched in any group of buttons. i2c.end
return
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 9
I have taken on board Ian’s description of “Beginners Awfully
Slow Idiot Code” and as I originally stated in the first edition
of this series of articles, I am just using BASIC to explore the
panel, but now we have Annex BASIC it’s a big improvement
on the BASIC of the 70’s. It does not need to be fast as we
are only responding to button presses and at the moment, for
all the code I have written, it is not creaking! Push a button
and the response is instant as for idiot code I think I belong Lots of general purpose PCF 8574 I2C modules around.
to the KISS generation if it works. People can understand it In the next issue I will be adding some I/O routines to this
and more importantly, customise it to their own project so we can press the various the buttons and do
requirements, then we are on to a winner. something rather than just admiring the way the lamps light!

The code is on the CQ­DATV site so you can download it and The complete BASIC software can be downloaded from
read it in notepad, or import it into Annex and develop it https://cq­datv.mobi/downloads.php.
further. I have added lots of comments in order that you can
follow it, refine it and customise it. The only problem you To save you looking back at previous issues, here is the key
have is finding a panel and putting the interface hardware map
together. On this front, Mike G7GTN designed my PCB
interface, but there are alternative modules around that will
plug PC8574 mounted PCB’s together for I2C operation, just
ask Google.

CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 10

 RSSI Field Strength Meter Re-Visited
Written by Peter Cossins VK3BFG and John Hudson
G3RFL

An article in CQ­DATV 54 by John Hudson G3RFL caught my

attention as I was looking for such a device to assist with
antenna and other measurements I like to make occasionally.
John described a Field Strength Meter using an AD 8318
Module.

As a first step I purchased an AD8318 module for about

$18AU from ebay. This module has a bandwidth of 1MHz to
8GHz and is a logarithmic detector with a DC output voltage
ranging from about 0.6V to 2.18V. The IC is designed as a
controller for RF amplifiers with a dynamic range of 50dB.

Using my Rigol DFS815 Signal Generator as a calibrated RF

source I conducted a series of measurements at 1255MHz
logging DC output voltage Vs RF input power. I measured DC
output values with inputs from from 0dBm to ­80 dBm. Figure 1

I found the response to be linear from ­5dBm to about While the unit worked, the software did not produce an
­60dBm but with a slightly different slope to the theoretical accurate enough result. Looking at the Datasheet
ideal and 'y intercept' not through the origin as it should be. specification in hindsight this was not be surprising . Through
(See Figure 1). the Editor of CQ­DATV I was able to make email contact with
John and I sent him my results. John was good enough to try
Later, looking at the Datasheet for the IC I find that the slope a number of modifications to the software to see if a better
can be between 21.5 and 25.5 mV/dB result could be made.

I produced a motherboard for a 3.5 inch TFT Display using After a number of attempts John settled on using a look table
G3RFL’s design as a guide. The PCB is singled sided with top approach. For this to occur I made measurements from 0dBm
straps and can be made using backyard techniques as I did. to ­65dBm in 1 dB steps at a frequency of 1225MHz and sent
the results to John.
I then downloaded G3RFL’s software file and using MPLAB
software and a PICKIT 3 programmer burnt the John’s efforts over a number of versions finally resulted in an
dsPIC30F4012 which is the micro­controller used for the RSSI error of +/­ 0.5dB at 1225MHz and +/­ 1dB at UHF and SHF
Meter. to 1.5GHz.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 11
 I found a small diecast box that will fit the AD8318 module
well and provide an RF proof enclosure. Our local electronics
stores of Jaycar and Altronics also sell a set of plastic boxes
of various sizes. These are called ‘Jiffy Boxes’ . One on offer
was 90 by 150 by 500 mm that would just fit the TFT display
and also house the diecast box with the module inside.

As the whole assembly draws about 300mA, I decided to

heatsink the 5V regulator with additional metal sheet cut and
bent to fit. I also drilled ventilation holes in the back of the
Jiffy Box. I have an external connection to a small 800 mahr
LIPO which sits on the back.

NOT TO
SCALE

At VHF and lower, the error was +/­2dB. Although these

errors are high, relative measurements can still be made.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 12
 Apollo 11 - 50 years ago How does this link into a Television magazine? Well, they took
with them a rather special TV camera to relay pictures back
Written by Trevor Brown (Photo attributes: NASA) to earth.

This was developed by a team of engineers at Westinghouse

lead by Stan Lebar, it was this camera that allowed us to see
the Moon landings of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Stan
sadly passed away in December 2009 he was 84.

The camera Stan’s team developed and built ran at 10 fps

using 320 lines. Rather a non­standard TV signal, but at the
time nobody knew if live pictures from the moon would be
possible, so the transmission path was via the telemetry
channel and was shared with voice and biomedical data.

The bandwidth available for a television signal was only

500kHz.

Remember this was analogue TV, none of that digital

nonsense. Stan’s team had to engineer from scratch the
camera which had to withstand Lunar temperatures of ­184 C
to 101 C.

This was rather a special camera, the tube was supplied by

the military and no pictures of the tube were permitted.
We have just passed the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, the
mission to put a man on the moon. The Apollo 11 mission was tracked at three locations ­
Goldstone, Honeysuckle Creek, and Parkes, the telemetry
For those of you old enough to remember One giant step for was recorded onto 1” tape by M22 recorders.
mankind or the immortal words of “the Eagle has landed” yes
it really was 50 years ago and if that makes you feel old you NASA hired RCA to build a standards converter to process the
are not alone. images into a 525­line TV signal. The tracking stations
converted the signals and transmitted them by microwave
I know there are those who believe it all took place on a links, Intelsat communications satellites, and AT&T analogue
Hollywood set, but for those of us in the UK the talkback was land lines to Mission Control in Houston. By the time the
monitored at Jodrell Bank where the world’s third largest images appeared on television, they were substantially
radio telescope monitored live the landing and they assure us degraded.
all the dish was definitely pointing at the moon.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 13
 that it could be done. The live pictures were viewed at
tracking centres on monitors that worked on the 10 fps 320
line standard and reports confirm that these pictures were
considerably better quality than what the rest of the world
saw.

The original high quality was preserved via the M22 telemetry
recordings. The engineers boxed the one­inch telemetry
tapes wound onto 14­inch canister reels which served no
other purpose than to provide backup if the live relay failed
and shipped them to the Goddard Space Flight Centre. From
there, the tapes were sent to the Washington National
Records Centre in Suitland, Md.

In 1997 a phone call from a British author, to Sarkissian who

had been part of the Parkes team raised the issue of the
location of the M22 tapes. Only one had ever surfaced in
Australia which was a copy of one of the tapes sent to
Goddard. Everyone assumed that NASA had the originals
stored away safely. This did however start a search in the
states by Stan Lebar, Bill Wood and Richard Nafzger, for the
Stan Lebar, the project manager for Westinghouse's original M22 recordings with a view to unlocking the true
Apollo television cameras, shows the field­sequential color quality of the Apollo 11 camera and showing the world some
camera on the left and the monochrome lunar surface improved quality recordings of this historic mission. This has
camera on the right. been a long and exhausting search and in what one of the
American papers headlined as “One Giant Blunder for
By Unknown ­ National Aeronautics and Space Mankind” it would seem the Apollo 11 telemetry recording no
Administration, Public Domain, longer exist and were presumed wiped.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=290
75691 In 2004 a machine was located and the Australian tape was
replayed and contained chatter and simulation data only, no
Stan was delighted to see his camera working but was always pictures. What the search did reveal was that NASA had hired
disappointed with the quality; he knew it was capable of the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) near Baltimore to
much better results. The problem was not the camera but the modify two Ampex VR­660C 2” helical VTR’s to record the 320
RCA standards converters and transmission path. “No one line pictures. This machine only recorded the pictures
was unhappy,” he said. “We were all in seventh heaven”. received at Parkes. Sarkissian, found a letter and a photo
America had pulled off the impossible. The Nation had landed showing two Ampex VR­660C recorders and a man who may
a man on the moon and showed the world, via live television have operated them.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 14
The letter, written by the former Parkes director, suggested
the operator worked for APL. They uncovered the identity of
the man who had indeed modified the two Ampex VR­660C’s.
Now also in his 80s, the former APL employee confirmed he
had modified the recorders and recorded the original
moonwalk pictures, he packed the tapes and personally
delivered them to APL. Nafzger found five two­inch
videotapes only, but when a machine was located these tapes
also turned out to be blank.

It may seem the rest of us will never get to see the true
quality pictures produced by the Apollo 11 mission. Stan
Lebars camera did prove that pictures were possible from the
moon and although it was sent as a backup on the Apollo 12
and 13 missions it was never used again, Stan had proved
what could be done and a higher definition colour camera was
used on the following missions so presumably a greater
bandwidth had been allocated.

TV Amateur is a German Language ATV Magazine. It is

published 4 times a year and if you would like to
subscribe go to http://agaf­ev.org/
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 15
 Boulder TV Repeater Rebuild Update
Written by Jim Andrews, KH6HTV

In a previous edition of CQ­DATV, I reported on the discovery

of a new HDMI Quad Viewer / Switch which also included an
RS­232 interface. With this discovery, Don & I realized that
we could probably solve a lot of the major input/mode
switching issues we have with the old ATV/DTV repeater. That
repeater was needlessly complex due to needing to have
elaborate work around for the old HDMI switch.

In the meantime, Don, N0YE, has mastered how to write

Arduino code to control, via RS­232, the new HDMI Quad
box. Thus, Don has now removed the old TV repeater from
the repeater site on Table Mesa and it is now in “bits &
pieces” scattered all over the floor and workbench in my ham
shack.
Don’s NEW, 7 pole, 441MHz, BPF
It is now being completely rebuilt to incorporate the new
HDMI Quad Box. In the meantime, Don installed at the
repeater site, a temporary, portable ATV repeater. It was built
several years ago by Jack, K0HEH, and Don. It is an in­band,
70cm only ATV repeater. Ch 60 input & Ch 57 output.

It only functions in DVB­T mode. The transmitter output is

about 1 watt. There are no control functions on it. It simply
keys up when receiving a valid DVB­T signal and turns off
rapidly when the signal disappears. There is no way to tone it
down.

So far, I have rebuilt the repeater’s receiver panel and the

transmitter panel. Photos of the rebuilt receiver and
transmitter are on the following pages.

I removed the old Spectrum International, inter­digital,

bandpass filters (Ch 57 & Ch 60).
10dB/div & 5MHz/div ­76dB noise floor
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 16
I replaced the 70cm, Ch 60 receive filter with a new, home splitters feed Hi­Des 70cm & 23cm DVB­T receivers and also
brew, 7 pole, BPF built by Don. It has much steeper skirts on analog TV receivers. For 70cm, we use a commercial Pico­
it. Particularly important for filtering out the severe 70cm RFI Macom CATV, NTSC receiver. For 23cm, we use a KH6HTV
we have been encountering from strong ham FM repeaters in Video FM­TV receiver.
the 446­450 range and commercial FM signals in the 450­
460MHz range.

Don’s new filter has 40dB rejection at 446MHz and up to

130dB rejection at 460MHz. The new filter is considerably
larger than the old SI­BPF. There was not room for it on the
existing 19” rack panel. It will be mounted on a separate 19”
shelf.

ATV/DTV Transmitter

ATV/DTV Receiver The transmitter is 70cm only on channel 57 (420­426MHz).

However, it is dual mode. It can transmit either analog or
The receiver is dual band and dual mode. It has one common digital TV. The analog TV signal is created by a Pico­Macom
antenna input which goes to a Diamond triplexer which splits CATV modulator. It creates perfect VUSB­TV with nothing
the receive signals into 2m (control), 70cm (TV) & 23cm outside of the 6 MHz TV channel. The digital, DVB­T signal is
(TV). There is a BPF following for each band. created by a Hi­Des, DVB­T modulator. Likewise it is a very
pure signal with essentially nothing outside of the TV channel
For 70cm & 23cm, there next is a low noise pre­amp which is Both modulators feed a 75Ω, 3dB splitter used in the reverse
followed by a 3dB power splitter. The outputs from the power direction as a combiner.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 17
The selection of either analog or digital is done simply by
applying DC power to only the desired modulator. 75Ω pads
are on the output of each modulator to provide Z back
matching when a modulator is turned off. The output of the
3dB combiner then goes to a KH6HTV Video model 70­9B, RF
Linear Power Amplifier.

In analog TV mode, the amplifier puts out 22 Watts (PEP). In

digital TV mode, the amplifier puts out 10 Watts (rms). The
output of the amplifier is then routed to a Ch 57, 6 MHz,
bandpass filter which has about 2 dB of insertion loss.

Since the early 90s, the TV repeater has used a pair of inter
digital, bandpass filters made by Spectrum International. Like
the receiver, I also removed the SI, Ch 57 filter from the
transmitter this time. I have replaced it with actually a much
older, but better filter.
DVB­T spectrum 6dB/div & 2MHz/div
The filter I installed was made by John Shafer, W0KWR, (now
SK) in the late 70s. John built it for the very first Boulder ATV
repeater. It was a 7 pole design.

I have just retuned it on my Wiltron 5447A Network Analyzer

(10MHz ­ 20GHz). Tuning a filter is easier on the Wiltron
compared to the Rigol spectrum analyzer because I can view
simultaneously both S21 (insertion loss) and S11 (return
loss). This 7 pole, Ch 57 filter does not have as steep skirts
compared to Don’s new Ch 60 filter. However, it still gives
31dB (429), 75dB (435) and 117dB (441) rejection for the
upper adjacent TV channels.

The two Spectrum International, TV Channel Bandpass Filters

which I pulled from the repeater, I intend to resell. I will be
listing them on my web site for sale at $200 each.

W0KWR, 7 pole, 423MHz, BPF 10dB/div & 5MHz/div

CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 18

 Micro Corner - Easy Debugging Board - 1 Logic Probe

Written by Mike Stevens G7GTN The circuit is based on a CMOS CD4001 (or equivalent part
number) four 2 input NOR gate. This is a commonly available
This project came circuit available from the internet from locations such as
about when myself http://www.tonyvanroon.com/oldwebsite/circ/probe2.htm.
and Trevor G8CJS With this circuit we can detect a HIGH, LOW or a FLOATING
were discussing condition on devices via a simple probe mounted in an old
setting up some LEDs pen casing.
on a breadboard for
testing some logic
conditions that were
being tested &
debugged. So I came
up with this design to
incorporate a few
useful elements on to
a (100X100) mm
sized custom PCB
where use can be
made of small header cables to connect elements you might
require when prototyping or testing your own custom
designs.

Board Elements
• 10 position LED Bargraph segment display with current
limiting resistors.
• 3 X User tactile push button switches (no pull­up resistors Ardunio Nano I2C VGA Generator
fitted)
The VGA generator was a project created by Nick Gammon
• Custom Ardunio Nano software based I2C VGA display and fully documented on his own website, you can find this
generator from the following link
• Basic CMOS CD4001 Logic Probe https://www.gammon.com.au/forum/?id=11608. That should
• Mini Breadboard with 170 tie points keep you entertained for a few hours digesting all the
technical details on software video generation. The board I
• 7805CV +5V Basic Power Supply
created makes use of an Ardunio Nano module. The data to
• Diptrace Design and Gerber Files will be freely available for be displayed is sent via I2C which is configured as a slave
Download device with a user selectable address if required.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 19
The RED, GREEN, BLUE signals are fed via 470Ω resistors. LED Bargraph
The Horizontal and Vertical Sync drive signals are via 68Ω
resistors. No additional pull­up resistors are required on the The 10 way LED Bargraph is feed from either a 10 way Male
I2C bus as would normally be expected for driving. Once the pin header or via an IDC connector to allow the use of pre­
module is programmed we have no further reliance on the made ribbon cables. Each individual pin goes through a 470Ω
USB cable as this circuit is powered from the +5V supply on resistor to provide current limiting. You can adjust this
the PCB. resistor value for the brightness level you require. The LED
Bargraph displays selected are in a standard 20 pin DIL
In part 2 we will look at setting up a required library for our package with a designated part number of HF­810BS.
Ardunio IDE and a small change to the font definition file to
allow this to be compiled. I will also create a single binary file
for people who may not want to delve in to setting up this
element and are happy with the pre­set slave address.

Power Supply

The power supply section is based on a T0220 packaged

7805CV regulator with filter capacitors and a reverse polarity
silicon diode. The +5V and also Ground output can be taken
from the pin headers next to the mini breadboard to power
other elements.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 20
Conclusion

In this first part we have covered the very basic circuits

involved, so in part 2 we will have boards and get a pair
constructed. Once this is done we can go through the This is your free ATV magazine.
possibly much more interesting aspects such as the VGA Please consider contributing an article!
generator circuit and how to drive this via software on your
own processor. Once the board has been fully proven all the
design files created in Diptrace will be freely downloadable
alongside any custom software samples. Hopefully this might
prove to be a useful board to put away in a drawer.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 21
 Pike’s Peak, SOTA, DVB-T, DX-pedition is
Successful
Written by Jim Andrews, KH6HTV

View from the summit of Pike’s Peak looking north

towards Boulder, 80+ miles in the distance Photo of
live DTV transmission taken from TV receiver at K0IHX
/ KD0PDZ’s QTH on Davidson Mesa, Boulder
Jack, K0HEH, & Don, N0YE, on top of Pike’s Peak –TV
picture received 79 miles away by Roger, K0IHX. Lew, Don and Jack, K0HEH, drove to the summit of Pike’s Peak on
K0ANS, got the same at 91 miles! Wednesday morning, July 17th. They adhered to the SOTA
rules and did not use their car for either physical or electrical
Don, N0YE, recently announced on the Boulder ATV Net that support for their TV operation. It was however their “mule” to
he was planning to do a SOTA (Summits On The Air), hump all their ATV gear up the very tall mountain ! Their
https://www.sota.org.uk/ ATV operation from Pike’s Peak. equipment was all set up outside the car and they used a
Pike’s Peak is the highest mountain in the southern part of separate, large storage battery provided by Colin, WA2YUN.
the front range of the Rocky mountains. It is 14,115 ft. high They set up one, rugged, tripod antenna mast with three yagi
and towers over the city of Colorado Springs at 6,000 ft. It antennas. For 70cm, they had two, 6 element yagis (1
can be seen visually from extremely long distances from transmit & 1 receive). For 23cm, they had a 15 element, loop
many locations in the eastern, prairie part of the state of yagi for receive only. They transmitted, live, high­definition,
Colorado. There is a road going all the way to the summit pictures using digital, DVBT modulation. Their output power
which is very popular with tourists in the summer. Closed in on 70cm was 5 watts, rms.
the winter.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 22
The SOTA­DTV setup. Don forgot to take a photo while Close­up of all the ATV gear plus battery
on the mountain. So he took this photo the next day in
his home driveway The following hams participated:

They transmitted on Ch 57 (423MHz / 6MHz BW) and Pete, WB2DVS, & Debbie, WB2DVT, were the closest at 47
received on Ch 60 (441MHz / 6MHz BW). They received miles and were setup in Highlands Ranch, CO. with a 70cm
incoming DVB­T on 441MHz (70cm) and also 1243 MHz rig running 3 W to a 6 element yagi antenna. From the photo,
(23cm). They did voice coordination with the various other it looks like they were “sitting down on the job! “
ATV stations participating using 2m FM on simplex
144.33MHz. Bill, AB0MY, was next at 74 miles at the Broomfield jail. He
was on 70cm with 1 watt to a 6 element yagi.
Don had prearranged with several of the active Boulder ATV Doshia, KB0NAS, & George, N0RUX, were also 74 miles from
hams to be rovers and go to good rf locations and set up Pike’s Peak at the high spot on 120th Ave. west of Indiana,
their own portable, DVB­T stations. Arvada, CO.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 23
 His 70cm antenna was an 8­bay Dipole array with flat
reflector. His 23cm antenna was a home­brew, 6 element
yagi.

Lew, K0ANS, was the farthest away at 91.4 miles and

operating from his home QTH in Longmont, CO. Lew was
70cm receive only. His antenna was a home­brew, 8 element
yagi.

The SOTA, DTV DX­pedition was a TOTAL Success ! Everyone

participating was able to receive the 70cm, DTV signals from
Pike’s Peak, plus Don & Jack were able to receive DTV signals
on 70cm and 23cm from everyone that transmitted. All
pictures were reported to be very solid P5 with no breakups
nor freeze framing.

In addition to doing simplex ATV with the above hams, at the

end of the session, Don & Jack then swapped 70cm
frequencies to see if they could also hit the Boulder ATV
repeater, W0BTV, on Table Mesa. (Ch 60 in & Ch 57 out).
They were successful. Note: contacts via repeaters do not
They had a 70cm rig running 3 watts to a 10 element M2 yagi count for SOTA scores.
antenna at 8 ft.
The following is Don, N0YE’s, after action report:­
Roger, K0IHX, Naomi, KD0PDZ, & Jim, KH6HTV were 79 miles
from Pike’s Peak operating from Roger & Naomi’s QTH on THANK YOU all for the successful activation of Pike’s Peak
Davidson Mesa with their assortment of 2m, 70cm & 23cm using DVB­T TV. Jack and I were able to work everyone
antennas. They transmitted on both 70cm & 23cm with 3 wanting to participate on 70cm and 23cm. All signals were
watts. It only took 300mW on 70cm to get to Pike’s Peak. For P5. You all were ready and made our task of getting all of the
70cm receive they used a Diamond X50 omni. For 70cm exchanges done efficiently. Several of you demonstrated
transmit they used a 10 element yagi. For 23cm transmit different signal strength thresholds for working/not working
they used a Diamond X6000, omni. by lowering your power levels below our receiver’s
thresholds. This reinforced that we were not doing a “slam
Ed, K0JOY, was in the most unlikely location to get signals. dunk” undertaking. Our antenna pointing on 70cm was not
He was at his own QTH on a ridgeline in the foothills north­ critical. We were far enough away from everyone and the
west of Boulder, near Olde Stage Road & Left Hand Creek. antenna beam width wide enough so that your diversity of
He was 89 miles north of Pike’s Peak. Ed received on 70cm location was not an issue on 70cm.
and transmitted on 23cm (3W).
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 24
We did not have to adjust the 70cm antenna to work The color shading is the predicted rf signal strength using the
everyone. The antenna pointing on 23cm was important, on­line, rf propagation program, Radio Mobile. Red = strong
understandably, because the 23cm antenna was higher gain signals. Blue = weak signals.
and the signal strengths may have been less. Plus the strong
winds keep us busy keeping it pointed properly. So, these great results, beg the question, what could we do if
Being at 14,000 feet diminishes ones proficiency, clarity of the hams in Colorado Springs were to install a 70cm, DVB­T,
action, etc. I demonstrated that again to myself yesterday. television repeater on the top of Pike’s Peak? The next map
Fortunately I had done much of the setup ahead of time. For shows the coverage area that would result from a 5 watt,
example, the antenna system including preamps and cabling 70cm, DVB­T transmitter with a 7dBi, omni directional
was done at home minimizing the setup details and time. antenna at the summit. It would be great ! The strong signal
When we moved to 23cm, we were not getting any video. (>­80dBm) area would include Pueblo on the south, to
Well when the output of the 23cm receiver is not connected, Colorado Springs, to Denver, up to Longmont on the north.
it does not work! The weak signal area would extend all the way from the New
Mexico border on the south to the Wyoming border on the
We needed a special pass to get the top. Everyone else was north. It would also extend out east on the prairie as far as
stopped at a parking lot part way up the mountain. In fact Limon.
there were two parking lots at two different elevations
depending on activity. Yes it is summer and there were lots of
people. The drive up and down was slow because of the
volume of cars. On the top we were able to choose our
parking location for good operation to the north. Had we
wanted to work pointing in other directions, the construction
equipment and materials would have been in the way. It is
clear that the construction up there is going to be a multi
year activity.

The weather was about as good as it gets up there. Yes it was

42 degrees when we arrived, and the wind was a reasonable
10­15 MPH maybe. Where we were given the summit pass,
the attendant said the winds were mild and no ROCKS were
being made airborne yet ! A “ranger” commented, up there,
that the afternoon winds would be much worse. It was a
relief to be able to setup and do a legitimate SOTA instead of
having to work out of the car. 73 de Don, N0YE

The map on the following page shows a lot of details about

the DTV, DXpedition. The arrows show the paths to the
various receive sites.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 25
Radio Mobile RF propagation predicted coverage area for the UK only VHF Contest - June 2019
N0YE/K0HEH Pike’s Peak DTV operation. Using a 70cm, 5 W
transmitter with a 6 element yagi pointing north towards Here are the results of the UK only VHF Contest held
Boulder. The receiving stations were assumed to have 6 simultaneously with the IARU (70cm and up) ATV Contest
element yagis at 10ft. The blue shaded areas are for weak held in June 2019.
signals (­90 to ­80dBm). The red shaded areas are for strong
signals (> ­80dBm). The green areas show the locations of For the first time there is a single contact entry for 4m from
national forests. This is a topo enhanced map. The flat, rolling G4FKK. Congratulations to Martin for taking first place and I
prairie of eastern Colorado is on the right side of the map. look forward to getting more 4m entries in the low bands
The Rocky mountains of Colorado are on the left side of the contest coming up soon.
map. The rf signals from Pike’s Peak were shooting due north
right along the front range of the Rockies. On 2m, Noel G8GTZ just secured first place with a dual site
entry of five contacts from Colin G4KLB with just 2 points
less.

It’s good to see several contacts that exceeded 100km on

this band with the best DX being 192km between GI7UGV
and G3ZGZ.

Congratulations to Martin and Noel.

Clive G3GJA

Predicted rf coverage area map for a 70cm, 5 W, DVB­T

transmitter on the top of Pike’s Peak using a 7dBi omni The CQ­DATV editors gratefully
antenna. Assumed receiving stations are using an 11dBi yagi acknowledge all those authors that have
at 30ft. Red lines are the borders of the state of Colorado, contributed articles for this free magazine.
380 miles x 280 miles. note: max. radius for the calculation
was the largest possible at 300km (186 miles).
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 26
 North German ATV Meeting 2019 - A
Review
Written by Rainer Mueller, DM2CMB
Reprinted from TV­AMATEUR 163 by kind permission

From the first meeting of 24 ATV amateurs in 1999 in Polz

(Brandenburg, Eastern Germany), a well­attended ATV
meeting has developed over the past 20 years, which took
place this year for the 12th time in Glövzin (Brandenburg).
“Dahses Erbhof” once again offered us excellent conditions
and very good catering. Several OM had brought their
technology with them and set up the antennas outside.

A clockwise circularly polarized directional antenna for the 13

cm band is required for transmission.

Also in this year interesting lectures were again on the

agenda. One focus was the new, geostationary amateur radio
satellite Es´hail­2/QO­100.

Jens Schoon, DH6BB (now also 2nd chair of AGAF), first

reported on the origin and development of the AMSAT­DL
project Es´hail­2/QO­100, the first geostationary satellite for
amateur radio.

The satellite transmits horizontally in the 3 cm band. Due to

the earth’s curvature, the LNB must therefore be rotated
slightly. In Bochum, for example, the “LNB tilt” is ­14.37
For the reception of the satellite QO­100 in the 3 cm band a degrees.
commercial satellite dish with a converted LNB can be used.
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 27
 In TV­AMATEUR 99 (1995) Uwe, DJ8DW, reported about his
first DATV experiments. The processing of the I/Q baseband
was done with a PC at that time. With the Raspberry Pi 3
Model B+, we now have an inexpensive, powerful small
computer at our disposal. British radio amateurs have taken
up the principle again [2].

With the Raspberry Pi, the video and audio signals are
processed and a baseband is generated from it, so that the
I/Q signals are provided via the GPIO connections. The
finished SHF transmission signal can be taken from a filter
board with modulator connected there. In addition, you need
an oscillator module, available on the Internet for approx 16
€ and a small touch screen monitor for operation ­ ready is
the DATV transmitter.

In FUNKAMATEUR (FA) issue 1/2019 DC1OP described such a

modulator module, the “Mini IQmod” [1] and presented it in
detail in his lecture.

It was also important to note that we are only guests on the

TV satellite with our amateur radio transponders and have to
behave accordingly. Switching off the transponders in case of
misuse or overriding due to too high transmission power
would be very quick, the re­commissioning might be difficult. Finished DATV
transmitter
Raspberry Pi board with Mini­
IQmod,
Hubertus Rathke, DC1OP, showed us in his lecture different Raspberry Pi and
possibilities to generate the DATV signal with the Raspberry 3.5” monitor
Pi. Using a block diagram, he explained the individual from DC1OP
function blocks of the “Portsdown” software [2] for
generating a DATV transmission signal and showed further
examples of possible TX modules for generating the DATV
signal.

CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 28

 SDR Transceiver
ADALM­PLUTO

“ADALM­PLUTO” (above) is also a finished board with an SDR

transceiver that can be used for DATV communications.

In the following lecture Dieter Meier, DL2VT, Udo Jestadt,

DO6UJ, and Hubertus Rathke, DC1OP, showed us in a
Test setup of a DATV transmitter with the Raspberry practical demonstration the operation of three computer­
Pi, the Mini­IQmod board from [1] aided DATV transmitters (Raspberry Pi, PC) on three different
hardware platforms. It was impressive that even with a
After this release I built and tested two “Mini­IQmod” boards. symbol rate of 500 kS/s a very good picture was transmitted
The boards were relatively easy to assemble and adjust, both from the connected video camera.
played right away. However, I used a 7” display for the
operation, at the age of 74 you prefer it a bit bigger (picture Literature:
5). The measured transmission power was about 3 mW. As
receiver I use a commercially available Sat­TV­Rx. [1] Rathke, H., DClOP: Mini IQmod self build modulator for
digital ATV with Raspberry Pi. FUNKAMATEUR 68 (2019 Issue
The disadvantage of this simple solution is that only the two 1), P.60­63
filters for limiting the I/Q signals are available. An even
simpler solution is to use the “LimeSDR Mini” module, a [2] https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_2019
ready­made SDR transceiver connected to the Raspberry Pi
via USB. The LimeSDR Mini offers much more possibilities [3] https://limemicro.com/products/boards/limesdr­mini/
with its digital filters, but also costs “a few” Euro more.
Translation by Klaus, DL4KCK www.agaf.de
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 29
 One from the vault budget (no I have not tried the argument yet, just rehearsing
it here). How about a camera for the shack that’s a different
First published in issue 6 budget in our house, part of the ongoing”if anything happens
to me please don’t let my ATV kit go for what you think I paid
4k DATV? for it” argument. The shack budget is subject to slightly
different accounting practises, the universal laws of
Written by Trevor Brown mathematics are different, as in what does 2+2 equal, when
answered by an accountant its “what would you like it to
Ok so a new Television standard has been launched called 4K, equal”.
let’s start by clearing up any confusion; the 4k refers to the
horizontal resolution in pixels. 1080p and 720p refers to the As the sole reader of CQ­DATV in our household I thought I
lines or vertical resolution (I know you knew that already). I could share with you some cost calculations based on a less
hope the diagram below puts it into perspective; I have euphemistic accounting
plotted pixels as picture size when in reality the screen size is
the same and the resolution improves. I hope what comes The GoPro black edition 3+ camcorder currently retails at
across is that a 4k picture is twice the resolution of 1080p £360 and it will record in 4K, Ok it’s not cheap as chips but
which at best is 1,920 pixels across. its not silly broadcast money. The funny thing is its not
broadcast money, but it is broadcast, have you seen the
broadcaster using them, well the answer is yes look for the
reality cops shows and helicopter hero programmes and they
are pinned to most of the characters jackets, then wait for a
shot to come up from that camera angle and when it does
compare it to the, broadcast shot before, not bad.

The BBC won’t let them be used for the entire programme,
and the pictures may need extra work by the colourist, but
the pictures are being broadcast to our screens. The Go Pro
does not have an iris and uses fixed focus at a small f stop to
get the depth of field required to eliminate focus
requirements, so it needs good light as this technique does
not exactly flood the small sensor with light.

So the camera is not quite off the table, but the screen will
require work, you will have to argue what the family budget
Ok well out of amateur price ranges I hear you say, well is for a new 4k screen in the living room. The content
actually maybe not, there are camcorders and screens argument may raise its head, so let’s have a few stock
available and yes the screens are not cheap but you can answers to hand.
always argue the screen comes out of the family viewing
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 30
 high price tag which is, well guess it’s in the title 4k it’s not
just pixels it GBP’s for the screen, but there are rumours they
will half in price next year. So I thought buy the camera now
and record the grandchildren in 4K at Christmas and hope for
a screen in the New Year, what do you think ?

4k movies exist in some cinemas, will you be able to rent This heavy price tag is for the budget entry screens; if you
one, well let’s do the sums on these, 90 minutes of movie will live on a different planet, with different laws of mathematics
require 3 terabytes of storage or 200 blue­ray discs, (I then Sony have a nice 84” flat screen under development the
suspect the video compression people are burning the XBR­84X900 TV. 3840 x 2160­pixel resolution with integrated
midnight oil on this one), and I am not sure Hollywood speakers which will sell for $24,999 US. I think it might be
producers would be too keen on these files reaching Joe cheaper to buy the aeroplane at the start of the article rather
public, even if the storage issues were solved than just film it and watch it back on a dream 84” flat panel
YouTube has a 4k section but will require a 15mb/s Internet I said at the beginning 4k DATV, will that be DATV Express 2
connection for live viewing and it does not have the pull of then ken, needs an HDMI 2 input none of this 1.4 rubbish,
Downton Manor but don’t rush not fully equipped this end yet.
We are going to need some more bandwidth, but fortunately
If your other half is an avid games player (yes unlikely I there is a spectrum neutral auction coming up so we may
know) the PS4 and Xbox 1 that have just been launched do need to pass the hat around BATC.
not support 4K, so don’t start singing the virtue of video
games Note to Mike Cox we need a 4k test pattern generator with an
HDMI 2 output.
So the screen is going to be a difficult argument, so let’s
revisit the Go Pro as the must have camcorder to film the Note to Chris Smith the streamer needs work
holiday pictures or the grand children growing up (I am http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdQ0i3v_KVY&list=PL5BF
working on it) the screen is a still the problem with the rather 9E09ECEC8F88F&index=5
CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 31
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CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 32
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CQ-DATV 74 - August 2019 Page 33