Amateur Television in the UK Noel Matthews G8GTZ
UK overview About 100 active ATV operators Mainly centred around repeaters Migration to digital happening but still a lot of FM around DVB-S 2 and 4 Msymbols 32 active repeaters BATC is very active 900 members worldwide Supporting ATV
70cms: 430-440 MHz Very busy spectrum Military is primary user And they DO use it 437 MHz is accepted as the UK 70cms DATV frequency In the RSGB band plan FM repeaters 433.000 out 434.6 in Satellite operation not affected 2 Msymbols ½ or ¾ FEC Many repeaters have a 437 MHz input French are very active 15 + stations active during recent contest
70cms vs 23cms DX (Sept 2013 on DXSpot.TV) 70cms DX 23cms DX
23cms: 1240 1325 MHz Most popular band in UK Analogue and digital Activity on repeaters and simplex 1249 MHz Repeater inputs Mixed ATV & DATV Keep FM for as long as possible Mixed ATV & DATV outputs 1300 1325 MHz CAA primary user Difficult to get NoVs 1 year plus delays No Galileo issues (yet?)
13cms: 2310 2440 MHz Mainly used for analogue TV Via repeaters 100 watt erp outputs currently in WiFi section! Spectrum release program means we will lose 40 MHz in 2015 2010 2340 2390 2450 Has major impact on TV repeaters 1 unit Tx 10 units rx The lost ATV band??
3.4 GHz: 3400 3410 MHz The UK 3.4 GHz band has been reduced from 75 MHz to 10 MHz 3400 3410 MHz (PU = MoD) Only ham users are Narrow Band at 3400.2 MHz We have 3 new TV repeaters licensed for DVB-S 2 Symbols output GB3BH on 3404 (Sept 2013) GB3KM on 3406 (Sept 2013) GB3BA on 3406 (Mar 2013) Performance better than 2.3 GHz?? Higher antennae gains?
3cms: Band split in 2 segments 10,100 10,250 & 10,350-10,500 MHz TV repeaters in lower and upper segment All analogue No changes yet... Only time before bottom segment goes??? 1 new unit licensed in 2014 GB3FY Applied for bottom segment Licensed in top segment...
UK TV repeater status 32 operational with primary outputs on: 1.3 GHz = 22 2.3 GHz = 4 3.4 GHz = 1 10 GHz = 5 3 non operational 6 requested All in shared bands Tight regulatory environment No real experimentation with linking etc
Repeater input channels Big challenge is finding room for FM inputs 16 MHz wide (vs 4 MHz for DATV) 23cms - possible if we knew the rules of the game 13cms only between 2320 2340 MoD prime real estate 3.4 GHz not room 10 GHz is possible...
UK DATV standards Early experiments in UK showed no benefit for DVB-T over DVB-S No narrow band OFDM available DVB-S variable bandwidth gave power/bandwidth benefit Problems experienced with PAs on OFDM Access to a lot of ex commercial DVB-S equipment meant DVB-S adopted All UK experimentation has been with DVB-S Some experiments now happening with HiDe kit
Digital migration UK ATV community is adopting DVB-S 2 or 4 MHz DVB-S depending on band Digital repeater output only policy on 23cms GB3IV, SQ, UD & GW are DATV only Still too early to adopt DATV only input policy GB3SQ only unit to date BATC is actively promoting DATV Digilite DIY project = 100+ units sold DTX1 complete system = 45 units sold
UK DATV Tx equipment Ex broadcast equipment Works well but big, noisy and hot! BATC Digilite project Use PC and TV card to digitise video DIY project for modulator and upconverter BATC DTX1 Complete encoder, modulator & upconverter Covers 150MHz to 2GHz -5dBm output Sold 50 units todate
The future of ATV spectrum All ATV bands are under pressure We must become more spectrally efficient Allows ATV to co-exist Presents a modern image to regulators and public The move to digital is inevitable And you must engage with national society and the regulator Or you can always pay 56m / MHz!!! Real potential for UHF and VHF NB TV
The BATC 900 members worldwide Publishes CQ-TV in e and paper format Represents ATV on UK committees Supports projects such as Digilite Runs BATC shop for hard to get parts Annual convention - CAT14 Active ATV community online forum Supports DXSpot.TV Runs ATV streamer
BATC.TV www.batc.tv The internet portal for amateur television Most UK ATV repeaters are streamed live 16 international repeaters from Australia, USA, Ireland and Argentina.
BATC.TV not just repeaters Bringing amateur radio to a wider audience Live events GX3RCM National Hamfest GB70DAM HAB launches The archive Amateur radio s youtube EME 2012 AMSAT colloquim Microwave RT
DXSpot.TV Major new initiative to enable ATV DX Dxspot cluster just for ATV dedicated dx chat line Interactive Google maps showing ATV station and repeater locations Available to all ATV operators
ATV is alive and well in the UK! DATV is happening Our bands are under threat but BATC is driving and supporting ATV operators