Ham ATV

ATV has been around for many years some of the old timers called ATV, fast scan TV, I guess because ATV is the next level up from slow scan TV. ATV is one of the most fun things I have done with Amateur Radio. I have a PC Electronics TC70-10 transceiver and a Mirage D1010ATVN 100 watt amp. The Antenna is a Hygain UB7031DX, 31 element horizontal beam with 17.6 db gain and is 24 feet long. Its mounted just above the Mosley 33 at 80 feet. I have gotten by with my 70 cm satellite antenna for local transmissions. But, because it is circularly polarized and only 30 feet high It doesn't do as well. A small group of 4 (and growing) are sending our video signals on cable channel 60. We currently don't have a repeater so we have to find a sweet spot to point our antennas so that we call can view our images. We are hoping to find a repeater soon. I have an array of video cameras like the Panasonic WV-CP224 interfaced to a 8 port video multiplexer. This allows for up to 4 cameras to be transmitted via ATV at the same time. I use a Videonics tilter for use as an video ID'er and graphics. The Videonics 2000 has lots of special effect that I like to use from time to time. I also can transmit anything on my computer screen via a interface which allows for computer SVGA video to be displayed as NTSC composite or SVHS. I picked up a old RCA video camera at a ham fest for 5 bucks. This old beast has auto focus, auto iris and zoom. Here is the pinout. We use the standard 144.34 FM for ATV voice communication. This works well because there is much for interaction between all parties. We also have had some lurkers who have tuned their cable ready TVs to cable channel 60 and hooked up a 440 MHz antenna to the TV. They don't get the best signal but it's a start.

Amateur Television WEB Links

VHF/UHF Propagation Links

Propagation using APRS data

Propagation using weather data

ATV Technology Links

ATV log page This is a great resource to finding out who's transmitting ATV signals and from where! Also great to post to if you are transmitting your signals.

ATV Hardware pages by DL4EBJ. Various TX and RX projects, a 1,3 GHz 20 W power amp, antennas, a sync detector etc.

Amateur Television and high speed data signaling (F4DAY). Construction project for ATV and high speed data transmission.

A free teletext encoder and decoder by DG9MHZ. Also other nice free ham software packages.

Logomat generates running background text over your own video.

S51KQ pages. A 68010-based ATV repeater controller, video generators, other ATV equipment, also kits available. Lots of other technical ham stuff like repeater controllers and paging equipment.

Houston ATV Society. Lots of information, also kits and surplus equipment for sale.

WB6IZG pages. A comprehensive explanation of ATV operation and and equipment. Ever heard of a Walkie-Lookie? The link is quite bad sometimes, at least when you try to access the site from Europe, so try again later when most people are asleep in the stateside.

ATV Quarterly. Great site full of information

ATV Repeaters

PI6ALK 13 cm ATV repeater in Holland with live video and audio. Now also on satellite!

PI6ATV repeater pages, with some schematics and software.

DB0MWB, ATV-repeater in the Mönchswalder Berg, Germany

DB0HEX, a German ATV repeater high in the Harz Mountains

The Stanford U Radio Club W6YX ATV Repeater. A quite formidable system that has been around long before us.

Metrovision in Washington DC. The World's First ATV Repeater.

Microwave Experimenters Television System. KC6CCC twins in Southern California.

Mount Harrison ATV Repeater operated by K6ZVA in Idaho.

Tampa Bay Amateur Television Society repeater. Also some reference material.

Utah ATV Home Page, lots of technical ATV notes and an interesting overview of an in-band 70 cm VSB repeater.

ATV Experiments

Night Flight at 439 MHz, airborne ATV by WB9NEQ.

Aerocam, a 1250 MHz airborne FM-ATV system by VK1TMG.

Halo Rocket Balloon with ATV on board.

ATV Clubs and Groups

Amateur Television in Central Ohio (ATCO), interesting newsletters and a comprehensive link collection

Amateur Television of North America. A wide area ATV interest club.

Amateur Television in Pittsburgh. An overview of the ATV systems in Pennsylvania.

Amateur Television Network. Impressive linked ATV systems in Central and Southern California.

Australian Amateur Television Club. See how they do it Down Under.

Baltimore Radio Amateur Television Society. Also some technical information, mostly on 70 cm VSB NTSC systems.

British Amateur Television Club. The great-grandmother of all ATV organizations. See their CQ-TV Magazine online.

Brookdale Amateur Television System. Some interesting radiation pattern measurements and simulations.

Canadian ATV Links by VE4TV. Over 100 links to ATV sites all over the world.

Detroit Amateur Television Society. Bells, whistles and amazing remote surveillance and control experiments with ATV.

German Amateur Television Society (AGAF). Lots of ATV information (in German). Contents of their TV-Amateur magazine since 1969.

Niederrhein ATV pages by DL4EBJ. Nice co-operation between the German and Dutch hams at the border area near Cologne with the PI6ANH ATV repeater project.

Oregon Amateur Television Association. Lots of links, especially to the US ATV groups.

Regina Amateur Radio Television (VE5RTV). A good emergency oriented insight to ATV.

Slovenian ATV Team. Information about Slovenian ATV repeaters and contests, lots of links.

Swiss ATV. Most information is in French or German but there are lots of interesting links to ATV pages both in Switzerland and abroad.

Utah ATV Home Page by KA7OEI. Lots of interesting experiments and good links.

DARC links about amateur TV

The ATV and SSTV links at dxer.com are a good source for information about radio amateur TV operating

German ATV Great site and load of info

ATV Publications

Amateur Television Quarterly published by Harlan Technologies. Also an ATV search engine on the page.

Repeater, a Dutch ATV Magazine.

ATV Equipment Manufacturers and Retailers

Mini-Kits (VK5EME) has a comprehensive selection of ATV kits and other VHF/UHF/Microwave stuff, too

SSB-Electronic sells RSE ATV kits and components

Wyzcom (GI0UZG) has a comprehensive selection of ATV equipment

Wyman Research ATV transmitters and equipment

PC Electronics. ATV transmitters and hardware