A new era for ATV has arrived – affordable for every radio amateur!!
From the first idea (I started with a DVB-T Receiver with 2MHz bandwidth from SR-Systems, which costs 390 EUR without housing...) until today 4 years passed by.
8 months ago I started to contact manufacturers of DVB-T receivers intensively with the request for a receiver with 2 and 3 MHz bandwidth. A radio amateur in Germany gave me a hint for the website of HiDes Inc.
http://www.hides.com.tw where I found the UT-100 but with 5, 6, 7 and 8MHz bandwidth only.
After about 50 e-mails we came to an agreement about a product line which will be available for the next 2 years.
I think that I don’t have to accentuate what exciting new possibilities for radio amateurs all over the world are now here – ATV will now be possible with DVB-T at the 70cm band (where reflections are welcome!) at places where no ATV had been possible. Now almost every radio amateur can start with ATV at a new level - as a side effect we will protect our 70cm band with this new activities.
Of course with SR-Systems we had a supplier for DVB-T receivers and transmitters but the price for a receiver started at 390 EUR; a transmitter costs 1200 EUR minimum without housing. A project was quickly nipped in the bud.
The upcoming productline from HiDes Inc. will have the following key parameters:
1. PC USB stick RX and TX for 70cm band at a suggested retail price of US$ 200 (I received already a prototype for testing!)
2. Standalone DVB-T Receiver for the 70cm band (works like a set-top box) inkl. remote control for about US$ 150
3. Standalone DVB-T Transmitter for the 70cm band (input CVBS and HDMI) for about US$ 500 (see:
http://www.hides.com.tw/product_cg74468_eng.html )
4. Transponder RX 23cm DVB-T à TX 70cm DVB-T with integrated after-run time and possibility to setup a callsign for US$
All products will work with an adjustable bandwidth of 2, 3 or 4 MHz; with 3 or 4 MHz it will be possible to use H.264 for higher quality.
My job is now to evaluate the USB stick (with our already existing DVB-T repeater signal from the nearby Krahberg
http://www.amateurfunkverein-tiroler-oberland.at/xtr-atv.htm ) for the amateur radio use, examine the results, publish the findings in amateur radio boards and find a distributor in the European marketplace. It will still be possible to buy the products directly from HiDes Inc.
http://www.idealez.com/hides/home/en_US - but you should be aware of the additional amount for customs duty and tax in your country.
Today I had not very much time to live test the newly arrived toy. I hoped that the supplied CD would install all programs on my PC in auto run mode – but this was not true (I’m not an intimate friend of my PC...) and I ran into troubles. At this hard moment – thanks god – OE7ALT (a PC specialist) called me. Asking him for help he came to me immediately and in less than half an hour we could install the software on 2 computers.
Now we wanted to check if we could receive the DVB-T signal from the Krahberg ATV repeater. Adjusting the parameters, connecting the antenna – the signal could be received immediately! At an excellent quality for only 2 MHz bandwidth.
It worked also without any problems with my 2nd computer. After that I tried different attenuation elements between the antenna and the USB-stick. The signal was receivable down to 34dB. The video and audio recording to the hard disk worked also flawless.
Now I wanted to use the transmitter of the USB stick. I used the already mentioned SR-Systems receiver for about 390 EUR. It recognized the transmitted signal immediately and showed Signal 100% - Quality 100% but without showing video or audio.
At that time I had to leave for my QRL.
Result from today:
The DVB-T USB stick receiver works perfect with the nearby 2MHz DVB-T Signal from the Krahberg ATV Repeater at 434.500 MHz.
Update 06.04.2013
News from HiDes Inc.: They will also produce a DVB-T USB Receiver only – price will depend on demand between 50 – 75 US$
New result:
Now transmitting also works!
... mistakes are mostly made by men – I’m not sure if it was my fault or the files on the supplied CD are not ok.
I always used the supplied files from the CD for my tests with the transmitter – that did not work. It is possible to transmit the video signal of a PC attached webcam or stored streaming files. I tried to transmit the recorded files from yesterday and that worked fine!
First transmit test with UT100B on 434,500MHz & 2MHz Bandwidth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_NkSGZ1w7E&list=UU836UWEgDftg-BVZrtFJerw&index=1 video data come from Harddisk.
A successful day – I can truly recommend this USB DVB-T Transceiver !!!
Next time I will try to transmit with my PC camera.....
Any questions
But please don’t ask me about PC stuff or streaming – no skills...
From original
http://www.oe7forum.at/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=410&sid=d2cb2ffbbd5676e1d8a6486a5bb06c1c#p1005 translated by OE7AAI