Tagged: DATV

Transmitting and Receiving DATV with a LimeSDR and a Modified $20 DVB-S Receiver

Over on YouTube user Corrosive has uploaded a video showing how he can use the recently updated DATV Express software to transmit Digital Amateur TV (DATV) with a LimeSDR Mini, and receive it with a cheap US$20 DVB-S satellite set top box that he's modified with a custom firmware update. Corrosives work is excellent as it allows anyone to get started in DATV amateur radio cheaply. He writes:

Last week I noticed the windows DATV express software for windows had been updated to include several SDR platforms [appears to now support the LimeSDR and LimeSDR Mini, as well as the PlutoSDR] https://www.datv-express.com/CustomPage/Downloads

Using my new LimeSDR Mini I wanted to try this out. I went online and purchased a cheap DVB-S Satellite set top box on eBay branded as a KOQIT K1Mini.

In order to allow the KOQIT K1Mini DVB-S set top box to receive DATV frequencies, Corrosive has released a firmware update on GitHub that removes all satellites listed in the receiver, and replaces it with six DATV channels for amateur television use. He writes:

I decided to split the 3 23cm ATV frequencies into 6 at half the bandwidth for digital.

The receiver with my firmware configures the device to see a 9750LO LNB, by placing a simple antenna on the receiver instead of an LNB the 1.2 ghz amateur frequencies are shifted by 9750mhz and can be scanned as if they were a satellite transponder.

If you don't have a TX capable or DATV Express compatible SDR like the LimeSDR or Pluto, then we note that RPiTX (software that allows a Raspberry Pi to transmit RF without any additional hardware) also has DATV transmit capabilities that could in used in their place.

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Transmitting and Receiving DATV with a LimeSDR and a Modified $20 DVB-S Receiver

Over on YouTube user Corrosive has uploaded a video showing how he can use the recently updated DATV Express software to transmit Digital Amateur TV (DATV) with a LimeSDR Mini, and receive it with a cheap US$20 DVB-S satellite set top box that he's modified with a custom firmware update. Corrosives work is excellent as it allows anyone to get started in DATV amateur radio cheaply. He writes:

Last week I noticed the windows DATV express software for windows had been updated to include several SDR platforms [appears to now support the LimeSDR and LimeSDR Mini, as well as the PlutoSDR] https://www.datv-express.com/CustomPage/Downloads

Using my new LimeSDR Mini I wanted to try this out. I went online and purchased a cheap DVB-S Satellite set top box on eBay branded as a KOQIT K1Mini.

In order to allow the KOQIT K1Mini DVB-S set top box to receive DATV frequencies, Corrosive has released a firmware update on GitHub that removes all satellites listed in the receiver, and replaces it with six DATV channels for amateur television use. He writes:

I decided to split the 3 23cm ATV frequencies into 6 at half the bandwidth for digital.

The receiver with my firmware configures the device to see a 9750LO LNB, by placing a simple antenna on the receiver instead of an LNB the 1.2 ghz amateur frequencies are shifted by 9750mhz and can be scanned as if they were a satellite transponder.

If you don't have a TX capable or DATV Express compatible SDR like the LimeSDR or Pluto, then we note that RPiTX (software that allows a Raspberry Pi to transmit RF without any additional hardware) also has DATV transmit capabilities that could in used in their place.

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A Pocket DATV Transmitter and Receiver with Raspberry Pi, LimeSDR Mini and RTL-SDR

Over on YouTube user Evariste Okcestbon has uploaded a video showing his simple pocket DATV system that consists of a LimeSDR running on a Raspberry Pi Zero transmitting live camera images via DATV which is received by an RTL-SDR running on a Raspberry Pi 3.

If you didn't already know, DATV stands for Digital Amateur Television and is a digital mode somewhat similar to digital over the air TV signals that can be used by hams for transmitting their own TV signals on the ham bands. The LimeSDR Mini is a $139 US transmit and receive capable SDR that is currently crowdfunding and available for pre-order on Crowdsupply. It is expected to ship at the end of February 2018.

Evariste uses a range of software packages on each Raspberry Pi. He writes the following in the video description:

Description of a minimal Digital Tv chain : Transmitter and Receiver.

Hardware used on Tx : PiZero,Picam,LimeSDR Mini

Hardware used on Rx : Raspberry Pi 2, RTL-SDR,Monitor

Software used on Tx : avc2ts,dvb2iq,limetx

Software used on Rx : rtl_sdr,leandvb,kisspectrum,ts2es,hello_video

Softwares available on https://github.com/F5OEO
Special Thx to G4GUO, F4DAV and LimeSDR

Evariste is also the author of Rpidatv which allows you to transmit DATV directly from the GPIO pins of a Raspberry Pi without the need for any transmit capable SDR.

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Transmitting DVB-S with a PlutoSDR and Receiving it with an RTL-SDR

Over on YouTube Christopher Bridges has uploaded a video showing him using a PlutoSDR and a GNU Radio program to transmit a DVB-S signal, which is then received with an RTL-SDR. DVB-S is a digital video broadcasting standard designed for satellite transmissions and digital amateur television video (DATV) also uses DVB-S in the 1.2 GHz amateur band. In this example the PlutoSDR transmits at 1.28 GHz.

Chris uses the rtl_sdr command line software to receive the raw IQ data at 1 MSPS, and then uses the leandvb software to decode the raw IQ file directly into a video file.

If you’re interested in TXing DVB-S/DATV but don’t have a transmit capable SDR, then we note that even a Raspberry Pi just by itself can be used to transmit it with rpidatv.

Linux gnuradio QPSK DVBS PlutoSDR + rtl MacBook leansdr

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Videos Showing Rpidatv in action

A few days ago we posted about the release of Rpidatv, a program that allows a Rapberry Pi to transmit DATV without the need for any additional hardware. DATV stands for Digital Amateur TV, and can be received with an RTL-SDR using a program called leandvb.

Over on YouTube, the programmer of Rpidatv (Evariste F5OEO) has uploaded a video that shows a Rpidatv + leandvb system in action. The video demonstrates the touch screen GUI which can be used if a touch capable LCD screen is connected to the Raspberry Pi. It also shows the whole system in action with a video being transmitted from the Raspberry Pi camera to a Linux PC with an RTL-SDR running leandvb.

rpidatv with leandvb

Another video uploaded to YouTube by Qyonek also shows Rpidatv + leandvb in action.

Testy rpidatv + leandvb

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Transmitting DATV with a just a Raspberry Pi

All the way back in April 2014 we first posted about how the Raspberry Pi was able to transmit FM by cleverly modulating one of it’s GPIO pins. Later in October 2015 F5OEO expanded this idea and created software that allowed the Raspberry Pi to transmit not only FM, but also AM, SSB, SSTV and FSQ. Soon after some filter shields such as the QRPi were released to try and cut down on the spurious emissions caused by transmitting using this method.

Now F5OEO has once again taken this method a step forward and has created software capable of allowing the Raspberry Pi to transmit Digital Amateur TV (DATV). The software is called Rpidatv, and can be downloaded from https://github.com/F5OEO/rpidatv. It can be run from the command line, or via a touch graphical interface if you have a touchscreen LCD screen. DATV is a DVB-S broadcast and can be decoded with an RTL-SDR by using the leandvb software which is bundled together with the Rapidatv software. Previously we’d posted about how the International Space Station intends to one day transmit DATV and that it can be decoded with an RTL-SDR.

F5OEO writes that the software is capable of generating a symbol rate from 64k symbols to 1M symbols, which is enough to transmit one video with good H264 encoded quality. He also writes that using a low symbol rate may be useful for long distance transmissions as the signal will take up a smaller bandwidth. For example a 250K symbol transmission would only need 300kHz of bandwidth. He writes that this type of transmission could easily be used in the ISM band to replace WiFi video for FPV, but that at the moment video latency is about 1 – 2 seconds and is still being improved.

Once again we remind you that if you intend to transmit using these methods where a GPIO pin is modulated, then you MUST use a bandpass filter at the frequency you are transmitting at, and that you must be licensed to transmit on those frequencies.

A DATV transmission received from a Raspberry Pi transmitter.
A DATV transmission received from a Raspberry Pi transmitter.
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Receiving Digital Amateur TV from the ISS with an RTL-SDR

The international space station (ISS) is currently testing transmission of a DVB-S digital video signal. At the moment only a blank test pattern is transmitted, but one day they hope to be able to transmit live video properly for the purposes of making live contact with astronauts, and possibly to stream video of scientific experiments, extravehicular activities, docking operations, or simply live views of the Earth from space.

Over at www.pabr.org the author Pabr has been experimenting with using an RTL-SDR dongle for the reception of these digital amateur TV (DATV) signals. Over on Reddit he also posted some extra information about his work:

I have been able to receive DVB-S broadcasts from the ISS (known as HamVideo or HamTV) with a high-gain 2.4 GHz WiFi antenna ($50), a custom downconverter ($65), a R820T2 dongle, and a software demodulator (Edmund Tse’s gr-dvb). I used to think this could only be done with much more expensive SDR hardware.

It is commonly known that rtl-sdr dongles do not have enough bandwidth to capture mainstream satellite TV broadcasts, but the ISS happens to transmit DVB-S at only 2Msymbols/s in QPSK with FEC=1/2, which translates to 2 MHz of RF bandwidth (2.7 MHz including roll-off).

Before anyone gets too excited I should mention that:

  • This was done during a favourable pass of the ISS (elevation 85°)
  • With a fixed antenna, only a few seconds worth of signal can be captured
  • Demodulation is not real-time (on my low-end PC)
  • Currently the ISS only transmits a blank test pattern.

I now believe the BoM will be less than $50 by the time the ISS begins broadcasting interesting stuff on that channel.

Pabr uses a 2.4 GHz parabolic WiFi antenna to receive the signal. He writes that ideally a motorized antenna tracker would be used with this antenna to track the ISS through the sky. Also since the DATV signal is transmitted at around 2.4 GHz, a downconverter is required to convert the received frequency into one that is receivable with the RTL-SDR. The DATV decoder is available on Linux and requires GNU Radio.

Receiving DATV from the ISS
Receiving DATV from the ISS with an RTL-SDR
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Transmitting DATV DVB-S Video with the HackRF Blue

Simon (G0FCU) has been using his HackRF Blue to transmit DVB-S video captured from his video camcorder. In the ham radio hobby there is something called digital amateur television (DATV) in which amateurs transmit digital video over radio to repeaters. Simon writes that in the UK DATV is usually transmitted at above 1.2 GHz and in the DVB-S format, which is the same format used by some satellite TV services.

Although there are dedicated DATV radios, Simon decided that he wanted to use the HackRF Blue as the radio for transmitting his own DATV signals. To do this he uses the software dvgrab to grab the video stream from the camera, then passes it to ffmpeg to compress the raw video into MPEG-2 and then uses a GNU Radio program called gr-dvbs to use the HackRF to transmit the DVB-S stream at 1000 MHz.

To test that his signal was transmitting correctly, Simon then used a standard DVB-S satellite TV with the LNB bypassed. 

Previously we also posted about using a BladeRF for transmitting DATV DVB-T signals.

What the DVB-S output signal looks like on another HackRF.
What the DATV DVB-S output signal looks like on another HackRF.
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