DATV Equipment Shopping List

This page describes a number of equipment lists that enable a progressive introduction to DATV without necessarily buying everything at once.

1. Domestic Satellite Receiver. Receive only

A domestic satellite receiver (not a Sky box) may receive amateur DATV transmissions in the 23 cm band. You should check that the receiver will accept symbol rates down to 1MS, and you will need to connect a suitable preamp and aerial. Be careful as there will by 13-18V on the satellite tuner's aerial connector. Note that domestic satellite tuners cannot receive RB-TV transmissions with the lower symbol rates of 500KS, 333KS or 125KS.

2. MiniTiouner. Receive only

The MiniTiouner [[1]] is the recommended equipment to receive amateur DATV transmissions. The MiniTiouner connects to a PC, and with suitable aerials and preamps, can receive amateur DATV transmissions at symbol rates from 125KS up to 8MS on the 146, 437, 1255 and 2400 MHz bands. It is only available in partial kit form. The BATC shop https://batc.org.uk/shop/minitiouner sells the following parts:

Serit FTS4334L tuner

MiniTiouner version 2 blank PCB

FT2232H USB module

1 volt regulator

The other parts required can be obtained from RS or Farnell and are listed here