Ryde Receiver

The BATC Ryde receiver is a stand-alone receiver or Set Top Box (STB) designed specifically for Digital Amateur TV with similar functionality to a consumer STB.

It is controlled by an IR remote and has a "point and shoot" interface - simply enter frequency and SR and the Ryde will look for DVB-S or DVB-S2 DATV signals without the need to enter Bouquets, transponders or scan across a range of frequencies. It will also receive DVB-T signals when used with a Knucker tuner.

• The Ryde is a standalone receiver controlled by an infra-red remote with on-screen menus
• The Ryde directly drives an external HDMI or composite video (PAL/NTSC) monitor
• The Ryde does not require any additional hardware such as a PC
• The Ryde provides a lock indication output for use at DATV repeater sites.

Ryde Hardware

The Ryde receiver is simple to construct and is built from a standard Raspberry Pi 4 and standard MiniTiouner USB receiver hardware connected via USB. .

Full hardware details are described on this page: Ryde Hardware.

The above shows the four of the main parts of the Ryde:-

1. Raspberry Pi 4

2. GPIO breakout PCB

3. 12V input 5.2V 5A output DC to DC converter

4. Switch and IR sensor PCB

For DVB-T reception, an optional Knucker DVB-T tuner can also be connected by USB.

All parts are mounted in a Eddystone 26827PSLA Diecast box (Farnell Ordercode 301589) with room for future expansion. The BATC MiniTiouner is mounted in a separate box connected by USB to the Raspberry Pi.

IR remote control

More details on how to connect an IR sensor to the Ryde, which remote control to use and how to program your own control are here: Ryde remote controls

RF input band switching

The Ryde has been designed to control the Portsdown 4 and 8 way RF switches https://wiki.batc.org.uk/8-Band_RF_Output_Switch The RF switch should be built leaving out the MMIC stage U1 which is bypassed with a short circuit or a 1nf capacitor.

This switching is enabled in Ryde software version 202111051 and later. The default GPIO pins are specified in the Ryde_GPIO_Connections, but can be changed by manually editing the /home/pi/ryde/config.yaml file. Note that the numbers in the config file refer to the Broadcom port numbers in the second column of the GPIO table.

GPIO connection

A GPIO breakout PCB is available from the BATC shop - NOTE, this PCB is intended to be mounted to go outside the Pi4 profile as shown above.

More details here: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Ryde_GPIO_breakout

Note that the Raspberry Pi 4 GPIO connections are different to the Raspberry Pi 3 

Full details of the Ryde GPIO connections are here: Ryde_GPIO_Connections

Ryde Software

There are 2 ways to get the Ryde Software. As with Portsdown, you can buy a pre-programmed SD Card from the BATC Shop; or you can build your own card.

Building Your Own SD Card

The instructions on this page BATC GitHub Ryde Build Page (scroll down) take you step-by-step through building your own Ryde SD Card. No great computer expertise is required. The process will be familiar to anyone who has built a Portsdown SD Card.

Once you have bought or built your card, please read this information about using the Ryde Software.

Ryde presets

There are 10 presets in the default build. You can modify each of them from the on-screen menu, but these on-screen changes are volatile and will be lost when you close the application or reboot.

You can modify the detail of each preset permanently from the ssh console menu (reached by entering 'menu' at the command prompt). However, you cannot modify the preset names. This was too complicated to handle in the Menu.

Each preset has frequency, SR and band defined. Frequencies and SRs can be multiple for scanning. I have defined 8 bands. Each band has LO Frequency, LO side, LNB voltage, Tuner port and Band GPIO setting defined. Note that Band GPIO setting does not have any effect yet. You cannot modify the band names, but can modify all the other band parameters.

You can select which preset channel the receiver starts up on. It does not have to be the QO-100 beacon.

You can also manually edit the presets as described here Ryde_Software#Manually_Editing_the_Presets.

Ryde scanning modes

Primarily designed for use in at repeater sites, the Ryde can be set to scan multiple SRs on a single frequency or multiple SRs on multiple frequencies. Set these up as follows:

• Log in via SSH

• For a repeater go to menu 2 and define which preset to use on start up.

• Then go to menu 4 and customise your preset - enter frequency (or frequencies) followed by up to 4 symbol rates. Restart your Ryde and it will use the start up preset and scan Frequencies and Symbol rates as entered.

Note under menu 3 you set which LNB F type port is used on which band so you can have 70cms use the top port and 23cms use the bottom port.

Customising the Ryde

You change what information is displaed on the screen - details in this forum post: https://forum.batc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=130&t=7502&hilit=customising+ryde

You change the words on the Red splash screens - details here: https://forum.batc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=130&t=8054

The Ryde as a Repeater Receiver

As well as a dedicated shack receiver without the need for a PC, the Ryde is also designed for use at repeater sites.

• Reliable lock indicator output from the RPi GPIO connector.
• Status banner showing station ID, MER and D number displayed after signal lock (Display period adjustable in config menu)
• Symbol rate search across a number of presets. Feature would enable a single Ryde receiver to listen on 437MHz and receive 2Ms, 1Ms, 333ks and 125ks signals

The Ryde as a DVB-T Receiver

The Ryde is also capable of receiving DVB-T signals in conjunction with the Knucker receiver.

In the config file, the DVB-T tuner must be selected when the band is defined. The default config file has 2 DVB-T channels, 146.5 MHz, 333 kHz bandwidth and 437 MHz 333 kHz bandwidth.

The Ryde DVB-S/S2 Watchdog

The Ryde is perfect for use at Exhibitions to the public, but sometimes when auto-tuning on QO-100 it will come across a station with illegal parameters and crash. The Ryde watchdog, described here Ryde Watchdog restarts the Ryde application when this happens.

FAQ

If you are having problems with your Ryde Receiver, please check these FAQs before posting any questions on the BATC Forum. Ryde FAQ

Original Requirement Specification

The original requirement specification for the Ryde Receiver, written in April 2020 by G8GTZ, can be found here: Ryde Requirement Specification.