Getting Started
Amateur Television is a fascinating area of Amateur Radio covering all aspects of video production, editing, transmission and reception of Television and has always been at the fore front of the technology revolution. Many stations are now transmitting Digital pictures (DATV) using the DVB broadcast standards and using video streaming technologies to exchange pictures with ATV operators around the world.
You're probably here because you want to know more about Amateur Television and so help you get to grips with the basics of our hobby, BATC has put together a series of "Getting started" guides.
Once you've read those, you may be wondering if there's an easy way to "get on the air" - if so take a look at this page which shows you how to join in the fun on 5.6GHz ATV for under £20! Or if you are wondering what what DATV equipment you need to buy, so we have put together a DATV shopping list to help you decide how to spend your hard earned cash!
Getting started - the basics
A good place to start is by reading the Getting Started in ATV leaflet also available as an article extract from CQ-TV, our quarterly newsletter:
Or take a look at this introduction to ATV PowerPoint presentation
Receiving and transmitting ATV
To find out more about receiving and transmitting ATV signals download these "Getting started" guides:
DATV transmission - take a look at the BATC Portsdown project, a simple easy way to get on air with Digital Television.
Reduced bandwidth TV
And to find out more about the latest technology called Reduced Bandwidth Digital television (RBTV) take a look at this RB-TV special edition of CQ-TV.
For more technical details take a look at our getting started guide to RB-TV. Getting Started with RB-TV
Video signal basics
If you want to know more about the basics of video signals, Brian Summers has written a series of articles for CQ-TV which are available for downloads as part of our "getting started" series.
Part 1-7 available as a single download: Video Fundamentals parts 1-7
What next?
Having read and digested all the information in these getting started guides and want to get on air, the next thing to look at is the BATC Portsdown DATV transmitter project. There's probably someone building one near you - you can check by looking at the Portsdown users map.
And for a receiver take a look at the Minitioune project.
Or if you want to get on to ATV the really easy way and for very little cost - take a look at this page on using the 5.6GHz Drone FPV transmitters!
And then head over to the BATC members forum to gain even more knowledge and ask those questions you must have - and don't worry the ATV community are a friendly bunch!
Or take a look to see if there's a TV repeater near you on this wiki page.