MiniTioune
The MiniTioune receiver project, developed by Jean-Pierre F6DZP, consists of the home constructed MiniTiouner hardware which interfaces via a standard USB 2.0 port to a Windows PC running the MiniTioune software.
Initial detals on the BATC Ryde Receiver can be found here Ryde Introduction
Hardware <------------> Windows Software 
It will receive DVB-S QPSK and DVB-S2 QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, 32 APSK from broadcast and amateur TV transmissions with symbol rates (SR) from 30 Msymbols down to 66Ks Ksymbols per second.
It can be used to receive satellite broadcasts, "normal" DATV signals and is the ONLY system capable of receiving Reduced Bandwidth (RB-TV) transmissions making it ideal for use on Es'hail-2 without any external frequency converters.
Definitions
The following terms should be used when describing this project - note "MiniTiouner" is the French project name but maybe pronounced "Minituner" in English.
- MiniTioune = PC software
- MiniTiouner = The complete project hardware with USB interface - this can be prefixed with the type of tuner eg "Sharp Minitiouner"
The BATC Portsdown System receiver and BATC Ryde Receiver also use the MiniTiouner hardware
Specifications
- Frequency coverage = 143 > 2450MHz (covers amateurs bands and extended sateliite band without external converters)
- Symbol rate = 66ks > 30 Msymbols (suitable for RB-TV and satellite reception).
- Transmission modes = DVBS and DVBS2 all modulations from QPSK to 32 APSK
Hardware overview
The MiniTiouner hardware has no surface mount components and requires medium level constructional skills. BATC sells the hard to get components and the rest are available from normal suppliers.
Full details of the current version 2 MiniTiouner hardware and build information are available here - new builders should start on this page.
Details of the previous hardware versions are available here.
Software
Full details of the MiniTioune software which is free to download and designed to be used with the MiniTiouner hardware are available here MiniTioune software.
Band Pass filters
There is a whole section of the wiki dedicated to this most important part of your system - take a look at the pictures on the top of this page to see why you must use filters before your MiniTiouner!
Receive upconverters
The Serit tuner currently on sale in the shop covers 143 - 2450 MHz and does not require any external frequency converters.
However, the original Sharp and Eardatek tuner components (also called NIM) used in MiniTiouner cover a maximum of 650 to 2600 MHz. This covers the 23cms (1.3 GHz) and 13cms (2.3 GHz) amateur bands it does not provide coverage of 146 (2mts) and 437 MHz (70cms) where the majority of ATV operation takes place. Therefore we need to use an upconverter in front of the tuner which converts 146 MHz and 437 MHz up to an L band frequency that the MiniTiouner will receive.
A separate section on the wiki gives details of these upconverters.