Ryde Receiver

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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 DATV signals without the need to enter Bouquets, transponders or scan across a range of frequencies.

Ryde With Menu Small.jpg
  • 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.


Project history and status

The Ryde receiver project was conceived by G8GTZ, the requirements were published in April 2020 and first beta models were demonstrated in late June 2020 with the first development release in Mid July 2020

Ryde Hardware

The Ryde rxr is simple to construct and is built from a standard Raspberry Pi4 and standard MiniTiouner USB receiver hardware. Full hardware details are described on this page: Ryde Hardware.

Version 1

The first version of Ryde is based around a Raspberry Pi 4 and the BATC MiniTiouner V2 PCB connected via USB. It is intended that the software will continue to support this version even after version 2 hardware is released.

Version 2

A single PCB is in development removing the need for the USB interface. This will be a standalone alone unit with the RPi mounted on the motherboard but will require users to buy a complete new set of components including Serit tuner.

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

Ryde Software

The Ryde uses a number of open-source software components:

  • LongMynd. A specific version of LongMynd is used to control the MiniTiouner.
  • RydePlayer. RydePlayer controls LongMynd, responds to remote control commands, manages the on-screen menus and controls the VLC video player.
  • Pydispmanx. Pydispmanx is a utility to manage the layers (overlays) on the display.
  • Ryde-Build. Ryde-build provides an installer, updater, console menu and currently manages selection of remote controls and display output.

The currently the only way to install the Ryde software is to build an SD Card and then install the software using the instructions here: BATC GitHub Ryde Build Page. The process will be familiar to anyone who has built a Portsdown SD Card.

It is intended a preprogrammed SD card will be available in the BATC shop once the software is formally released.

Please read this information about the Ryde Software.

Ryde 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. Features in the requirement specification include the following (all subject to feasibility and commitment by development team volunteers):

  • 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)
  • Status banner displayed when GPIO port triggered (can be triggered by external DTMF detector etc)
  • 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

Original Requirement Specification

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

Original requirement specification - April 2020

With the lack of any reliable source for STB hardware (a recent ebay purchase of quantity 3 of one item delivered 3 major variants of hardware) BATC believe there is a need for a reproducible DVB-S and DVB-S2 DATV receiver using the Minitiouner hardware and Rpi4 host providing HDMI and Composite outputs.

With the Portsdown and Longmynd software and Minitiouner hardware, the worldwide ATV community has access to some very valuable open source resources and based on these, BATC believe the community has the resources to develop a dedicated DATV receiver.

The primary use cases would be a dedicated DATV receiver for home station use and a low symbol rate DATV receiver with reliable lock detection for remote use at ATV repeater sites. We have developed the following specification and are now looking for a small team of people (or one person) to pick this up and develop a project which will sit alongside Portsdown and Longmynd projects

Outline specification

RF and de-modulation capability

DVB-S and DVB-S2 demodulation is required - frequency range, symbol rate range and FEC choices will be the same as the MiniTiouner system https://wiki.batc.org.uk/MiniTioune

Reception of SCPC transport streams and decoding MPEG 2, H264 and H265 video and MP3 and AAC audio streams. Reception of MCPC streams is not a primary requirement but could be a future enhancement.

The decoded video and audio would be presented on the HDMI port with embedded audio or on a composite video port with separate analogue audio feeds. Simultaneous outputs are not required and the port in use would be selected via the system set up menu.

Hardware

It is envisaged the project will use the MiniTiouner USB tuner card https://wiki.batc.org.uk/MiniTiouner_hardware_Version_2 [Edit - hardware or design] Ideally the host hardware will be the Raspberry Pi 4 although other readily available supported Linux hardware could be used.

No integrated screen is required and the output will be displayed on either an HDMI or Composite monitor.

An infrared remote control is required and it is envisaged the project will use existing standard control hardware and codes – eg https://thepihut.com/products/xmbc-ir-r ... 6YQAvD_BwE

A hardware tuner lock signal should be provided, probably from the RPi GPIO lines.

The user would be expected to provide case and PSU etc.

Code base

It is envisaged the project would use the Longmynd open source Linux ATV receiver developed by Heather Lomond and available here: https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevi ... b/longmynd

A significant amount of the functionality required for this project is available within the Longmynd implementation in the BATC Portsdown project by Dave Crump and can be used as a basis for this project. https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevi ... own-buster

Functionality

On initial start up the software should default to composite video out and take the user in to a system set up menu where parameters such as video output, Terrestrial / Satellite operation, LNB volts, LNB offset and the default RF and decode parameters would be selected. Set up of any frequency pre-sets would also be done from this menu.

On normal start up, the decoded video output using the default setup parameters should be displayed.

From the default screen a channel set up menu should be accessible by pressing a single button. This will allow selection of RF frequency (if satellite operation is selected in system menu this will include the LNB offset) and Symbol rate – a number of pre-set frequency options is desirable. Exit will take you to video output display and a button to take you to the system menu would be displayed.

A selectable banner showing receive status, MER and SI information should be displayed across the bottom of the video window.

Network capability

The initial requirement is for a standalone DVB-S / S2 receiver although future enhancements could include remote control over SSH, the ability to view BATC live streams and a TS UDP output. All these functions are already available in the BATC Portsdown / Longmynd system code.

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