ATV Equipment & Software Sources

Equipment for receiving or transmitting ATV transmissions in and around Melbourne can come from all sorts of places. If you are not "the build it yourself type" then there is a lot of second hand stuff around you just have to find it. To really get the feel of your ATV station you can build your own equipment ( not as hard as it sounds ).

Equipment needed can include Camera's, Transmitters, Receivers, and Antenna's.

It can be near impossible to buy a new complete ATV system to plug in and use.

 

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TV's and Set Top Boxes Known To Receive VK3RTV

Not all TV's and set top boxes will tune 445.500 MHz, and so far none will find / tune it automatically so you have to dive into the menus and do it manually. With the change to DVB-T2 most of the older stuff will not work. Luckily there are a number of Set Top Boxes that will do the job and are very cheap. Most of the STB's can be purchased on some of the over seas sites like aliexpress for minimal cost including delivery to Australia. Below is a list of set top boxes that have been found to work and not work. If you have a set top box or digital TV that works and is not on the list let us know at vk3rtv@hotmail.com. No guarantees are made about the list as models change their specs, design, and firmware all the time.

TV's and Set top boxes that have been tried and found TO receive the VK3RTV DVB-T2 digital signal.

1. Hellobox 8 Combo device (Receives DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-C. Can be used to watch the output and input of VK3RTV)(Apparently this box appears to have a more sensitive receiver than other STB's)
2. GT Media V7 Pro
3. Strong SRT5434 (HD) (Needs the ATV version firmware - out of production)
4. Strong SRT5437 (HD) (current product)
5. VMADE C5 Combo device (Receives DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S, DVB-S2. Can be used to watch the output and input of VK3RTV)
6. VMADE Q2

It appears (no guarantees) alot of the STB receivers out of china that are advertised as receiving DVB-T2 & DVB-S2 in the same box (combos) can be used to receive VK3RTV (input and output frequencies). These can be had for around $35 - $70 AU delivered from lots of different sources.

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Equipment Sources Can Include (NO GUARANTEES AS TO SUITABILITY)

• Adverts in Radio and Communications magazines.
• Aliexpress website (Buyer beware)
• EBAY (Buyer beware)
• VKHAM Classifieds website VK Classifieds.
• DATV Express Transmitter DATV Express.
• MiniTiouner Express receiver / analyzer MiniTiouner Express.
• MiniTiouner receiver / analyzer MiniTiouner.
• Knucker receiver Knucker.
• Portsdown 4 Transceiver Portsdown 4.
• Buying equipment at Hamfest's.
• Camera's can be miniature surveillance types through to your home handy cam video recorder.
• Cashconverters or similar store are a good cheap source for used camcorder type cameras
• ATV (Analogue) and UHF kits can be obtained from Mini Kits in South Australia.
• Antenna's may be purchased but can be expensive. Most operators in Melbourne have made their own ( which can be done with a hacksaw, a drill and a screwdriver ) A lot of ATVers use loop yagi's as they are easy to make, very easy to tune ( most require NO tuning ), work well and are broad band enough for TV work.

For more detailed information try our Links Page.

 

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Software Related To ATV

PROGRAM	COMMENTS
Loop Yagi	LOOP YAGI design spreadsheet (V1.31). Excel spreadsheet that calculates dimensions for loop yagi's. Some photo's in the picture tab of the spreadsheet. Approx 182K in size.