[NLRS] First tests with DVB-T dongle

[Doug Reed]

I think most of the push on Digital Amateur TV (DATV) has been toward 
DVB-S as the mode of choice, although I believe there is some US push 
toward ATSC since it is the US broadcast standard. K0GX and N0MNB 
recently did some DATV locally on 1.2GHz, but I don't know which system 
they were using.

I tend to prefer the DVB-S mode because it works with relatively cheap 
FTA (Free To Air) receivers if you add a 1.2GHz preamp, or can be used 
with C-band or KU-band LNBF converters at the feed point of the antenna.

The DVB-T dongles are selling in the $15-$20 range on Ebay. DVB-S 
receiver boxes are running $30-$40. ATSC tuner cards and dongles start 
in the $40 range. The trick with the DVB-T dongles is that we know how 
to put the RTL2832U chip into pass-through mode. Nobody has mentioned 
doing that on any of the other receivers.

73, Doug.

Dr. Gerald N. Johnson wrote:
> At CSVHF a couple years ago someone proposed using DVB-T for ham digital
> TV since the one used for commercial TV has a stiff licensing fee and
> very restricted documentation and some say performs poorly when the
> receiver or transmitter is in motion, a typical ham operating mode.