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Boulder Amateur
Television Club
TV Repeater's
REPEATER
January, 2023
2ed edition, issue #120
BATVC web site: www.kh6htv.com
ATN web site: www.atn-tv.com

Jim Andrews, KH6HTV, editor - kh6htv@arrl.net www.kh6htv.com

SPECIAL ISSUE ON DARA-ATV

The Dayton, Ohio Amateur Radio Assoc. (DARA) has got to be one of the more successful ham clubs
around. If for no other reason, than their sponsorship of the biggest ham radio convention every year
simply known world-wide to hams as "DAYTON !" Obviously, the income from the ham-vention has
allowed them to do things, impossible for most ham clubs.

How many ham clubs have their own club house

along with a 150 ft. tower ? Here is a photo of the
DARA club house in Huber Heights, Ohio. In the
early 70s, an old AT&T microwave relay station in
Huber Heights was being decommissioned and put
up for sale. DARA won the bid at the auction. It
is now the home of DARA's "modest ?" W8BI
ham shack. They presently have four main
antenna towers a multitude of antennas for bands
from 80 meters up to 23 cm band.
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This is their main HF antenna. It is a Monster Step

IR for 40 thru 10 meters at 120 ft. Must be nice to
have a well funded club house and antennas ! ! !
Now when you hear the call sign W8BI on HF, you
know what is radiating it !
They also have a FreightLiner Truck as a "too die
for" mobile communications van, complete with a
65" outdoor TV monitor (obviously to demo
ATV ! )

W8BI ATV REPEATER: The DARA, W8BI repeater is a dual-band, dual-mode,

ATV repeater. The 23cm receiver and transmitter at the repeater site allows for a 23cm/70cm cross
band link, both forward and reverse. In other words, if you transmit a 1280 MHz FM video signal to the
repeater, it will cross-band repeat into both the analog AM (A5) and Digital DVB-T (D2) 70cm
transmitter links at the site, so you or others can see the incoming 23cm FM video on the outgoing
70cm outputs. Alternately, any 70cm DVB-T signal (QPSK @ 2 MHz bandwidth, video PID 641, and
audio PID 642) that the site receives will be outputted into the 1258 MHz, FM ATV transmitter at the
site, allowing you or others to see the 70cm A5 and 70cm D2 on the 1258 FM ATV output. Note that
the 23cm FM ATV repeater at the site does not have an in-band repeat function on 23cm. In-band
repeating only occurs on the A5 and D2 70cm links.

DVB:T Although DVB-T is not used commercially in the United States, this standard has been
adopted by ATVers in the United States primarily because inexpensive commercial gear has been
readily available for amateur use. Also, the commercial transmitters' bandwidth can be set to transmit
and receive 2 MHz bandwidth QPSK signals and this has allowed for more efficient spectrum use
along with increased realized gain performance when compared to a 6 MHz-wide digital ATV signal.
Lastly, the 2 MHz QPSK DVB-T parameters have been adopted as the configuration for simplex use by
Ohio/Kentucky regional hams for DX contact attempts, and it stands to reason to keep the W8BI ATV
repeater with this same DVB-T configuration. If you are familiar with analog ATV signals, if you are
able to see a snowy P-2 picture on the analog link, the DVB-T signal will be received, and will be
"closed circuit" P5 quality.
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The photo on the left shows the top of the main 150 ft. tower. It supports the DARA ATV repeater
antennas for 430 MHz and 1.2 GHz along with their 2 meter FM, 146.94 repeater and D-Star repeater.
The photo on the right shows an assortment of other HF, VHF/UHF antennas. It includes their "back-
up" HF 40-10m Force 12 beam. Whow, for most folks this would not be considered a "back-up" !

W8BI ATV REPEATER TECHNICAL DATA SUMMARY

Location: Tower at Bellfountaine Rd Huber Heights, Ohio DARA Club site
Coordinates: 39.8479° N, 84.0992° W Grid Square: EM79wu
Elevation: 886 feet above sea level, 150 foot tower.
Transmitters: 421.250 MHz AM modulation, horizontal polarization 1258 MHz FM modulation,
vertical polarization 428.000 MHz DVB-T Modulation QPSK @ 2 MHz BW, Video PID 641, Audio
PID 642 (HV310E) (DCI Interdigital filters in output lines of 421.25 MHz and 428 MHz ATV
Transmitters)
Output Power - 421.250 MHz: (AM) 40 watts average 80 watts sync tip 428.000 MHz (DVB-T) 18
Watts 1258 MHz: 40 watts continuous
Transmit antennas: 421.250 MHz and 428 MHz - Dual slot horiz. polarized 7 dBd gain (Analog and
digital ATV transmissions simulcast on the same antenna) 1258 MHz - Diamond F-1230A2
vertically polarized antenna 9 dBd gain
Receivers: 144.340 MHz for F1 audio input control of touch tones 1280 MHz FM for video
input 439.250 A5 Receiver (PC Electronics ATVR-4) 439.000 D2 Receiver (HiDes HV110)
TV Rptrs Rptr-120.doc ( rev. 1/10/23, kh6htv) p. 4 of 12

Receive antennas: 144.340 MHz - Vert. polar. Hi Gain 12 dBd dual band 439.000/439.250 MHz -
Horizontally polarized rib-cage antenna 1280 MHz - Diamond F-1230A2 vertically
polarized antenna 9 dBd gain

DATV Beacon: You will be able to receive the SD "closed circuit quality" video ID that is on-air
all of the time. W8BI has a continuous loop full motion video DVB-T ID when no other signals are
being received. If ATVers were on the air during your viewing, the video ID changes to whatever video
signal is being received by the voter-controller. Incoming videos may be on the 1280 MHz FM analog
receiver link, the 439.250 analog (A5) receiver link, or the 439.000 MHz DVB-T receiver link. all of
these receiver inputs are being fed into the DVB-T transmitter at the site

Coverage Area: Depending upon your antenna configuration (usually a single 70cm yagi)
and operating power, (usually 40 watts average power on A5), paths to the repeater are possible at 20-
40 miles. Keep in mind that the longer distances will require an optimized antenna height and an
amplifier since commercially manufactured A5 transmitters usually only provide about 8 watts average
RF power and as with any UHF installation, higher antennas will help provide better line of sight.
When there are band enhancements due to tropospheric ducting, much greater distances are possible for
ATV-DX. There are times throughout the year where distances up to 230 miles between the repeater
site and the DX station have occurred. In a practical sense, the W8BI repeater has been serving as a
"DX-Window" and distant stations have been using the repeater as an indicator of 70cm ATV band
openings

This article was written by the editor, KH6HTV, from material on the DARA web site: www.w8bi.org
The following block diagram drawings of the W8BI-ATV repeater were supplied by Bruce, K8FIX.
For more info on their ATV repeater and activities, contact Dave, AH2AR.
=========================================================================
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KD6ILO portable MESH node Live IP video from Orange County

MESH ATV: Mario, KD6ILO, has sent us some photos of his new portable MESH node
set. He says "I've assembled a new Mobile/Portable Node for my local area support. It's working
great but not fully completed yet. Waiting for a MikroTik SXTsq Lite2 10 dBi, 2.4GHz dual chain
integrated CPE/Backbone. 5 GHz will be integrated as a DTD on this unit. It will be active with the
Hap-ac-Lite {onboard}, 5 GHz {future install} and 2.4 GHz {onboard}. San Marcos will be a key
access point. I currently have the 2.4GHz RF access to N6JO-101 link to Oceanside EOC. I will be
adding an IP camera also w/ Ham Digital TV. This MESH Mobile / Portable unit to be used to link
SDATV to the SOCAL MESH network. It works but is not fully completed yet. More to follow."

1] The first phase of this project is completed, the second phase is integrating Node [6B} as part of the
unit which will be the manpack SXTsq-2nD the 2.4GHz Transceiver as part of the DTD interface with
the Hap-ac-Lite onboard Node 6A.
2] The second phase the manpack DTD unit will be providing the uplink to the backbone network.
When integrated with Node 6A's Hap-ac-lite, the Hap-ac-lite 2.4 GHz radio will be turned off, it is only
used for close on site use within a half mile radius.
3] Phase three(3) will be integrating an IP camera and the [D]ATV television integration unit.

SPF-5189 Bad News - Good News: Daniel, VE7LCG, in the

Vancouver, BC., SARC Communicator ( Jan-Feb 2023 issue ), informs their readers that the beloved,
low noise MMIC, SPF5189, has been discontinued by it's manufacturer, QORVO. But the good news
is QORVO has a similar replacement, the SPF5043Z. This table compares the two. The significant
differences are in the drain current and the package.

Parameter SPF-5189 SPF-5043 Parameter SPF-5189 SPF-5043

Freq Range 0.05-4GHz* 0.05-4GHz* Technology GaAs pHEMT GaAs pHEMT
NF (0.9GHz) 0.55dB 0.8dB NF (1.9GHz) 0.8dB 0.8dB
Gain (0.9GHz) 18.7dB 18.2dB Gain (1.9GHz) 12.8dB 12.9dB
P-1dB (0.9GHz) 22.4dBm 22.6dBm P-1dB (1.9GHz) 22.7dBm 22.7dBm
Vd / Id 5 V, 90mA 5 V, 46mA Package SOT-89-3 SOT-343-4
(*) note frequency response spec. is NOT flat. 35dB at low freq, dropping to 8dB at high freq.
TV Rptrs Rptr-120.doc ( rev. 1/10/23, kh6htv) p. 9 of 12

FEED-BACK from readers of previous issues:

ARRL HANDBOOK: Jim --- What a great read! Thanks for the call out of our Handbook 100
color insert. It is the Easter egg of the book and we loved adding it to our regular technical content.
Very 73, David, NA2AA, ARRL CEO
--------------------------------------
HI Jim…Great newsletter, as always.
Regarding the ICOM905: They have been promising the PW-2 HF Linear for several years and it
isn’t here yet, so I am not getting my hopes up about the 905. I think that the PW-2 is delayed because
the dealers, such as HRO, are not selling very many of the $35 reservations, which is probably the
indicator they are using to decide whether to finish the project. Pure speculation on my part, however.

Q5 bought all of DownEast’s product line for 1296 and below 5 or 6 years ago, as DEMI wanted to
focus on their microwave products. Q5 is supposed to be building the DEMI designs, but is probably
making changes as available parts change.
73, Have a happy and safe 2023! Tom Holmes, N8ZM, Tipp City, Ohio
-------------------------------------

New ICOM microwave antennas New IC-950

ICOM IC905 NEWS from JAPAN: Hello KH6HTV Jim --- An article introducing SHF was
published in a web magazine related to the release of ICOM's IC-905. It also contains information on
microwave activity in the United States and Germany.
https://www.fbnews.jp/?fbclid=IwAR2yx6J2fxWEHdlQR4tS5EW3Pgu7c82_uY1EXNqhAdnv6Ol5Zm1-ZYHH2I#worldwide
73 de JA0RUZ, Fumio Sekizaki

On December 18, 2022, just before the end of the year, the Icom Fair was held at the Icom Narayama
Laboratory in Nara, Japan. The IC-905 had already been shown to the public at last year's ham fair
in Tokyo and other ham events, but many visitors were at the Icom Fair to see it and to get updated
information since then. Among them, the price and release date were of interest. According to the on-
site staff, the main unit is priced at about JPY400,000 and the 10 GHz transverter at about
JPY150,000, which is a tentative price but gives a general idea of what it will cost. The product will
be released around spring of 2023. For more details, see: https://www.fbnews.jp/202301/w_specialarticle/special04/
TV Rptrs Rptr-120.doc ( rev. 1/10/23, kh6htv) p. 10 of 12

( editor's note ---- at current exchange rate, 400K Yen is approximately $3K US dollars)
Also included in the www.fbnews.jp URL from Fumio are three interesting, lengthy, technical
articles.
1. "Current Microwave Band Operation in Japan", by Fumio
2. "Today's SHF Ham Radio Activities in Germany" by Michael Kohala, DL1YMK / SA6BUN
3. "SHF Operation in the USA" by Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ
FB News (www.fbnews.jp) is an electronic, on-line, monthly ham radio magazine in Japan, published
by ICOM. Google translate makes it quite easy to read.

Receiver Block Diagram for NEW IC-905

-------------------------------------
MAX-2870: Note: this revised issue #120, has removed a note from Claudio, I2NDT,
regarding poor phase noise performance of the Maxim synthesizer pc board. After issue 120 had been
sent out on Jan. 9th to some of the 500+ distribution list, Claudio informed the editor of a major
measurement error he made. Thus, his article and photos have been removed from this revised issue.
-- sorry for the inconvenience and apologies to Maxim. --- kh6htv, 10 Jan. 2023
-----------------------------------------------
Low Band, Narrow Band - DATV: HI Jim --- Just a quick note to advise that Roger
VK5YYY has set up for narrow band DATV on 6 metres here in Australia. I am currently building a
system that includes a Down Converter from my Hides 24 cms DVB-T plus power amplifiers. I intend
to use the Knucker as the receiver. The path between Whyalla ( ≈ 1,000 km ) and Melbourne is often
open over the summer/autumn via sporadic E and or tropospheric. With the possibility of a peak in the
sunspot activity it will be interesting to see how it goes. May have a back channel on HF to assist. Will
forward more details later.
Regards Peter, VK3BFG, Wantirna South (Melbourne), Victoria
------------------------------------
More on NB-DATV: Jim: Hello, happy new year. Thank you for your ATV report.
Recently, narrow band video quality non-HD ATVs using SDR have become popular. What do you
think about that?
1. Do you think that an ATV system that can be used in a narrow band using SDR or the like is better,
even if the image quality is poor?
2. Don't you think that high-definition video on par with professional TV broadcasts is better for ATVs?
TV Rptrs Rptr-120.doc ( rev. 1/10/23, kh6htv) p. 11 of 12

As for ATVs, I think we prefers full high-definition ATVs, and developed Japan's digital terrestrial
broadcasting system (ISDB-T system) ATVs,which have become mainstream in Japan.

In addition, broadband ATVs in Japan can only use the microwave bands according to the Radio Law,
and the microwave bands has enough broadband to be used. Broadband D-ATV on the VHF/UHF band
or 1.2GHz band is not permitted. Also, in Japan, the current situation is that only "all radio wave
format bands" can be used to operate digital ATV, and the "ATV band" is analog only, which is very
troublesome.
73 de JA0RUZ, Fumio Sekizaki, Japan
---------------------------------------
TRIVA SECTION:

While going thru and scanning

some old photo albums of my
brother's, I came across this
picture of myself on my 9th
birthday in 1950. In addition to
the birthday cake was my prized
possession - a new AM broadcast
band radio. It started my career Jim's 1st Radio - 1950
in electronics. KH6HTV

Boulder ATV Rptr QSL - 1978

W0BTV Details: Inputs: 439.25 MHz, analog NTSC, VUSB-TV; 441MHz/6MHz

BW, DVB-T & 1243 MHz/6MHz BW, DVB-T
Outputs: Channel 57 --- 423 MHz/6MHz BW, DVB-T, or optional 421.25 MHz, analog VUSB-TV.
Also, secondary transmitter, FM-TV output on 5.905 GHz (24/7).
Operational details in AN-51a Technical details in AN-53a. Available at:
https://kh6htv.com/application-notes/

W0BTV ATV Net: We hold a social ATV net on Thursday afternoon at 3 pm local
Mountain time (22:00 UTC). The net typically runs for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. A DVD ham travelogue is
usually played for about one hour before and 1/2 hour after the formal net. ATV nets are streamed live
using the British Amateur TV Club's server, via: https://batc.org.uk/live/ Select ab0my or n0ye. We
use the Boulder ARES (BCARES) 2 meter FM voice repeater for intercom. 146.760 MHz ( -600 kHz,
100 Hz PL tone required to access).
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Newsletter Details: This is a free newsletter distributed electronically via e-mail to

ATV hams. The distribution list has now grown to about 500. News and articles from other ATV
groups are welcomed. Permission is granted to re-distribute it and also to re-print articles, as long as
you acknowledge the source. All past issues are archived at: https://kh6htv.com/newsletter/

ATV HAM ADS

Free advertising space is offered here to ATV hams, ham clubs
or ARES groups. List here amateur radio & TV gear For Sale -
or - Want to Buy.

Items for sale include: Black Magic Mini Video/Audio Switcher, Icom IC-910H, Flex Radio 3000,
assorted microwave components and test equipment, Marconi 6970 RF Power Meter, Hallicrafters
Remote Antenna Tuner, HP 85024A hi-freq Probe, 23cm Transverter, AOR ARD 9000 HF Modem
Digital Voice Adapter, Hi-Des UT-120 DVB-T Receiver, Tektronix 1710 Waveform Monitor, etc.