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Regina Amateur Radio Television

V E 5 R T V - 439.25 input / 1277.25 ouput

To find out more about Amateur Television in Regina, just click on the highlighted information below.

How ATV got started in Regina
Equipment List
Information About ATV
What is needed in Regina to use ATV
Other ATV sites of Interest
 
 
 
 
 
 
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How ATV got started in Regina

Amateur Radio Television, or ATV, became a reality to Regina amateurs in 1995.

A select few local amateur radio operators had their own equipment for ATV and its use was more of a novelty on the shelf than a service to the community. The real story on how ATV came to Regina started in the first quarter of 1995.

Gregg Babish, VE5GW, brought some material to a Regina Emergency Communications Team meeting. This material provided an insite on what uses ATV equipment had in other locations throughout Canada and the United States. It was decided at that time to research all possible avenues for information, pricing, configurations and availability.

Regina City has an "Emergency Planning" department, directed by Dave Quick, that has developed a highly informative plan for emergency situations. Through this plan, Dave Quick has implemented Amateur Radio as part of the communication group. This group is known as "Regina Emergency Communications Team, or R.E.C.T.".

After we had researched as much information as possible on ATV, four amateur radio operators decided to give "Emergency Planning Regina" a demonstration of what ATV can be used for. Gregg - VE5GW, Terry - VE5TK, Clay - VE5AAA and Dave - VE5DGD gave the demonstration and it was decided by Emergency Planning Regina that ATV did indeed have a purpose in Emergency Planning.

ATV in Regina is now functional. We do have some repeater tuning to do but it does function. We have the ability to transmit 3 pictures at any given time to a receiving station or we can transmit into an ATV repeater on 439.25 mhz.

We have 5 transmitters for ATV. Four transmitters are configured for back pack use while the 5th is used to retransmit pictures received on 23cm into our ATV repeater.

We have a 26' trailer that is used for storing the equipment when possible and we hope to have either a used ambulance or extended body delivery van in which to permenately house our HF, Packet, VHF, UHF and ATV equipment.

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Our Equipment List

The ATV installation used in Regina consists of the following equipment:
  1. Back Packs
    2. The back packs used for ATV consist of a metal frame style back
pack. These packs are the old style military frames used to carry 
motar shells in the 2nd world war. The aluminum frame of these packs 
is strong and light weight. Each pack carries one 12VDC 7Ah battery,
a tri-band (2m,70cm,23cm) 18" antenna and a 1 watt ATV transmitter.
  2. Back Pack Transmitters
    3. The transmitters used consist of two 23cm 1 watt transmitters and two
70cm 1 watt transmitters. This configuration allows for the transmission
of three simultaneous pictures to a viewing station.
  3. Back Pack Batteries
    4. All back pack batteries consist of a 12VDC, 7Ah lead acid battery. This
battery is used to power the transmitter and video camera.
  4. Mobile Emergency Response Vehicle
    5. This vehicle, still under review, will house the entire ATV system.
It is currently planned to house 5 TVs, 4 VCRs, Packet, 2m, 70cm and
HF voice communications. The vehicle will receive 3 transmissions at
any given time and retransmit using a 900 mhz transmitter into the
ATV repeater.

This vehicle is still on the drawing table and awaits the arrival of
a used ambulance or extended body delivery van. This vehicle will use
the same type of antenna as we installed in our ATV repeater.
  5. Repeater Receiver
    6. The ATV repeater receiver takes input on 439.25 mhz using a triband
antenna. The receiver is located on top of Taylor Field which is 
located near the center of Regina. This gives the repeater a total 
height of about 100'.
  6. Repeater Transmitter
    7. The ATV repeater transmitter transmits on 1277.25 mhz using a 35 watt
repeater amplifier from Downeast Microwave. The antenna used is a triband
vertical antenna. The transmitter is located on top of Taylor Field 
which is located near the center of Regina. This gives the repeater 
a total height of about 100'.
  7. Repeater Antenna
    8. The attenna used by the ATV repeater, callsign is VE5RTV, is a triband
Larson vertical. This vertical has 2m, 70cm and 23cm receive/transmit
ability.
  8. Repeater Power Supply
    9. The ATV repeater, known as VE5RTV, uses an ASTRON 50 amp power supply
with battery backup. It is mounted on a 19" rack system that can easily
be removed from its location and transported to a remote site during an
actual emergency.
  9. Monitoring Equipment
    10. Our monitoring equipment that receives all ATV transmissions consists of
a 19" mount monitor rack. This rack consists of 3 - 3" black & white
monitors. Included in this rack are 3 BETA VCRs and the 3 downconverters.

The downconverters are attached to a Larson triband antenna. From each
downconverter, we pass the RF signal into a VCR. This VCR records all
incoming ATV signals and passes video out to the 3" black & white monitors.

The second video output from the VCRs is passed into a video selector box
so that we can switch any one video signal into a video special effects
switcher. From this box, we can supply a second video source and fade from
one video to the other into a 14" color monitor.

When necessary, we can feed the output from the 14" monitor into a 439.25
mhz 10 watt transmitter or into a 900 mhz transmitter so that our ATV
repeater can then retransmit on 1277.25 mhz
  10. Equipment Checklist as of November 11th, 1995
    11. 2 - 1200 mhz 1 watt transmitters         (1253.25 & 1265.25 outputs)
2 -  440 mhz 1 watt transmitters         ( 439.25 output)
1 -  440 mhz 10 watt transmitter         ( 439.25 output)
1 -  440 mhz repeater receiver           ( 439.25 input)
1 - 1200 mhz 1 watt repeater transmitter (1277.25 output)
1 - 1200 mhz 35 watt repeater amplifier
1 - 50 amp ASTRON power supply with battery backup
3 - 1200 mhz tuneable downconverters
2 - 440 mhz tuneable downconverters
1 - 19" black & white monitor rack containing 3 - 3" B&W monitors
1 - 14" Sony color video monitor
1 - video selector switch box
1 - video special effects switcher
4 - 12VDC 7Ah lead acid batteries (for 1 watt transmitters)
1 - 12VDC 10Ah lead acid battery (for 10 watt 440 transmitter)
3 - 18" triband whip antennas for back packs
1 - Larson triband vertical antenna
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Information About ATV

ATV stands for Amateur TeleVision. It is a mode of operation available to Basic Amateurs and higher in Canada. It provides a means in which a ham can transmit a "full motion" color video/audio picture from one location to another. According to the proposed Canadian Band Plan, ATV hams can work on 70cm and 23cm in Canada.

The width of an ATV signal is 6 Mhz. The spread of this signal goes up 4.5 Mhz and down 1.5 Mhz from the chosen frequency. Because of the space ATV consumes, only one frequency can be used in the 70cm band in Canada. The 70cm frequency is 439.25 Mhz. while the 23cm band has three locations where ATV can be used. These frequencies are 1241.25, 1253.25 and 1277.25 Mhz.

70cm does not allow for in-band repeating since you need at least 6 mhz for each ATV signal and at least 12 mhz between ATV frequencies to eliminate any in-band interference. The 23cm band allows for in-band repeating where you can have full "duplex" operation with another 23cm ATV amateur radio operator.

ATV transmitters are available from PC Electronics in the United States or from Alpha & Central in Edmonton Alberta, Canada. The transmitters come in 1 watt & 10 watt versions for 70cm and in 1 watt versions for 23cm. The 10 watt 70cm transmitter comes with a built-in downconverter and retails for about $750 CDN. The 1 watt 70cm transmitter does not have a built-in downconverter and retail for around $400 CDN. Transmitters for 23cm cost about $530 CDN. Downconverters for 70cm or 23cm run about $150 CDN.

All of the ATV transmitters accept input from any NTSC compatible video and audio device and connections are made using RCA jacks. All ATV transmitters have N-type connectors on the back to connect to your antenna. The transmitters come with an N-connector to attach to your coax feed.

For the 1 watt transmitters, you will require a downconverter. These converters require 12VDC and come with a AC/DC adapter. The antenna connector is N-type as well and both the 70cm and 23cm downconverter output an RF signal. The 70cm downconverter is structured to use channel 3 or 4 while the 23cm downconverter is structured to use channel 7-11. Since the downconverters operate with an RF output, you will need a TV set that has a built-in tuner to be able to view the necessary pictures. The 70cm transmissions on 439.25 Mhz can be viewed without the need of a downconverter with a cable ready TV using CATV channel 60.

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What is needed to use ATV in Regina

Any basic license amateur radio operator can use ATV in Regina. The equipment needed to access the ATV repeater consists of the following: 
        439.25 Mhz ATV transmitter running 10 watts of power
       1277.25 Mhz Downconverter to receive the repeater output
       1277.25 Mhz Beam Antenna to receive the ATV repeater signal
        439.25 Mhz Beam Antenna to transmit to the ATV repeater receiver
       
       Video Camera and TV Set
It may be possible for you to use the 1 watt 70cm ATV transmitter depending on how far from the repeater you are located. A 10 watt transmitter, on line of sight, has a range of about 90 miles.

You will also require a TV set to view the incoming signal and a video camera to transmit your pictures back to the repeater.

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Amateur Television Web Sites

Here are some useful links to other ATV Web pages . Please note: since the World Wide Web is constantly changing, some of these addresses may no longer be valid.
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Last Modified December 16, 1996 at Taylor Field