On 23rd April 2023 I made my first two-way amateur television contact with stations in South Africa, Brazil and elsewhere in the UK joining the Sunday DATV net run by Gary ZS6YI.

Off air pictures 23/4/23

Since moving to the new QTH in Selsey, I have been experimenting with Digital Amateur Television (DATV) using the geostationary QO100 satellite.  During 2022 I was able to transmit some jerky pictures at a fairly low frame rate and resolution through the satellite and receive them. By April 2023 I was experimenting with more power on the uplink and was able to make two way contacts.

(I had an interest in television transmission back in the 1980s when a group of us managed to get on the air on 70cm from out student digs in London, although the technology of the time was very different!  My Radio History)

During the summer I have gradually improved my ability to send and receive pictures, though I haven’t got it perfect quite yet.

720p resolution pictures received by Gary ZS6YI in South Africa 22/10/23 DVB S2 333kSymbols FEC 2/3

Gary has an excellent receive setup and is receiving my signals with a margin of around 3.8dB. The image below  from the beginning of my transmission shows his receiver details superimposed on the right hand side and the programme details in the central box. (These disappear after a few seconds).

I have added some information on my DATV set up on this page. DATV on QO100

I think I have learnt a lot already and hopefully I will be able to continue to improve my station and make many more contacts.