BATC Forum

Good question! And to try and answer it we've updated the BATC wiki pages.

For an introduction to the project - everyone should read this https://wiki.batc.org.uk/The_Portsdown_Transmitter

For those who want to jump right to it, see where do I begin? https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_Tran ... User_guide

For more detail on the hardware used and a list of component suppliers see https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_hardware

Everyone will need to read the initial set up section (including those who don't read manuals!) https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Initial_setup

And finally there are "Portsdown - how to" videos on the BATC youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0FnFcz79_A

Let us know if this works - or feel free to edit and add to it.

73
Noel - G8GTZ

The Portsdown Introduction page on the wiki has been updated with a summary of the evolution of the various Portsdown models, including the new Portsdown 4.

New builders and those who want all the features but not the pain of being on the bleeding edge should use Portsdown 2020.

https://wiki.batc.org.uk/The_Portsdown_Transmitter

Maintaining the wiki for this fast developing product is almost as much work as doing the development - if you find any errors / omissions please correct them yourself or report them here.

Noel - G8GTZ

As always thanks to all those Infront and behind the scenes for giving up their free time, so the rest of us can play

73 John

I have added a video to show the very basic system in the topic viewtopic.php?f=103&t=6881

If you need more details of what the Portsdown 4 can do here is the link to the post about my video on it and Langstone.

viewtopic.php?f=103&t=6932

More things you can do in this post:

viewtopic.php?f=103&t=6949

Martin G8LCE

Dear om: Are user: pi and password: raspberry, keys for access to Portsdown 4 from Putty?
73,s de Jabi, ea2aru.

Jabi

Yes. Those are the default settings. You can change the password if you want to, but not the username.

Dave

Hello Noel and the development team,

Firstly, thank you all for the efforts you have put in and continue to put in for BATC as a whole and on the Portsdown / Langstone in particular. It's a truly excellent project.

I'm trying to put together the bits needed for a Portsdown at the moment and I've noticed a couple of wrinkles with the wiki. As I'm not at all confident about what the corrections might be I decided to report them here, as suggested above.

1. In the Portsdown hardware page (https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_hardware) the link to the CPC web site for the recommended RPi camera links to a page (ie a CPC product code) which no longer exists (product SC14028). Unless I'm mistaken, the correct product would now be CPC product code SC18701 https://cpc.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/rp ... dp/SC18701. Correct?

On a related topic, am I right in thinking that the newer Raspberry Pi camera model 3, which typically costs slightly less than the V2, is not (yet) supported for the Portsdown software?

2. This might be a really nuanced comment, bearing in mind that I'm a complete newbie and haven't even started yet on the Portsdown.

The recommendation in the message stream above was for new builders and those who want all the features but not the pain of being on the bleeding edge to use Portsdown 2020. If I read everything right, this appears to be a recommendation to base one's new Portsdown on the Rpi 3 which is probably easier to obtain than the Rpi 4 these days.

As an aside I bought a kit from the Pi Hut last week which includes a 2 GB Rpi 4, although as I write I see they are no longer in stock. As others have commented, there's an excellent web site called rpilocator.com which is very helpful in tracking down the elusive Raspberry Pis.

Anyhow, the Portsdown hardware page referred to in 1. above states "If you are starting a new build, the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 2 GB of RAM is recommended". Additionally, the main Portsdown Introduction wiki page https://wiki.batc.org.uk/The_Portsdown_ ... ver_system - linked to from the main BATC wiki page) also recommends the Portsdown 4 and suggests that it includes more capabilities (in terms of DVB-S and -S2?) than the Portsdown 2000 - which seems to me to be in contradiction to the advice above about the to use Portsdown 2020?

Maybe I'm making something from nothing or perhaps I just completely misunderstood, so please forgive me if I'm being too picky, and be massively congratulated because in all of the in-depth information available from BATC on this complex project that's the best I can do to find any inconsistencies or sources of confusion.

Best wishes to all, and hope to (literally) "see you" on the air later in 2023.

Paul G4KZY

Hi Paul,

And welcome to the crazy world of DATV!

Thanks for all your comments - it's mostly a case of the hardest part of a project is the documentation and keeping it up to date

On point 1 - I'll edit the camera link and I think there is a separate thread running on Pi camera 3 - I suggest you watch that for updates.

On point 2, Portsdown 4 using the Pi4 is the way to go. I've edited the wiki to try and make that clearer.

'''New builders are recommended to build a Portsdown 4 which, when used with a Adalm Pluto, is integrated with the Langstone Microwave transceiver software enabling an advanced multimode narrowband and DATV transceiver covering 70 MHz to 4 GHz for under £500.'''

73
Noel - G8GTZ