BATC Forum

Hello to the group, new state side member here, callsign N0OY. I am currently advising several college students in a RF communications class this summer and we picked the ISS HamTV as a group project. So far we have built a helix feed for a 1m offset dish and mounted it on G5400 with a S.A.T. unit for tracking. Plans are to install the lna and bpf then check sun noise levels this week. We are trying to be ready for when the ISS turns on the Hamtv sometime in late May thus we need to make a decision on what receiver to use. We are thinking the PicoTuner would be a good fit and after searching we could only find that the 4334 tuner is a recommended sub-part. What other parts will be needed that can be purchase from BATC? i.e. the usb interface? We are assuming the discrete components can be ordered from Mouser or DigiKey state side. Any suggestions are most welcome. Pete

Hi Pete,

Hardware details for the PicoTuner are on the BATC Wiki: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/PicoTuner_Hardware

The pcb and FTS4334LV receiver module are available from the BATC shop. Everything else should be available from Digikey.

The Raspberry Pi Pico replaces the FT2232H USB module that was used on earlier receivers. There are also the WIZnet W5100S-EVB-Pico and W5500-EVB-Pico modules, which are effectively a Pico with an Ethernet chip.

The software for Ethernet connectivity is still in beta testing. It does not have USB connectivity. The currently available software for USB connectivity will work both on the basic Pico and also on the Ethernet variations.

Brian

Hi Pete,

There's also a wiki page listing everything (!) you need to know about receiving HamTV.

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

73
Noel - G8GTZ