BATC Forum

I finished building my Knucker tuner and am using the Ryde software to control it. It is receiving 1 & 2 Mhz signals from my HiDes UT100 dongle, but I can't transmit any lower bandwidths than that with the HiDes.

So now I an looking for the DATVexpress Version 1.25lp17 software mentioned on the Knucker Wiki page in order to test lower bandwidth signals with my Pluto. Does anyone have a link for this release? All I can find is the 1.25lp14 version that goes down to 1 Mhz bandwidth.

I'm guessing my only other option would be to build a Portsdown 4 to work with this? That means ordering more RPI parts...

John

Hi John,

the express software is detailed, including a link, in CQ-TV 271 in an article by G8GKQ on DVB-T transmitting.

73

Malcolm G0UHY

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhe7ba2upq8tg ... 8.zip?dl=0

- Charles

Thanks guys. Downloading it now....

John

Hi All

The Knucker has captivated my interest to the level Digilite did, DATV Gold!
The board went together beautifully with bit's and piece from the workshop, the board design is excellent, worked first go, thanks Mike
The Shop sent the vitals down under in good timely fashion, onya Noel
The Screens are a dream to navigate, seem smooth with no glitches, great work Dave

Updating the software on Pluto and Lime was refreshingly simple, I'm usually hopeless at that stuff, brilliant!
Realising I needed 2 Portsdowns now... Tx and Rx, I panicked and reached for the old HiDes dongle, it was second rate, but worked for a test
Looking for options I threw together a second Portsdown and sent some signals across the bench with a Pluto, not bad, got to 250khz
Tried Lime Mini and Charles's DATV express latest version tonight on the bench, my jaw dropped at 136khz, Lime is cleaner than Pluto

Well done Charles, that's the best experience with DATV express ever, this little Knucker thing has my undivided attention
There is likely others who've contributed too, you've all done a fantastic job chaps
Now to get out on 6 metres and make a contact, does anyone know what the distance limitation is yet?
The guard interval and the propagation Gods will dictate that I guess

Special thanks to the Australian Government who have altered our licence conditions to allow emissions >100khz on 6 and 2 metres
A few things spring to mind, will Art release a Knucker Express, could JP be inspired to release a Knucker Tiouner test tool?
How can so many carriers live so happily in such a small bandwidth, this could well become a useful data mode too
The Knucker is up there on the level of getting pictures back from a helicopter on Mars, only DIY, I've run out of Superlatives

3 Cheers from Roger VK5YYY

Roger:
Few Fellas in Melbourne VK3 have been having a good times with the DVB-T and Knucker
From Milliwatts a few Kilometers to across town with 10w 70cm
There is about 5 fellas or so on the Knucker Train so far.
You may get to see something on 6mtrs as you say when the the Propagation Gods are in out Favor
Cheers
Robert

With PD4 (202105190 software) and Knucker, the tuner initialises and locks to a signal, but I get no picture or sound with ffmpeg-VLC or UDP - I don't find a stream.

I tried local Tapton Hill TV. I put a few cm of wire in the F-socket. I got:

498 MHz 8000kHz
MOD: DVB-T FFT : 8K
Const: 64 QAM FEC : 2/3
Guard: 1/32
SSI is 90
SQI is 70
SNR is 19.03
PER is 0.0

On QO100 I tried Denis SV8RQ's signal. I got:
742.750 MHz 500kHz
MOD: DVB-T FFT : 2K
Const: QPSK FEC : 2/3
Guard: 1/32
SSI is 94
SQI is 27
SNR is 7.4
PER is 0.0

Any suggestions? A lot seems to be working, but no video/sound.

Might it be worth re-flashing the USB card?

73 Graham

Were you trying to receive broadcast TV? If so, use a TV.

The video should come on the reduced bandwidth modes though so perhaps you have a firewall issue?

Mike

Graham

As you were locked to Denis's transmission, you seem to have a video decoding issue.

Before reflashing the card, I would suggest looking at the signals (and soldering) on the 8 parallel video lines that go from the tuner to the ftdi module on the knucker PCB. You could use the broadcast signal as a test for this. Just don't be surprised when it does not replay smoothly once you have found the fault.

Dave

Dave,

thanks for the helpful guidance.

73 Graham