DATV-Express Project

[KenW6HHC]

Production MiniTiouner-Express units are now available. MiniTiouner-Express units going to the EU will shipped from UK. All other MiniTiouner-Express units are shipped from USA. Thank you for your patience.

You can again order these MiniTiouner-Express units from the ORDER A PRODUCT link on the https://www.datv-express.com website. You need to be registered and signed-in on the website to see the order form. The orders are processed through PayPal.

The price for the fully-assembled and tested MiniTiouner-Express assembly is still just US$75 + shipping.
* Shipping cost to the European Union is US$24.00 including the VAT.
* Shipping cost to US is US$7.00
* Shipping to other world-wide countries is US$35.00

You can place your orders today. The plan is to have shipping begin from UK for EU countries by Thursday, April 25.

73...de Ken W6HHC

[G4FRE]

Edit: Link above now corrected. Thanks Dave! Dave, G8GKQ

The link points to an unused BATC forum page, not datv-express.com

Dave
g4fre

[KenW6HHC]

Art WA8RMC enabled the PayPal function for ordering MiniTiouner-Express receiver/analyzer units on the DATV-Express.com website on April 19. Orders began pouring in as if “flood gates” had just opened. So far in April, a total of 59 orders have been received from all over the world (except USA):
Germany 14
UK 9
Netherlands 8
Italy 7
Belgium 4
Spain 4
Greece 3
Brazil 2
Sweden 2
France 1
India 1
Malaysia 1
N. Ireland 1
Russia 1
Slovakia 1
USA 0
TOTAL 59

On April 26, Charles G4GUO received the first box of 30 MiniTiouner-Express units shipped from Art. These units will be re-tested and boxed and then Charles will begin taking the boxes to the Post Office on Monday, April 29. A second box of 25 units was shipped to Charles on April 23. A third box of 30 units is planned to ship to Charles on April 29.

Project speed set to moderate…de Ken W6HHC

[g8lce]

Capture version 14.JPG (135.46 KiB) Viewed 5300 times

Capture version 9.JPG (152.21 KiB) Viewed 5300 times

I have found a problem using Datv Express with a Pluto TX. With _v1.25LP14 and a satellite rx using a sup 2400 ( So 437MHz 2000Ks DVB-S H.262 ) When I stop and start TX using PTT the Pluto does not TX again a signal the rx understands!! When I revert to v1.25LP9 it works as expected. Restarting the new version each time you want to tx makes it work again. My computer has two display cards as it is used for video editing and GoPro Fusion rendering. Could that be causing it to crash on PTT switching? Two rx show the same problem.

[g8lce]

The fault with version 14 is only with H.262 codec ( it is an old satellite RX!) The PTT works fine with H.264 and a more modern satellite rx.

[KenW6HHC]

On a different DATV forum ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalATV/ ), Dave N2OA asked a good question:

LimeSDR-mini versus PLUTO. Has anyone found a reason to choose one over the other for DATV?

Noel G8GTZ quickly pointed out that the BATC Portsdown system fully supports the LimeSDR-mini - so DVB-S and DVB-S2, output / PTT switching and touch screens are available. But not the PLUTO.

DATVers can also consider using DATV-Express_Transmitter software (Window-based) or GNUradio software (Linux based) to control either the LimeSDR-Mini or the PLUTO hardware boards.

Below is a set of tradeoffs if considering using the DATV-Express_Transmitter software (currently beta released as v1.25LP14 for Windows7 and Window10):
Exciter board price
LimeSDR-mini..........USD159 + shipping (shipping free in USA)
PLUTO (AD Micro).....USD143 + shipping

SymbolRates...........DVB-S..........................DVB-S2......................DVB-T
LimeSDR-mini..........175K-20M Symb/sec.........175K-20M Symb/sec......2 MHz-7 MHz RFchannel-BW
PLUTO (AD Micro).....175K-2M Symb/sec...........175K-~2M Symb/sec......2 MHz RFchannel-BW

Freq Range
LimeSDR-mini.........50 MHz –to– 3.5 GHz
PLUTO (AD Micro)....70 MHz –to– 6 GHz

DATV RF Power Out
LimeSDR-mini........ 1 mW to >10 mW @ 1250 MHz
PLUTO (AD Micro)... 0.1 mW to >1 mW @ 1250 MHz

USB port
LimeSDR-mini........ USB-3 or USB-2 (USB-3 can handle DVB-T data transfer rate more efficiently)
PLUTO (AD Micro)... USB-2

Known Issues
LimeSDR-mini The LimeSDR-Mini puts out a 20 MHz wide burst of calibration noise, whenever transmitter parameter changes are made,
like frequency, power level, etc.
Therefore owner has to assure that the RF Power Amplifier is NOT enabled while parameters are changed.
This latest v1.25LP14 software revision created a new issue for H.265 dropping video frames.
This new H.265 problem is understood…and G4GUO will try to fix the software in a future release.
PLUTO (AD Micro) The on-board internal PLUTO Software will overflow some multiplication calculations for power level using the DATV-Express sw,
therefore the power level is backed down to prevent math overflow.
This latest v1.25LP14 software revision created a new issue for H.265 dropping video frames.
This new H.265 problem is understood…and G4GUO will try to fix the software in a future release.

73….de Ken W6HHC

[KenW6HHC]

Charles G4GUO reported that the last box of the MiniTiouner-Express inventory of DATV receivers were all shipped to customers in European Union during May. The PayPal function for ordering MiniTiouner-Express receiver/analyzer units on the DATV-Express.com website has again been disabled. The Project Team agreed that the PayPal function for ordering will next be enabled when the next production run of units are in the hands of Charles.

Art WA8RMC reported that the 100 each blank PCB boards for the next production run of MiniTiouner-Express units were shipped to him on 2019-05-29. The Serit NIM tuners will be shipped to Art in the first week of June. Art expects that the next production batch of MiniTiouner-Express units will be available for ordering in early July.

Ken W6HHC reports that the latest version of MiniTioune software (V0.9beta8) was released by Jean-Pierre F6DZP on May 04. This new beta software has been successfully tested on the MiniTiouner-Express units and works VERY well. The software is available to download free from the VivaDATV website at http://www.vivadatv.org/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=625

Project speed set to moderate …de Ken W6HHC

[KenW6HHC]

This is a just a quick mid-month update....

The Project Team (without public notice) decided to take the last 24 blank PCBs for the DATV-Express transmitter boards that were still laying around and have them assembled and tested. Art WA8RMC did all the work of ordering components, kitting them for the PCBA assembly house and testing them after assembly. Art now reports that these boards are NOW ready to be sold via PayPal at www.DATV-Express.com website

The price has been reduced to USD179 each + shipping (and any VAT that may be due)
All shipping will be from USA...so usually USD35 for most world-wide shipping including EU....$7.00 for shipping within USA.


Also, Art shipped a box of 30 ea MiniTiouner-Express RX units to Charles G4GUO on June 15. It is expected that it will take about 2 weeks for these RX units to clear customs and be delivered to Charles. When G4GUO has these RX units in possession, the PayPal function for MiniTiouner-Express RX units will be enabled.

Project speed set to moderate …de Ken W6HHC

[KenW6HHC]

Charles G4GUO reported that a demo was performed running a DATV MiniTiouner hardware tuner to produce a Transport Stream (TS) on LINUX software using the efforts of Heather Lomond MØHMO, at the very recent BATC mini-convention Finningley CAT19. The software by Heather M0HMO allows the TS to be output from the hardware unit for DVB-S and DVB-S2 signals, now in a LINUX operating system environment. There are currently no analyzer functions…just the TS. The software demo was streamed by BATC on Sunday, June 30. The BATC explained that a Github will soon be made available with this software.

Charles G4GUO also reported that the box of 30 each MiniTiouner-Express units that shipped to him on June 15, have not yet cleared customs and taxes in England. Charles estimated that he now expects to receive the shipment around July 4?? Art WA8RMC expects that he will ship another batch of 30 each MiniTiouner-Express units to G4GUO around July 03…since it takes at least two weeks to receive shipments. The PayPal function for ordering these RX units will be turned ON and announced, once the June 15 shipment is in the hands of Charles.

Art WA8RMC reported that he had orders so far for 11ea DATV-Express TX boards…out of the final-build of 24 boards. All 11 units have shipped from the USA to customers.


Project speed set to moderate…de Ken W6HHC

[KenW6HHC]

GOOD NEWS!
The June 15th shipment of MiniTiouner-Express RX units are NOW in the hands of Charles G4GUO and the PayPal function for ordering these RX units has been ENABLED for ordering the units.

The DATV-Express Project website for ordering both DATV-Express TX units and MiniTiouner-Express RX units is located at:
www.DATV-Express.com
1) make sure that you have registered on the website.
2) Log-in before you try to go to the PURCHASE page
3) Click on the PURCHASE A PRODUCT link on the home page

A TYPO crept into the first website update to announce the PayPal being ENABLED and did not correctly explain the PayPal price for MiniTiouner-Express RX being purchased for shipments to EU customers who order.
The website PURCHASE A PRODUCT page should say:
MiniTiouner-Express Orders to EU: MiniTiouners are bulk shipped from USA to the UK. We then charge reduced shipping and prepay the VAT for the EU community. We notice, however, due to the untracked shipping, delivery time could be greater, usually 1 to 2 weeks for orders outside the UK. The price for the MiniTiouner-Express assembly for EU and UK customers is US $75 + $24 shipping including VAT. Limit 1 board per order for European Union.
MiniTiouner Orders outside EU:
The price for the MiniTiouner-Express assembly is US$75 + shipping.
• Shipping in the USA is $7.00
• Shipping to all other international customers is US$35.00

The project team will fix the website typo on EU shipping costs. [NOTE: website typo has been corrected.]

73...de KenW6HHC