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DigitalTelevision:TheNew
Ha
m
Frontier
Amongthemany
talkspresented
at
the
2009
ARRLjTAPR
Digital
Communication
Con
ference
was
oneby
WA8RMCondigitaltelevision.
This
art
icleis
based
onh
is
talka
nd
the
paperthat
waspublishedin
theconference
Proceedings.
By
Art
Towslee,
*
WA8RMC
U
nitedStatesbroadcastdigitaltelevisionstartedinthe earlyI990sandtheofficialtransitiontoalldigitaltook placeinJune2009.Amateurdigitaltelevisionstarted somewherearound2000mainlyinEuropewithon-airsignals notappearinguntilaround2002whensomedigital-boardsets becameavailable.SincethenamateurdigitalTVrepeatersin Europehavebeenincreasinginpopularity,butsadlytheinter estseemstobelackingintheUSA. InJanuary2004theATCOGroup(AmateurTelevisioninCentralOhio)inColumbus,OhioinstalledaDVB-Sdigitaloutputtoitsrepeater,whichhasbeeninservice24/7sincethen.
"e-mail:<towsleeI@ee.net>
AsofJuly2009,the
ATCO
GroupisstilltheonlyoneintheUSAwithadigitalATV(AmateurTelevision)repeateroutput.TheATCOrepeaterdigitaloutputusesDVB-Smodulation whichwebelieveisthebestchoiceforamateurtelevision.
The
followingdiscussiondetailsmorefullywhywefeelitisbest, alongwithoperationalexperiencestobackitup.Iknow
of
noothergroup,intheUSAorEurope,thatjustifiesitwith"inser vice"data.Therefore,weareabletobackupourstatementswithresultsandnotjusttheoreticaldetails.
DATV
AdvantagesoverAnalog
Picturequalit
yisn
earperf
ect.Strongandweaksignalsareall"P5,"whichisasnow-freesignal.Historically,analogama-
Analog
A
TV
SignalReporting
PO
IthinkIseeyou!
PI
Iseeyou!
P2
I
can
telli
Is
reallyyou!
P3
GoodPictureP4Strong,alittle
snow
P5BroadcastLike!
DATV
SignalReporting
PO
PI
P2P3P4P5
FigureI.Comparison
of
signalreportingbetweenanaloganddigitalsignals.Noticethatindigitaloneeitherseesabluescreen
(PO)
oraclearsignal
(PI-P5)
.
38.
CO
VHF
•
Winter
2010
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12401245125012551260
Figure
2.
Bandwidth
of
digitalversusanalogsignal.
-40dBm-50dBm-60dBm-70dBm-80dBm
'"
Hz
Digital
teurtelevisionsignalstrengthsareindi catedbythe"P"unitsystemwhere
PO
isabarelydetectablesignalandP5issnow free.Thestrengthsincreasein6-dBsteps from
PO
toP5,soP5is6x5
=
30dBstrongerthan
PO
.That'sforanalog.Adig italsignalthatproducesablankreceiver screenwithaPOsignalwillproduceaP5, orsnow-free,pictureifit'sonly1
-2
dBstronger.Therefore,intheanalogworld, ifthesignalstrengthwas1
-2
dBgreaterthan
PO
,theviewerwouldseeabarelydis cernablepicture;inthedigitalworldthe viewerwouldseeasnow-freepicture. (Seefigure
I.)
Noiseand
muItip
ath
canc
ellation
possible.TheDVB-SQPSKmodulationschemeusesFEC(forwarderrorcorrec tion)tocanceltheeffectsofatmospher ic/manmadenoiseandmultipath(ghost ing).ThenoiseishandledbytheViterbi softwarealgorithmandmultipathishan dledbytheReed-Solomonsoftwarealgorithm,whicharehighlycomplexeffective waysofhandlingthedatastreamsbut beyondthescopeofthisdiscussion.Since theDVB-Smodulationschemeisintend edmainlyforsatellite-to-groundcommu nication,multipathisminimal,socorrec tionrequirementsarealsominimaland simplebutadequateforATVapplications.Noisereduction.Asmentionedabove, theViterbicodingalgorithmreduces noiseduetoatmosphericandmanmade influences,butisminimal.Herealso,
www.cq-
vhf
.com
hamsarewillingtotoleratesomenoise disturbancesinthepicture.However,it doesn
't
showupasthetypicalnoiseflash esinthepictureasseenonananalog screen.Insteaditwillappearaseithera momentarilyfrozenpictureorasmo mentarycheckeredsquaresscattered throughthepicture.Therefore,asyoucan imagine,itwouldbeintolerablefora commercialbroadcastsignalbutquiteacceptableforhams! Can
occup
ylessb
andwidth,
Acommercial8VSBdigitalbroadcastsignal occupiesafixed6-MHzbandwidthand isnotsubjecttomodification.TheDVB Ssignalbandwidth,however,canbetai loredtomeettheusers'requirements. Therefore,itcanbemadewiderorsig nificantlynarrowerthan6MHzwithcor respondingtrade-offs.Ifanarrower bandwidthisneeded,videoqualitywill sufferandfastmotionmaypixelate.By "pixelate"wemeanthatcheckered squareswillappearinthepicturewhere thedatacannotberefreshedaccurately. Formosthamapplications,wearenotshowingvideo
of
carracesandtheperson"oncamera"isusuallynotmoving rapidly,soagain,thisnormallyisnota problem.Wehavefoundthataforward
error
correctionvalue
of
aboutthreequarterswitha3.125-megSymbolrateis adequatefornormalmotionwithtwovideostreamsina4-MHzchannel.(See figure2.) Lesst
ra
nsmitpowerrequiredth
an
analog
for
same
range.
Becausethedig italsignalcontainsmoredatathanan equivalentanalogsignal,lesspoweris neededtotransmitanerror-freesignal. Also,thesignalenvelopecontainsmore peakpowerspreadoutmoreevenlyacross theoccupiedbandwidthallowingmore informationwithinthecarrierenvelope.Ananalogsignalhasmostofthepower closesttothesignalcentercarrier,butthedigitalsignalisspreadoutmoreevenly acrossthespectrum.Asaresult,thedigi talsignallooksmoresquareasviewedon aspectrumanalyzerasseeninfigure2.As aroughruleofthumb,thedigitalsignal transmitpowercanbeaslowasone-tenth ofthepowerofananalogsignalforthe samereceivedsignalquality.Example: TheATCOdigitalQPSK2.5-watt1245 MHzsignalisreceivedaboutthesameas its30-watt1260-MHzanalogsignal. (Bothsignalsuseidenticalantennasatthe sameelevation10feetapart).
It
'sne
at
tobeonthecu
tt
inge
dge
(br
agg
ing'ri
ght
s).Lastbutnotleast,it's neattobeabletotellpeoplethatyoursig nalisthelatestdigitaltechnologyc
om
ingfromahome-builtamat
eur
transmitter.Anumber
of
club
member
shavebeen acquiredjustbecauseofthatfact.Many peopleliketobealeaders,right?
DATVDisadvantages
MostDATVisinEurope.Uptothis time,it'sclearthattheEuropeanhamsare morecreativewithregardtoDATV.They pioneereditintheearlystagesstartingat theturnofthe21stcentury.I
don't
knowtherealreasonwhy,butguessthatmany arestillbuildingtheirownequipment, whereasmanyAmericanshavegivenin tosimplybuyingwhattheyneedand "pluggingitin"togetthemontheair.
That's
notnecessarilybad,butitdoeslimit DATVoperationhereintheUSA.Transmitboa
rd
sareexpensive. TransmitboardsavailablefromEuropean sourcesare
notcheap,
andasweallknow, USAhamsarerather"thrifty"!Theboard setsusuallywillrunover$1500fora2.5 wattsignal!
It
isthereforecleartomethat theEuropeanswhospentafewyearswrit ingandperfectingtheneededcodewant tobereimbursedfortheireffort.Ica
n't
blamethem,butitdoesn
't
sitwellwithour "thriftyU.S.hams,"sotothisdate...no economicalsolution.T
ra
nsmitbo
ard
sarediffi
cult
to
build.
Well,notreally,butthe
hardware
istheeasypart,asanumber
of
manufac-
Wi
nte
r
2010.
COVHF
•
39
,
~
-
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turershavecreatedindividualICsatreasonableprices. However,writingthe
software
codefortheseisanothermat ter.Whatwe
really
needistohavesomeexperiencedhamsoft wareengineersknowledgeableaboutdigitalTVsitdownand helpwritesomeusablecodeforaboardset.Creatingthehard warearoundthecodeis"apieceofcake
,"
butIdon
't
know
of
anyonewillingtotaketimeawayfromhis"real
job
"longenoughtocreateusefulsoftwareforthegoodofDATV.
Modu
lators
req
uireint
erlacedvideo.Thisisnotamajor drawbackbutonemustbeawareofit.Tomyknowledge,the softwarewrittenforallboardsavailablenowrequirefullinter lacedNTSCvideoforerror-freeMPEG-2compressiontotake place.Almostallcamerasoutputinterlacedvideo,but
10
generators
donot.
Themostcommon
10
generatoristheElkTronics IDboardusedtogeneratethestation
10
formostATVrepeaters, butitdoesnothaveinterlacedvideo,soasaresultthesignal pixelatesandfrequentlyfreezes,makingthesignalalmostunus able.IknowofnocommerciallyavailableinterlacedvideoID boards.BecauseofthistheATCOgroupcustom-madeonefrom aSandiskpicture-frameboardandloadeditwiththeneeded videoIDslides.Maybefuturesoftwaredesignswillovercome thisproblem.
Transmit
delay
of
1
to2seconds.Thereisabouta1-to2 secondlatencydelayduringtheMPEG-2compression(trans mitter)anddecompression(receiver).Mostofthetimeitisof novelinterestbeingabletowatchtheanalogtransmissionand thenthedigitaltransmissionoccurwitha1-to2-second
of
fset.However,ifanyDATVlinkingbetweenrepeatersisanticipat ed,itmaybeverycumbersomewhenusingfullduplexforpeo pleateachendtowaitacoupleofsecondsbeforeresponding toagivencomment.(Fullduplexwillcreatea2-to4-second delay).However,thatmaybefuntowatchalso,sowhoknows. Maybethat'smoreentertainment!
Ungraceful
fademargins.Analoghasagracefulfademar gin.Thatis,thepictureisr
eco
gnizablewhilenoiseandsig nalfadingincreaseanddecreasefromsnow-free
down
towithinabout3dB
of
di
sappear
ingaltogether.Digital,how
eve
r,isunforgiving,asitstaysabsolutelysnow-freedownto withinaboutIto2dBofthethreshold.Ther
efor
e,thedigi talsignalwillremainviewablelonger,butwhenthat"cliff
ef
fect"pointisreached,thesignalistotallygonewithnovis ibletracesofit.Thecorrespondinganalogsignalmayhave excessivesnow,butviewabletraces
of
thesignalremain, allowingantennaoptimizationefforts.
Thu
s,analoghasan advantagewhenreceivingaw
eak
OXsignalunderrapidfad ingconditions.
BroadcastStandards,
Overview
,
Major
Standards
ATSC(8VSB)NorthAmerica DVB-T(CODFM)EuropeTerrestrial DVB-C(QAM)EuropeandUSAcable(numerousvariations) DVB-H(QAM)Europehandheld DVB-S(QPSK)EuropeandUSAsatellite 8VSB
disadvantages
Modulationschemeisverycomplex. Fixed19.4-megSymboldatarateand6-MHzbandwidthare notmodifiable. Amplitudemodulation(vestigialsideband)needshigh-lin eari
tya
mps.
40.CO
VHF.
Winter2010
Ifampsarenotlinearenough,toomanytransmiterrorsand screenblanksoccur. AudiochannelnotreceivableonsomeTVsets. HambandnotavailableonstandardunmodifiedTVs.
430-450
MHznogood;cablesettinginsomeTVsd
ef
aulttoQAM.90
2-
915MHznogood;aboveTVtuningrangeandcrowd- edwithWi-Fi.1240--1300MHznogood;thisisaboveTVtuningrange. Specialreceiveconverterrequiredforhamapplications. Cannotusewhenreceiverisinmotion(nomobileoperation). DVB·Tdis
ad
v
ant
agesReceiversnotinuseinUSA. Needshighsignal-tonoise-ratioreceivers. DVB-TsettopboxesnotavailableinUSA. DVB-Cdisadv
an
tagesNocommonstandard.Manyvariantsusedbyeachcable company.Commonreceivernotavailable. DVB-Hdis
ad
v
ant
agesNowell-definedstandard. Noreceiversavailable.
DVB-S:
Why
isitBestforD-ATV?
DVB·SA
dva
n
tage
Summary
Usedfree-to-airreceiversarereadilyavailable. Receiversare"chea
p"-$
IOto$50oneBay. Newreceiversare$125atlocalsatellitestores. High-linearityamplifiersnotrequiredtotransmiterror-free signal.Ifampsnotlinear-excessivetransmitsignalspectral regrowthoccursbutminimalerrors. Inexpensive
LOMaS
"brick"amplifiersfortransmitcanbe usedandareeasytobuild. Formatmultipathcancellationisadequateforhamuse. Modulationmethodnotsub
jec
ttomotionlimits
-t
estedokayformobile. Lessbandwidthneededthanothersforacceptablepicture. Bandwidthmodifiableformotion/resolutiontrade-off selections.Multiplevideochannelswithinsinglecarrierpossible. SeemsbestforhamspaceshuttleD-ATVcommunication.
DVB-SDetails
Mo
dulationmethod.QPSK(QuadraturePhaseShift Keying)frequencymodulationisusedexclusivelyhere.QPSK basicallymeansthatthesignalisphase(FM)modulatedinfour quadrantsof360degreestoessentiallycontainatleastfour timesthedataasasimpleFMsignal.
Enco
ding.Asinmostotherstandards,MPEG2isusedhere alsofordataencoding.Forwarderrorcorrectionisemployed usingViterbiandReed-Solomancodingtocorrectfornoiseand multipatheffects.Thedegreeofcorrectionisselectableasneeds dictate,makingDVB-Sverydesirablebecauseitallowsthe usertochangeitforvariousconditions. Li
nearity
requi
rements.
Linearamplifiersinthetransmit chaincanbecome
very
expensive.Thereforeitisimportantfor hamusetoemploythetransmissionmethodmosttolerantof non-linearities.DVB-Sisit!Sincethemodulationmethodis
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