[WARC] Wabasha ATV email copy of 10/11/08

[jonmcpete at cpinternet.com]

Copy of email responsing to request for info on ATV:


Steve,
The quickest source of info I have found is at:

http://www.hamtv.com/

They have educational info as well as selling equipment at
the best prices.  There are other dealers also who are good.
 I will put together a list sometime.

Close by is the publisher of ATVQ (Amateur Television
Quarterly) in Rockford, Ill.  They sell some equipment but
have a lot of books, etc. as well as the magazine.  I have
all but three issues from the 20 years they have published
as well as all the US books and one British book if anyone
wants to reference anything such as "build-it" projects. 
They are at:

http://www.hampubs.com/

On a sad note, the owner was recently diagnosed with a
slowly terminal condition (ALS) and may have to stop
publishing.

Some ATV repeaters have been coordinated in Minnesota in the
past.  "Coordinated" means given the approval of the state
Repeater Council so that, while hams can use any ham
frequencies they want, this offers some degree of protection
from interference.  For instance if someone else wanted to
set up a 2 m. FM repeater on the same frequency pair as we
use in Wabasha they can do so but if they cause us
interference THEY must take action to eliminate it, not us. 
This coordination "stamp of approval" has some qualifiers
like "significant" interference. etc.  You can't shut down
the "NON-coordinated" repeaters that interfere only when a
band opening occurs for instance.  

The ATV repeaters that have arisen in the past have fallen
by the wayside due to lack of use.  At this point the
nearest ones are one in the north Metro area (about half way
across I-694); one not on the air since I have been involved
about in the Cottage Grove area of the south-east Metro;
Wausau; Wisconsin Dells area; there used to be one (at least
a coordination was issued) in LaCrosse and I think Owatonna
or Waseca both more than ten years ago I believe.

Why this one now?
Equipment is getting CHEAPER.  Best receiver money can buy
is a $150. down-converter and an old TV (NOT need to be
cable-ready if you have the down-converter or just a good
$50 pre-amp ahead of a cable-ready TV.)  Very good
transmitter can be had for $60-$150.  Antennas are cheap or
easily home-brewed.  Any source of video/audio will do to
transmit:  A $20 "mini-cam" and a $4 mic works fine or play
back a VCR tape or camcorder into the transmitter.  Some of
the camera/mic/low-power transmitter units weigh less than
the AA cells to run them and can be mounted on
Radio-Controlled aircraft, on a "hard-hat", certainly in a
vehicle, etc.  Take up as much space as a HT but put out
enough signal to hit the repeater which then spreads it out
over a  20,30,??? mile radius.  Great for public service
events, disasters (law enforcement can see the "scene" right
from the Law Enforcement Center, SKYWARN spotting ("Is it a
tornado or not?"  Let the NWS see what you are looking at in
the field!), or just rag-chew from home and let people see
your dog do tricks.

Also, hopefully with the shift to digital TV, a TON of old
analog/NTSC TV equipment will be CHEAP; both receiving and
transmitting.  Those TV stations won't need that junk any
more!  Hams can have fun playing with it!!  There is a
limited amount of ham spectrum space also so I figured we
better "stake a claim" on the best frequencies before others
get the idea.  For this terrain, the lower the frequency the
better and 70 cm. is the lowest and our input frequency
(420-426 MHz) is the lowest frequency you can legally put an
NTSC signal on.  Our output frequency (438-444 MHz) is the
next lowest that will not interfere with our own reception. 
The above mentioned repeaters use split bands as transmit
and receive are on the same tower so you go in on 440/out on
903 for instance.  This means users need antennas for two
bands, etc.  With Roger's (KI0F) and my towers as far apart
as they are we can go "in-band" and have the best
frequencies for both transmit and receive with a one-way
link/relay between the two up on those microwave
frequencies.  The two towers are line-of-sight so this part
is easy.  In places such as Twin Cities they can't even put
up a reasonable tower; they have to rent space on one and to
rent space on two would really be expensive.

I will include the above info in my next "mass emailing" so
excuse the duplication then but others probably would be
interested too.

Jon