Portsdown - again?

Well,

I've been building myself another Portsdown DATV transmitter.

This is the Portsdown 2019 - instead of the Filter Modulator board in the last version, this uses a LimeSDR Mini.

I'm rather pleased with this new build, it's a lot neater than the 2018 version I made:

You can see the LimeSDR in the picture above, its in a 3D printed case - that's now got a 20mm square fan fitted.

The front panel is a lot better than the last build, if I had got the holes for the LEDs upright it would have been even better.

I wanted this second Portsdown so I can take it portable without destroying the shack to remove the 2018 version.

I'm rather pleased with this.

Its brick time!

Well,

To compliment the DATV transmitter I made here, I've been building a PA rated at 60W RF out - it will be used at way less than this, but for any kind of TV transmission we need loads of overhead in the PA to avoid nastyness in the output.

The PA is this design here, the PCB from G4DDK.

The module itself is a RA60H1317M1A and I got mine from Anglia Live.

The heatsink feels like a great find, I saw it listed on eBay by JPG Electronics in Chesterfield; as it's just up the road I paid a visit - what a find! Loads of goodies!

Anyhow, here the PA under test:

The TX RF from the Portsdown will come in through the LPF we tested last time; then through the PA and out through the SMA relay. The RX Signal will pass through the BPF also from last time, and to the Receiver we made here.

The relay was one of a number I found some time ago; they are Ducommun latching 12V SMA relays. These need a driver circuit which I made like this:

and that's built on the veroboard you can see at the front of the PA block.

The output lines do this when the PTT is grounded and then disconnected:

All I need to decide now is what to set the Bias voltage to on the PA - not sure about that!

Throughout Miss Luna Cat has been supervising from a distance:

Good, egh?

Telly - really?

Well,

I've started to play with Digital Television and the broadcasting thereof. The fist part of the puzzle was to construct a means of receiving my own signals so I chose the Minitiouner from the BATC of which I am a member.

I bought the PCBs and the bits and bobs from the BATC shop and have built the project:

The transmit side of things will be from the well publicised BATC project the Portsdown. 

There is quite a bit to this project, hardware wise, but initially we need a Raspberry Pi and some software to run something they call "Ugle Mode" whereby you can send a picture across the shack.

Well, it works:

So its time to progress the hardware some more and move forward with the transmitter side of the project.

Interesting start, egh?