M3JWKJOHN W. KIRBY • AMATEUR RADIO

EXPERIMENTS / M3JWK

Amateur Television and Digital ATV

From pictures over the air to Portsdown and the BATC

Seeing as well as hearing

Amateur television, or ATV, brings moving images into the world of licensed amateur radio. It sits at the meeting point of RF engineering, video systems, electronics, aerial design, modulation and programme-making. The technology has developed from analogue systems to digital amateur television, or DATV.

BATC: the natural starting point

The British Amateur Television Club has encouraged amateur television since 1949. It publishes technical resources and supports projects such as the Portsdown digital television transmitter and the Ryde receiver. Its website, wiki, member community and streaming facilities are useful routes into the subject.

M3JWK Amateur Radio Live

The concept for M3JWK Amateur Radio Live is to combine clear technical explanation, station demonstrations and responsible conversations about communications and engineering. It is a planned project, not a claim that a licensed DATV service is already transmitting.

Know the difference

A livestream sent over an ordinary internet platform is not an amateur radio transmission. Any over-the-air amateur television activity must follow applicable UK licence conditions, technical rules and current band plans. The BATC is an excellent guide for the practical detail.

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