What is DATV?

What is DATV?

DATV stands for Digital Amateur Television. Amateur television was initially in the form of SSTV or Slow Scan Television. Due to the higher level of equipment needed, it was not as commonly used by Amateur Radio or Ham Radio operators. Now with the availability of more sophisticated equipment more and more radio amateurs are using amatuer television as well. There are amateur radio operators even in my region who are receiving SSTV images from the International Space Station.

There is a DATV Net on the Qatar Oscar 100 Geostationary Satellite on Sundays at 6.30 pm IST at 10499.250 MHz. British Amateur Television Club maintains a list of QO100 DATV users at this link: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/QO100_DATV_Users. As on date it shows 5 users from India.  QO-100 Wideband Transponder Digital ATV operating guidelines have divided the available band into Narrow Band DATV and Wide & Narrow Band DATV sections.

Narrow Band DATV transmissions are those with symbol rate of 333 kS or less. Wide Band DATV symbol rate is typically 500 kS and should be confined to the “Wide and Narrow DATV” section. Narrow DATV transmissions may use “Wide and Narrow DATV” section if Narrow DATV section is fully occupied.