Page 1 TECATV Version 1. 3 3/1/92 AMATEUR RADIO TELEVISION [Category: Tec] ATV _ Amateur Radio Television- A proper demonstration of airborne Amateur Radio Television (ATV) requires several factors coming together precisely at the chosen time and place. They are: 1. Good weather for flying and steady camera transmissions. 2. Good visibility and adequate light. 3. Competent camera operator. (No aimless panning.) 4. Camera operator capable of describing what he is shooting. 5. Being on target at precisely the right time for those watching the demonstration. Murphy's Law says that if something can go wrong, it will. There are marvelous opportunities in "live" ATV demonstrations for Murphy to step in and show his stuff. Here are a few examples I have seen: 1. Rain, snow, windstorm or other hostile weather problem. 2. ATV crew can't find targets of interest to those watching the demo. 3. The receiving antenna is set up on the wrong side of the building to "see" the ATV aircraft. 4. Some of the government officials and hams scheduled to see the demo don't show up. 5. Some key viewer shows up minutes too late to see the demo. 6. The ATV crew, either in the aircraft or at the receiver site, discovers they forgot a crucial connector, cable, or piece of equipment. 7. The camera operator is untrained in how to shoot and pans dizzily, leaving viewers unimpressed and woozy. 8. Battery goes dead. These problems may be overcome by a few simple steps: 1. Prerecord aerial ATV demos. Pick your clear weather day and record a "perfect" 5 minutes long video. Anything longer may bore the viewers. (a) The video should always be shot in the area of interest to those for whom the demo is being made. Select known landmarks and points of interest. These might include the courthouse, freeway through town, a fair or other outdoor event, lake or reservoir activity, hospital, city hall, or any other location that viewers can readily identify. Always ask the agency for whom you are going to demonstrate if there are any particular points of interest they want to see. (b) Look for unplanned targets of opportunity. These can often be some of the best material to demonstrate ATV. Targets of opportunity could be a traffic accident scene, a fire, racetrack action, any outdoor crowd, downed aircraft (not yours!), etcetera. 2. Proper camera technique. DO NOT PAN. We must remember that the majority of viewers are unfamiliar with seeing things from a few hundred feet up in the air -- and in motion. Hollywood uses a device (Steady-Cam) to keep their aerial shots rock solid -- no jitter, jump, bump and vibration. Since they cost more than some airplanes we use, the basic rule that bears repeating is: DON'T PAN. DON'T ZOOM. That leaves two basic techniques for ATV: (a) Level, straight line flight. The camera picture travels at the same ground speed of the aircraft. The camera operator can announce where he is and in what direction he is traveling. Help the viewer to locate where you are. If the viewer cannot identify with what is on the screen, ATV serves no purpose. The sooner the viewer knows where he or she is in respect to the picture, the better is your work. It helps when the pilot can make all turns in one direction. If all turns are left-hand turns, all camera shots can be out the left side and vice versa. In this manner the picture never leaves the ground. In other words no shots of sky, camera gyrations, shots of your feet, the back of the pilot's head, etc. If you are only recording and not transmitting live, shut off the camera when you don't want to record and transmit junk. A good camera operator can literally edit on the spot. (b) Orbiting the target. The aircraft does 360's over the target or a helicopter hovers or does slow flight 360's. When the ATV transmitter, whether airborne or on the ground, is too far from the receiver to adequately provide a high quality picture, either (a) don't show it or (b) videotape it in the field and retransmit it later when you have a Circuit Merit 5 path. The ATV aircraft may be down in a canyon, for example, taping an incident. It is out of range of the receiver for a CM5 path. After recording what it wants to transmit back to the EOC or IC (Incident Command), the plane can climb to an altitude sufficient to assure the reception of a CM5 playback transmission. Aerial ATV platforms I have seen or used have included slow flying fixed wing aircraft owned and operated by the RACES personnel, Highway Patrol helicopters, Civil Air Patrol aircraft, and county fire and police helicopters. Needless to say, fixed wing aircraft must be of the high wing variety. Because of Murphy's Law and daylight limitations, it is now standard operating procedure for the State RACES ATV unit to prerecord ATV demonstrations. In this manner the crew can pick ideal flying and lighting conditions. Targets with which the viewers can relate are determined in advance. When the day (or night) of the presentation arrives, a proper video demonstration can be made to the local government officials regardless of how hard the wind is blowing outside, the downpour or snowstorm in progress. The officials aren't interested in the aircraft installation, hardware, wiring, cameras, radios and so forth. They are interested only in results. Good results. They are used to seeing helicopter news video. ATV results can be close in quality with the right equipment and skilled operators. If it isn't or it's still in the gee whiz hobby stage -- don't demonstrate it. More harm can be done by failures. The memory of them is long lasting. -KH6GBX RB 105-109 "RF-1" MICROWAVE VAN TAKES RACES "ABOVE THE CROWD" Imagine a RACES communications van that can deliver 24 simultaneous voice or data circuits plus full duplex Amateur Television ("ATV") videoconferencing. Now add High Frequency, VHF and UHF radios -- both Amateur and Public Safety, a thirty foot pneumatic mast, on-board power generator, and four wheel drive! "Wonderful," you say? California State Office of Emergency Services Region 2 RACES calls it "RF-1". In service since September 1990, RF-1 is the product of nearly a year's development by OES Region Two's Special Communications Assistance Team (SCAT) and the RACES. RF-1 Project Coordinator Steve Cembura (N6GVI) led the team of Amateurs who designed and built the mobile 5.8 gigaHertz microwave system. This full-duplex link operates in both analog (video) and digital (T-carrier) modes. The system includes T-1 channel banks which combine up to 24 separate voice or data circuits on a single microwave signal. SCAT Public Safety Radio Officer Dick Epting located the vehicle, a surplus Electronic News Gathering unit from San Francisco's television station KGO, and installed two-way radios and emergency equipment. Another San Francisco broadcaster, KPIX-TV, donated a broadcast quality color TV camera and other necessary video and audio gear. RF-1 got its first field trial providing video and two-way radio communications for a major earthquake preparedness exercise in Solano County. It was displayed at the last Emergency Response Institute in San Ramon and at the opening of the new State OES Media Center in Sacramento. RF-1 is now Region Two's "first in" mobile communications resource for earthquakes and other disasters. "RF-1 is more than just a comm van," says Region 2 RACES Coordinator Art Botterell. "All the technology wouldn't mean a thing without skilled operators. The RF-1 team put themselves on- call day and night to offer this unique public service." RB159 ATV ANTENNA ON AIRCRAFT The antenna should be mounted half-way between the tail and the rear window, on the bottom of the fuselage, to minimize "shadows" in banks and turns. Select a whip antenna similar to that used for transponders and DME except that the whip will have to resonate at 434 Megahertz. An aircraft-type antenna made for aluminum skinned aircraft. It must have a coaxial fitting at the feedthrough base of the antenna and not the type that has a lug mount. Cut the radiator (whip) to seven (7") inches. Run the coaxial transmission line to the back seat with a BNC male termination. RB 86-31