The narration was in English (in the version I watched), so easy to follow!
The control unit does not have any RF circuitry; all the RF circuitry is in the external unit.
Power output for 144 / 430 / 1200 is 10W (Type N connector).
Power output for 2.4 / 5.6 GHz is 2W (separate SMA connectors).
Power output for 10 GHz is 0.5W (connector unspecified).
10 GHz capability is optional, via the CX-10G transverter (a second external unit).
Amateur Television (ATV) is a built-in mode, but requires an analog camera. ???
Control unit includes a (full size) SD card slot and USB-C connection.
Icom mentions mobile operation as a use case.
DD mode (128 kbps) is fastest data rate
There was no indication that the connection between the two units can be virtualized via Internet. All the illustrations showed the control unit connected directly to the external unit.
I’ll be watching the discussions this week and have a more complete set of impressions in Zero Retries 0061 next week.
There once was a product that used VHS tape to back up hard drives. Perhaps there may be a way to come up with a way to send/receive data using the ATV mode.
Since the ‘control’ unit seems to be based on the IC-705, maybe the wireless network and/or Bluetooth functionality will be retained in the IC-905…one can hope…
Aug 20, 2022·edited Aug 20, 2022Liked by Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Looking closely at the body in the video (which is still available) shows both LAN and RF Unit RJ-45 connectors! Sent Steve a screen cap via SMS since I can’t seem to include it here.
It might not been good for V/U band to use the remote head amp. By doing that, you'll need to find space to mount the head amp if you are just UV fans. BTW, any mention on the full/half duplex ops mode, can V/U operate simultaneously in the way IC-9100 does ?
Ken - My question, in the era of plentiful cheap USB webcams… why require a grainy, crappy analog camera for ATV? And why not a choice of ATV or Digital ATV? There’s USB C on the radio - just put that on a hub an plug in a USB webcam. Downscale the resolution as necessary for compatibility of transmissions.
The USB port isn't set up for input devices, and an analog input is, I suspect more versatile in the long run - not everyone will want a live video feed from a camera, and a portable camcorder will likely be a popular input device.
Did the common camcorder suddenly become esoteric?
The IC-905 can send and record ATV onto a MicroSD card, and current ATV enthusiasts use analog video feeds into their rigs, at least that's the way it seemed last I looked at ATV a few years ago.
Aren't analog security cameras a dime a dozen on the surplus market by now, being replaced with POE IP cameras?
<i>Did the common camcorder suddenly become esoteric?</i>
Yes, for the most part. Along with DLSRs and point-and-shoot cameras. The smartphone has totally gutted the bottom end of the photography market. There are lots of free apps out there that make it easy to turn smartphones into USB webcams. Heck, Apple is integrating the capability into iOS later this year.
It's pretty hard to beat free, even in the surplus market. Especially when talking about 320X525i analog video. I was watching some broadcast video from the mid-1980s earlier this week and it was almost unwatchable.
There are numerous digital TV formats (DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S, DVB-S2, ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0), and these would require custom encoding/decoding chips or algorithms, some of which might be patented and require royalties. While I would love to see it, I don't see that happening. Although I wasn't expecting to see FM ATV either--that was a nice surprise. It would have been really nice if they had implemented analog AM or VUSB TV instead of just FM, though.
That's assuming the RJ-45 is actually transporting Ethernet up the tower, and IP protocol. I imagine there's a fairly low latency requirement between the two units too. Using packetized data might not work without a lot of buffering.
Yes, Icom could have reinvented the wheel and chosen not to use an off-the-shelf Ethernet implementation, but why would they? They have years of experience with Ethernet connectivity in at least HF amateur radio, and I suspect on some commercial/LMR/marine/aviation products.
My understanding is that excessive latency in Ethernet is largely from collisions from multiple devices. In a two-device Ethernet network, seems collisions would be minimal.
Only one N-Type for the 144/432/23cm output - need a splitter and yet another loss of power at the masthead, and no specific output to control a linear or preamp at the masthead either?
The losses from the splitter will be on the (relatively) high-power output bands. Also, compared to a traditional 144/430/1.2GHz station today they have eliminated line loss, which leaves room for a little loss from a splitter (or you could deploy one of the several commercial tri-band vertical antennas that cover 144/430/1.2GHz)
No I disagree over the splitter. I havent used a vertical in over 20 years except mobile - I work all forms of DX on VHF and up be it Tropo E's Aircraft scatter meteor scatter EME even and this rig is defeating cross band usage under its current guise so is satellite operation of full duplex being allowed or is it still half duplex/simplex only - Yet another gimic/compromise rig to allow the use of digital repeater modes?
There once was a product that used VHS tape to back up hard drives. Perhaps there may be a way to come up with a way to send/receive data using the ATV mode.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a27752/vhs-backup-hard-drive-90s/
"transfer rate of 9 MB per minute"
That puts you at 150KB/second, that's pretty close to the DD rate of D-Star, isn't it, oh wait, D-Star is 128 Kbps, roughly 1/8th the speed...
Since the ‘control’ unit seems to be based on the IC-705, maybe the wireless network and/or Bluetooth functionality will be retained in the IC-905…one can hope…
Looking closely at the body in the video (which is still available) shows both LAN and RF Unit RJ-45 connectors! Sent Steve a screen cap via SMS since I can’t seem to include it here.
It might not been good for V/U band to use the remote head amp. By doing that, you'll need to find space to mount the head amp if you are just UV fans. BTW, any mention on the full/half duplex ops mode, can V/U operate simultaneously in the way IC-9100 does ?
No mention (so far) of full-duplex... or any other such details.
The unit has analog AV input/output jacks, it makes sense to use an analog video input in my opinion... now, to source an analog camera...
Ken - My question, in the era of plentiful cheap USB webcams… why require a grainy, crappy analog camera for ATV? And why not a choice of ATV or Digital ATV? There’s USB C on the radio - just put that on a hub an plug in a USB webcam. Downscale the resolution as necessary for compatibility of transmissions.
The USB port isn't set up for input devices, and an analog input is, I suspect more versatile in the long run - not everyone will want a live video feed from a camera, and a portable camcorder will likely be a popular input device.
It's not like everyone has a USB camera in their pocket...
Did the common camcorder suddenly become esoteric?
The IC-905 can send and record ATV onto a MicroSD card, and current ATV enthusiasts use analog video feeds into their rigs, at least that's the way it seemed last I looked at ATV a few years ago.
Aren't analog security cameras a dime a dozen on the surplus market by now, being replaced with POE IP cameras?
<i>Did the common camcorder suddenly become esoteric?</i>
Yes, for the most part. Along with DLSRs and point-and-shoot cameras. The smartphone has totally gutted the bottom end of the photography market. There are lots of free apps out there that make it easy to turn smartphones into USB webcams. Heck, Apple is integrating the capability into iOS later this year.
It's pretty hard to beat free, even in the surplus market. Especially when talking about 320X525i analog video. I was watching some broadcast video from the mid-1980s earlier this week and it was almost unwatchable.
There are numerous digital TV formats (DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S, DVB-S2, ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0), and these would require custom encoding/decoding chips or algorithms, some of which might be patented and require royalties. While I would love to see it, I don't see that happening. Although I wasn't expecting to see FM ATV either--that was a nice surprise. It would have been really nice if they had implemented analog AM or VUSB TV instead of just FM, though.
Power for the RF unit is carried over POE, which likely limits RF output levels.
The ability to actually carry control signals over IP/internet would depend on ability to recreate POE at RF site.
I suspect remote operation will be thru RS-BA1 software.
That's assuming the RJ-45 is actually transporting Ethernet up the tower, and IP protocol. I imagine there's a fairly low latency requirement between the two units too. Using packetized data might not work without a lot of buffering.
Yes, Icom could have reinvented the wheel and chosen not to use an off-the-shelf Ethernet implementation, but why would they? They have years of experience with Ethernet connectivity in at least HF amateur radio, and I suspect on some commercial/LMR/marine/aviation products.
My understanding is that excessive latency in Ethernet is largely from collisions from multiple devices. In a two-device Ethernet network, seems collisions would be minimal.
Only one N-Type for the 144/432/23cm output - need a splitter and yet another loss of power at the masthead, and no specific output to control a linear or preamp at the masthead either?
The losses from the splitter will be on the (relatively) high-power output bands. Also, compared to a traditional 144/430/1.2GHz station today they have eliminated line loss, which leaves room for a little loss from a splitter (or you could deploy one of the several commercial tri-band vertical antennas that cover 144/430/1.2GHz)
No I disagree over the splitter. I havent used a vertical in over 20 years except mobile - I work all forms of DX on VHF and up be it Tropo E's Aircraft scatter meteor scatter EME even and this rig is defeating cross band usage under its current guise so is satellite operation of full duplex being allowed or is it still half duplex/simplex only - Yet another gimic/compromise rig to allow the use of digital repeater modes?
Mike GD6ICR
Diamond NR2000N
https://www.diamond-ant.co.jp/english/amateur/antenna/ante_1mobile/ante_mo5_nr.html
Stewart
ZL4DC