Want to resurrect your D/D2 MAC kit?

Captain Jack said:
I will be at some point - just not sure when at this stage.

I've pushed the latest version of HackTV to my fork. New features are experimental subtitling and Eurocrypt in controlled access mode (i.e. need a card).
Click to expand...

Let me know what else you might need and I'll have a dig into the parts bin.
 
Well I just got the fright of my life!

Through a friend of mine I was able to source a Nokia BSB receiver for nothing. Got it home today to test and within a couple of minutes it let out an almighty bang and plenty of smoke with a really vile smell. Surprisingly, the receiver didn't die when this happened but I was quick to power it off anyway.

Judging by the smell I figured it must have been a cap that blew. Took it apart to find a Rifa PME 285 MB capacitor had split open from the side and was leaking. All of the other caps look perfect. Even though it didn't die altogether, I'll be a bit reluctant to try it again!
 
That RIFA capacitor is there for suppression of incoming/outgoing mains EMI/RFI, and so cut the leads and remove it! I had exactly the same "problem" with a friend's ROTEL amp - so I did just that, and it worked fine after for the many years (I have no idea of how many that was) he continued to use it :D
 
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Thanks guys. I think it looked more scary than it actually was.

I have a soldering kit so I desoldered the cap and cleaned up the electrolyte on the board. Looks to be OK in my initial tests but I haven't hooked it back up to my TV yet. I'm sure it'll be fine though.
 
Success!


I'm using the following parameters:

-m dmac-fm -f 1322720000 -s 20250000 --deviation 16500000 --filter
 
I see you're getting sparkles. There's a bug in the latest hackrf firmware (2018.01.1) that can cause this. I was able to fix it by building and flashing the newer firmware. I can upload the file but I think you can only flash it from linux.
 
I am still on the old firmware so if you have the latest one with the fix, I'd like to try it.
 
fsphil said:
I see you're getting sparkles. There's a bug in the latest hackrf firmware (2018.01.1) that can cause this. I was able to fix it by building and flashing the newer firmware. I can upload the file but I think you can only flash it from linux.
Click to expand...
Much appreciated. I have a Ubuntu installation so I went into that, compiled the latest firmware and flashed it. That did the trick and I see the noise level is a constant 000 now, it was fluctuating between 000 and 002 before hand.

hackrf_info shows the firmware revision as "git-43e6f99" now, it was previously the 2018.01.1 release as I had never touched it.
 
Nice - compiled mine from source and flashed. Also fixed the issue. The 2015 firmware wasn't as bad as 2018 but not as good as the latest.
 
Hi peeps,
I hope everyone is well
Is there a way to check and update the HackRF firmware in windows?
I too have the sparklies and fluctuating noise level.
Would love to get this sorted but I don't have and really don't know anything about using Linux.
 
There is a Windows port of hackrf-tools so I'd say it's doable. I'll check it out.

I've started using hacktv more on Linux lately because I've been having problems with high sample rates on Windows, greater than 17 MHz from what I see. Looks to be a CPU power management issue because disabling the processor driver (intelppm) seems to resolve it, at the expense of power consumption and excessive heat.
 
I still have a squarial and Ferguson receiver which I bought for not much at a car boot sale years ago, and even that was long after BSB existed so it was just to have a look at one really. The receiver was just waiting for this it seems. Weird seeing these boxes and a dead system brought back to life with real signals, amazing.

What do you do to block the voltage coming from the receiver from the HackRF? Am I right in thinking you use a bias tee?
 
I use an old cable TV wall-plate which has a DC blocking splitter inside. It was designed to protect the cable TV network from faulty equipment on your side. If you have an F splitter, you can use it, provided that it doesn’t have power passthrough. It’s always safest to test with a multimeter before connecting.
 
Ah right, yes I saw the white box in your video and I wondered what it was, thanks. I didn't realise F splitters might do that so I'll have a look. (And check the capacitors in the receiver!)
 
This is fascinating thread - I am a newcomer here and didn't realise such things were possible with BSB equipment...

Much of the technical talk is well above my level, but I just wanted to ask a couple of questions if I may...

About encryption - as I understand it, everything on BSB, even the free channels, were encrypted with EuroCypher? So with this HackTV solution, does the signal get encrypted this way, or is it unencrypted and the BSB receiver is happy with that?

The receivers had widescreen capability but I don't think BSB ever used that. If the D-MAC widescreen 'flag' is set, does the BSB receiver respond to it? Does it take an anamorphic broadcast and just display the centre portion or, depending on the menu setting, display the full anamorphic picture and put the relevant switching voltage on the SCART? (assuming that SCART feature had even been thought of in 1990).

Was there supposed to be some facility in the receiver to pan across the picture using the remote, or can additional data be sent with the signal to pan the image to the 'important' part of the picture?
 
Dougal2345 said:
About encryption - as I understand it, everything on BSB, even the free channels, were encrypted with EuroCypher? So with this HackTV solution, does the signal get encrypted this way, or is it unencrypted and the BSB receiver is happy with that?
Click to expand...

The BSB receivers work with unscrambled D-MAC signals fine.
The D-MAC (and D2-MAC) standad provides free-access scrambling modes that will also work.

I don't know if EuroCypher had a free-access mode but it wouldn't surprise me. It would allow for free broadcasts, but restricted to BSB decoders.

Dougal2345 said:
The receivers had widescreen capability but I don't think BSB ever used that. If the D-MAC widescreen 'flag' is set, does the BSB receiver respond to it? Does it take an anamorphic broadcast and just display the centre portion or, depending on the menu setting, display the full anamorphic picture and put the relevant switching voltage on the SCART? (assuming that SCART feature had even been thought of in 1990).

Was there supposed to be some facility in the receiver to pan across the picture using the remote, or can additional data be sent with the signal to pan the image to the 'important' part of the picture?
Click to expand...

I believe all the BSB boxes supported the 16:9 flag and the SCART signal. The menu on the Ferguson SRB1 to control cropping/anamorphic output is below. Note that it also mentions panning so I expect this is supported too, but it's not something I've tried.

tvtime-output-22:36:48.webp
 
Captain Jack said:
If anyone feels like playing with it, RPi 4 is allegedly powerful enough to drive a MAC signal with test pattern.
Click to expand...
5 years on from that post, did that prove to be true? (just looking into the very cheapest way I could try HackTV with BSB...) Thanks :)
 
I think it works for test patterns at least. RPi 5 is a better bet. I use an ancient dell optiplex and it works well
 
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