Thanks Mick, do you know if there's a plug-in/screw-in form of attachment that could shield the pre-amp?
From the testing I’ve done, I think HackTV with HackRF is a great alternative and potentially a lower cost alternative to a dedicated standards converter. Plus, you have the benefit of a versatile SDR that you can use for other radio projects.
The caveat here is lower cost. The HackRF One is an open source project and so the inventor and distributor, Great Scott Gadgets is not against clone hardware but he does put out a caveat emptor warning about how quality might vary between clone builds (and he doesn’t want to support them!). There’s a breakdown of an analysis of a piece of clone hardware and its weaknesses over here:
https://greatscottgadgets.com/2021/1...-hackrf-clone/
For the purposes of a TV converter running on VHF, or UHF for that matter, I doubt having a clone would be any real issue, unless it was pure trash. My own board is likely a clone.
On that basis, finding a clone on Aliexpress for a standards converter project at around £120 might represent good value if you have a recent PC to drive it and your sources are computer based.
The case I’m using is 3D printed, but alloy cases are available. Something called a ‘PortaPack’ is available for HackRF that turns the device into a portable radio and a powerful one at that if you use the Mayhem firmware.
https://github.com/eried/portapack-mayhem
If anyone wants to give it a whirl, I’ve put the software in a single bundle for convenience, this includes all the components you need to get started as described in the previous post. Everything is open source or in the public domain. Please PM me if you'd like a link.