Lynx Amateur TV
Amateur television on your Apple TV. BATC live streams, UK ATV repeaters, and your own DVB-S/S2, DVB-T/T2 and ATSC receivers, with a broadcast-style Lynx bar, magic eye and BBC PPM.
Join the beta
Lynx Amateur TV is in free public beta through Apple’s TestFlight, for Apple TV 4K (2021 or later) on tvOS 27. Install the free TestFlight app on your Apple TV, then open the link on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, signed in with the same Apple ID, and choose Accept. Lynx then appears in TestFlight on your Apple TV, ready to install. Please report anything odd via the GitHub link under Contact.
What it works with
Lynx needs an Apple TV 4K (2nd generation, 2021, or later) running tvOS 27 or later.
Quick setup
- Open Lynx and go to Settings.
- Enter the IP address of your Picotuner and of each HDHomeRun you have. Leave a box empty if you don’t have that tuner.
- Choose which Picotuner antenna input feeds your repeater aerial.
- When tvOS asks to let Lynx find devices on your local network, choose Allow. Without it, Lynx can’t reach your tuners.
While watching, press Select to show or hide the Lynx bar, and Menu to go back to the list.
Questions and answers
The Picotuner tunes, but there’s no picture
Check that no other receiver is controlling the same Picotuner. It sends its stream to whichever device tuned it last, so another Lynx receiver or a Raspberry Pi will take it back. Also check that the Apple TV and the Picotuner can reach each other: same network, or routed with UDP allowed through any firewall.
Can Lynx find my Picotuner automatically?
Not yet. Automatic discovery needs a network permission from Apple that we’ve applied for. For now, enter its IP address in Settings; giving it a fixed address on your router helps.
The HDHomeRun channel list is empty
Press Scan on the DVB-T/T2 or ATSC page to have the HDHomeRun search for channels, then Reload. Use Tune by hand for amateur transmissions that aren’t in the broadcast list.
A repeater I want isn’t in the list
The repeater list is built into the app and updated with each release. Use Tune by hand on the DVB-S/S2 page and save it as a memory, and tell us so we can add it.
Does Lynx collect my data?
No. See the privacy policy.
Privacy policy
Short version: Lynx collects nothing. No accounts, no tracking, no adverts, no analytics.
What stays on your Apple TV
Your settings (tuner IP addresses, antenna input, Lynx bar and PPM choices) and your tuning memories are stored only on your Apple TV. They are never sent to us or anyone else. Deleting the app deletes them.
What Lynx connects to
- The British Amateur Television Club (BATC): Lynx fetches the list of live streams from batc.org.uk when it opens and when you press Update, and plays streams from the BATC streaming server. As with any website, the BATC sees your internet address. Their own privacy policy applies.
- Your own tuners: Lynx talks to your Picotuner and HDHomeRun at the addresses you enter in Settings. This is why tvOS asks for local network permission. That traffic stays on your own network, including any link you run to a remote site, and goes nowhere else.
Lynx sends nothing to its developer. We have no server.
Apple
If you have chosen to share analytics with app developers in your Apple TV settings, Apple may pass us anonymous crash reports and usage figures. If you test Lynx through TestFlight, Apple shares crash reports and any feedback you choose to send. This is handled by Apple under Apple’s privacy policy, and we use it only to fix bugs.
Children
Lynx collects no personal information from anyone, including children.
Changes and contact
If this policy ever changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date. Questions: See Contact below.
Contact
Found a bug or have an idea? Use one of the forms below. They open on GitHub (a free account is needed) and ask for your Apple TV model, tvOS version and tuner, which is what’s needed to fix things.
Licensed amateurs can also reach G8YTZ via QRZ.com.
Want to transmit, not just watch?
Amateur television is open to anyone with an amateur radio licence, and the UK Foundation licence is within reach of anyone. Start at rsgb.org (getting licensed) and batc.org.uk (amateur TV).