[amsat-bb] Re: Alt-Az telescope mount for Antenna

[Matthias Bopp]

Hello all,

I have a little description on using a Celestron Alt-Az mount for small
microwave antennas. You can find it on my website at www.dd1us.de in the
section ham downloads. It is presently only in German but as there are
pictures included you should understand the concept. The name is 
"Die NexStar GT Montierung als Präzisionsrotor für Mikrowellenantennen".

The speed of the mount should be sufficient to also track LEOs as it is used
for the same purpose for tracking satellites with the telescope itself. 

There is a freeware program called satellite tracker which does this.

One problem is that the mount has a clutch and if the torque (like Rick
explained below) gets to high it will slip.

Best regards

Matthias DD1US

www.dd1us.de


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] Im
Auftrag von saguaroastro at cox.net
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 2. Juni 2010 01:58
An: amsat-bb at amsat.org
Betreff: [amsat-bb] Alt-Az telescope mount for Antenna

Hello all, I'm new to the boards here and was browsing through and saw a
post a few weeks ago about using an Alt az Telescope mount as an antenna
rotor. 

I didn't see a response so I'll add my .0661 Malaysan Ringgits based on my
experience as an Amateur Astronomer.

First I have to presume that the OP already has the mount in question as a
purpose made rotor could be had for a lot less money.  

First I'd think wind load on a typical antenna wouldn't be that much, but I
would mount the antenna with it's center of gravity as close as possible to
the elevation axis.  Since a telescope would be mounted with its CG ON the
Elevation axis, you'd want to keep the  Antennas CG as close as possible to
minimize and torque loads on the gears.  I'd also use a sturdy dovetail
mount, though that being said it looks like the mount in question is more
than capable of handling the weight. 

Also make sure that the antenna will clear all aprt of the mount though it's
entire range travel.

As for tracking, I'm not sure if it will track fast enough. I couldn't find
any specs in that regard.  I know the Meade Autostar can accept Keplarian
elements and track sats. Quite frankly it looks like a pain to upload them
and I've never tried it, though I've been tempted. 

Since I've gotten interested in working the birds (Still have yet to make a
QSO, Building an antenna and amassing the needed equipment), I've been
looking at my Orion EQ1 German mount as a possible rotor.  It's a basic
Mount and I've figured if I mount the antenna with the beam paralell to the
Dec shaft, alI have to do is set the lattitude comlimentary to the Max
elevation (90 Deg - Max El) and point the RA shaft opposite the Max
Elevation Azimuth, it will track the path of the sat.  It won't track using
the Clock drive, but I should be able to keep up using the slow motion
controls. That being said, substututing a faster motor shouldn't be too
difficult for a later project. 

Hope this helps.

Now if someone could show me how to reply to  thread on the archives......

73

Rick
K7TEJ DM33vq


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