[amsat-bb] Re: inquiry about homebrew az-el systems

[Samudra Haque]

hi, thanks for addressing this question. And I invite others to
participate, or get in touch with me for a phone conversation, and discuss
simple steps that can be taken IMHO within 50-100 USD. I suggest we adopt
AMSAT friendly tips:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/downloads/iROTOR.pdf (will need
additional interface to PC, any kind)

(cool idea, but only as concept)
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/Az_El_Pos.pdf

http://dgg.gotdns.com/doc/XOX_rotor.pdf (Semi professional..)

http://ka6puw.tripod.com/azimuth1.html <--- what do you think of this
style? Looks simple enough.

But I have only done a simple google search here. Any other projects worth
investigating? Focus on the "mount" only now.

-samudra






On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 10:41 PM, Lizeth Norman <normanlizeth at gmail.com>wrote:

> Samudra,
> This is a good question for a first year engineering student like
> myself: How does one bring home the best bang for the buck out of an
> engineering dollar?
>
> Feel free to ask around. A few on the list have driven unusual devices
> to get antennas moved.
>
> How does a project get into the hands of people who will actually do
> it? A one off I can do for you in my basement. Probably with parts
> from radio shack, a grinder and a few hand tools.. A reproducible
> project 10 years from now? Hardly likely.
>
> I submit to you that irrespective of the metalwork this is a simple
> project as you propose, however it must be reproducible. With a
> student copy of SolidWorks, a circular saw, drill and the Arduino IDE
> it could be prototyped by two people in a weekend. Refining it so that
> a relatively new ham with a smidgin of technical ability could do it
> might take a little longer. These days with the internet and cad, the
> real issue is the tooling. How do you design/layout such that it can
> be done with snips/file/saw/fill in the blunt instrument here..
> 73 es have fun..
>
> Norm n3ykf
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 10:19 PM, Samudra Haque <samudra.haque at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > I hope it is evident, I am not focusing on the
> > controller/microcontroller/computer interface/az-el controller/etc. The
> real
> > issue is how cheaply can an antenna be mounted on a kingpost somewhere
> on a
> > surface, with a view towards the sky, and how conveniently can that
> mount be
> > motorized, with a sensor to give feedback to the ground station.
> > electronics, seem to be, (apologises to EE friends) a dime a dozen,
> cheaper
> > if made in hundreds, but the key drawback of any design is the mechanical
> > and electromechanical (can we use, mechatronics) system that serves as
> the
> > actuators. I am not referring to a hand held antenna assembly, but rather
> > something that we can all use in cold/hot weather and that can be put
> > together by one / two persons on an average post.
> >
> > Comments welcome, I think the future holds bright for amsats and edu
> based
> > cubesats.
> >
> >
> > -samudra
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 9:50 PM, Lizeth Norman <normanlizeth at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Gus and the group:
> >> Lots of birds going up in the next year. Success rate not 100% as it's
> >> rocket science oftentimes on a budget. Hopefully we'll get a few out
> >> of it.
> >> The Arduino IDE install supports PPM. The nice thing about that
> >> platform is that configuration is doable for just about all forms of
> >> hardware that you might drive with it and scaling can be done in
> >> software for the various different bits of kit.
> >>
> >> I am sure that with the appropriate development environment and having
> >> the hardware on hand IN a well equipped lab, it should be a weekend
> >> project to get running.
> >>
> >> The hard bit in my opinion is how to mount the antennas to the az/el
> >> clockwork. Will require a little woodwork/metalwork to finish.
> >>
> >> Everyone who does this will have a problem with some phase of it.
> >> Needs to be simple and repeatable.
> >>
> >> Norm n3ykf
> >> _______________________________________________
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> author.
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> >
>