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

[Samudra Haque]

I think these old articles are really informative. I had collected them
earlier, and re-read them just now. BTW Does anyone have any pointers to
phase array design tools for satellite antennas as a potential substitute
for multi-element yagi ?

73 de X




On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 11:03 PM, Samudra Haque <samudra.haque at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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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>> >
>> >
>>
>
>