[amsat-bb] Re: K5UTD Is On The Air

[Nick Pugh K5QXJ]

Good luck from the CAPE team at the University of Louisiana

Nick W5UL

-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
Behalf Of Andrew Koenig
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 11:06 AM
To: AMSAT-BB
Subject: [amsat-bb] K5UTD Is On The Air

Hello Group!

After about 6 months of work, I'm proud to say that the K5UTD Amateur Radio
Club (University of Texas at Dallas) has finished setting up our satellite
station. Typically it should take a weekend and a case of beer to get the
job done, but this required a little more planning and involvement as we had
to collect the parts from various people and build several components on our
own; not to mention the fact that we get side-tracked like no other club.
For example, an effort to get the rotor controller resulted in moving about
four truckloads worth of gear.

We're using an FT-847 for our primary radio, and a Kenpro G-5400 for our
rotor system. We've interfaced the G-5400 to the computer using an Arduino.
It works rather well with GPredict. The final bug in the system has to do
with GPredict talking to the '847, but that should be easily fixed with an
update.

The antennas are on the roof of our Engineering and Computer Science
building, about 20 feet off the roof, 70 feet above ground. Out of luck, we
had a GlenMartin RT-936 and the associated non-penetrating mount just
hanging out in our closet. Carrying the 50 cinder blocks up to the roof for
that mount was not fun though. Coax wise, we have about 20 feet of Davis
Bury-flex for our initial run, which then feeds some very nice ARR preamps.
The final 200 foot run of coax to the shack is 1/2" Heliax. There are a few
jumpers here in the shack too.

I was able to make a few contacts through SO-50 today, and plan to be more
active. With the help of DK3WN's SatBlog, I've had no trouble picking out
some cubesats and listening to the beacons and telemetry. Telemetry
collection is one of the primary goals for this station. Our other goals for
this station, aside from having fun on the air, are to get club recognition
on campus and to work with the William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences
on upper atmospheric projects.

Station photos: http://imgur.com/a/6TGOJ

Also, if you know a member of the former TI club, give them a hug (or
handshake) on our behalf. None of the current K5UTD projects could have been
possible without them.

73!
Andrew Koenig, KE5GDB
Vice President, K5UTD
Research Assistant, Center for Space Sciences
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