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

[Glen Zook]

I just hope their signals are clean!  :>)  Just joking!

UTD, actually UTDIRICC (University of Texas, at Dallas, in Richardson, in Collin County) is located about 1-mile, straight west, of my house.

UTD is NOT located in Dallas!  It is in Richardson, Texas, former home of the "new"  corporate headquarters of the Collins Radio Company.  UTD started as the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies / TAGER (The Association for Graduate Engineering Research) and when that facility became associated with the University of Texas System, J. Erik Jonsson, the top official of TAGER , was the CEO of Texas Instruments and was also a former mayor of the City of Dallas.  Jonsson insisted that the new university be called the University of Texas at Dallas and not, like with other University of Texas campuses, be associated with the city in which the university is actually located.  As such, the university is not the University of Texas at Richardson.
 
The main university complex is not even in Dallas County!  It is in Collin County.
 
Glen, K9STH


Website:  http://k9sth.com
On Thursday, April 17, 2014 5:16 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner at mindspring.com> wrote:
 
In the not so distant past, in a galaxy not so far away, we had college satellite night the first Thursday of the month.

73, Drew KO4MA

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 17, 2014, at 5:52 PM, Andrew Koenig <ke5gdb at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Nick and Bryce,
> 
> In another email, Bruce (KK5DO) mentioned trying to get all of the college
> stations on the air for a few passes. Let me know if you'd be interested. I
> suggest we time it somewhere around School Club Roundup.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 4:35 PM, Bryce Salmi <bstguitarist at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hey Andrew!
>> 
>> If your college club is active definitely check out K2GXT (Rochester
>> Institute of Technology) http://www.rit.edu/sg/amateurradioclub/ as they
>> are very active. Theres a semi-functional satellite station there, finding
>> time to finish it was the hardest part. Give them an email! Congrats on the
>> station!
>> 
>> Bryce
>> KB1LQC
>> 
>> 
>>> On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 9:05 AM, Andrew Koenig <ke5gdb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 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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> 
> 
> -- 
> Andrew Koenig
> _______________________________________________
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