[amsat-bb] Re: K5UTD Is On The Air
Nick Pugh K5QXJ
quadpugh at bellsouth.net
Fri Apr 18 01:28:02 PDT 2014
Count us in
nick
-----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 4:53 PM
To: bstguitarist at gmail.com
Cc: AMSAT-BB
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: K5UTD Is On The Air
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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