Just go to http://soldersmoke.com. On that archive page, just click on the blue hyperlinks and your audio player should play that episode.
http://soldersmoke.com
DU1AU is way ahead of where I was when I was working with Low Earth Orbit satellites. I just aimed the antenna about 45 degrees up from the horizon, and spun it around with a TV rotator with me --not the computer -- as the controllers of the rotator. In essence I did the AZ manually and completely ignored the EL. This design moves the antenna in Azimuth and Elevation, and has the computer control the movements via an Arduino. FB. DU1AU points to the work of VK3FOWL and VK3YSP. Their site has very detailed info on how to build several versions of this kind of Az-El rotator: https://www.sarcnet.org/rotator-mk1.html This Az-El project represents a great opportunity to move beyond hand-held satellite antennas, and beyond my Az-only manual approach. It also give us a way to bring some real homebrewing into a part of ham radio that has come to be dominated by commercial equipment. There are some Arduinos and some lines of code, some motors and some metal work. Great stuff!
Way back in the early 1990s I got deeply involved in LEO birds. I looked into a commercial AZ-EL rotator and got a BAD case of sticker shock.
I decided to use vertical ground plane antennas and, most of the time, this system worked just fine.
At the 2014 AMSAT convention I met a retired USAF "Buff Driver", that would be a B-52 bomber, who had put together a very neat AZ-EL mount that would position Yagi or Quagi antennas. Cost: $300+ which ain't bad.
I am looking forward to exploring the AZ-EL system from Down Under.
DU1AU is one of our more resourceful experimenter here with AMSAT Philippines. He does a lot of our amateur satellite demos here in the Philippines also.
"SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" is now available as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
Here's the site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V9FIVW
Bill's OTHER Book (Warning: Not About Radio)
Click on the image to learn more
Where are the readers of SolderSmoke Daily News?
Pete Juliano N6QW
SolderSmoke Co-Host and Master Homebrewer
Dean Souleles KK4DAS
With beret and with a Michigan Mighty Mite in hand
SARC Bi-weekly Bulletin
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[image: Shop]
All QRP Labs kits may be ordered online securely at the shop, with PayPal
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Posts
Way back in the early 1990s I got deeply involved in LEO birds. I looked into a commercial AZ-EL rotator and got a BAD case of sticker shock.
ReplyDeleteI decided to use vertical ground plane antennas and, most of the time, this system worked just fine.
At the 2014 AMSAT convention I met a retired USAF "Buff Driver", that would be a B-52 bomber, who had put together a very neat AZ-EL mount that would position Yagi or Quagi antennas. Cost: $300+ which ain't bad.
I am looking forward to exploring the AZ-EL system from Down Under.
vy 73 Rich K7SZ
DU1AU is one of our more resourceful experimenter here with AMSAT Philippines. He does a lot of our amateur satellite demos here in the Philippines also.
ReplyDelete