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 <normanliz...@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 > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
