Ok, this is still on my list of things to write-up but other items keep jumping in front. I will try to write up what I did this fall. Being president of a radio club keeps me busy in my free time!
Looks nice and solid. Does RF interfere with the compass sensor? I've nearly finished one that works with Gpredict over wifi. It has an ESP32 that emulates the rotator side of Hamlib (as much as it needs to) so Gpredict talks to it directly. I'm using two sensors for direction and elevation as I still need to get my head round the maths involved in compensating for tilt when getting the azimuth heading, which, unfortunately means my rotator has to be level.
No RF does not intefere with the compas sensor, however the I2O does intefere with 2m or 70cm... I could frequently hear the data bus over the people I was trying to talk to. This part needs a bit of a redesign with some shielding and separation
So is this set up still working for you? I’m looking for something similar for my log periodic antenna for satellite work that will do azimuth and elevation.
I put it away for winter and never got it back out again... I had to focus on other priorities. I'm trying to get back around to it but frankly chasing U.S. grids is second to chasing DX in this new solar cycle that has made 12 and 10 m so full of activity! As for a Log Periodic, I suspect you would have a problem with weight. These motors do not have a lot of 'brake' resistance in the gears so something heavy in the wind would likely be problematic.
Not yet. I did finally get everything out of storage and I plan to start putting this back together soon but I will also be helping with a Tech license course so not a lot of free time. I need to get back into Arduino, etc and remind myself how this works..
@Indiana jones got a question for you. Since every sat is pretty much low earth orbit at this point, if the antenna begins to rotate through the arc at the correct time at a standard rate starting from the correct position on the horizon, would it not track the satellite ? Basically the motors would be 'bumped" similar to a cog on a clock. The viewing time is different depending on how low the orbit is but the rate, of change has got to be the same I would think. Or close at least. most are 98 minutes for a rotation, the ISS is 93. So, if you had a system that would move the antenna at the same rate, and manually change the arc, you would follow the sat. That said, I do like the fact that your using an Arduino and will be looking at that system, but, in my experience, many trackers trying to use both azimuth and elevation as a completely variable 3d system are fairly complex. That said, studying the link sarcnet.org/projects/project_rotator.html and one application that really impressed me and would need their complete system would be the Ship that changed heading and position, would need everything they offer !
The antenna has a 15 degree or so range so yes, you don't have to be on the bulls-eye. But they come from a variety of directions and at different rates and sometimes one after another :-) The FM sats are real easy but the SSB sats take more work and that's why I wanted a rotator and I wanted to learn Arduino.. I still need to do a follow-up video but it works great (you know, until the Oklahoma winds blew it over). Now that the Spring storms are less frequent I will start putting it all back together and get ready for Field Day.
@@N5ZY I had coverage of Oklahoma with ao95 and have qsl cards from Alaska with contacts from northern California ! I had really wished more Hawaiians would have gotten on because I think a sat half way in between would work. That said, I used a vertical, and worked when the sats went directly over the Airport in Anchorage and a guy using a good handheld with a beam pointed straight up could receive me (I had duplex and could hear my signal) . I'd love to put a better system together with my uhf and vhf beams on some sort of tracker. Not sure I'd do any better though than my vertical when the sat is going over the airport in anchorage, as there isn't nothing beyond that !
The problem I had with gpredict, if I remember correctly, it was either no satellite mode on the IC9100 or it was rotor control.. it's been a long time, I don't remember which one now.
Hello Tom, thanks for the comment! The design seems to be solid and working great. The software is working great. I just need to write-up a parts list. As for software release, I'm just the prototype builder :-) Contact Julie VK3FOWL and Joe VK3YSP via www.sarcnet.org/ and tell them you saw this video and would like the code. They said they were planning to release it on their web site but when they release they likely need a full parts list, build photos, etc. Thanks again for the like - it's strange to see so many people watch the video but no like/dislike.. I don't know if it's helpful to my fellow amateurs or not.
I watch a lot of youtube videos on my TV/xbox. I dont always give a like. FYI- I sent you email a couple days ago but no reply. No prob. I did see a parts list for Mk 1-4 versions. I already have my parts list which will be a wee bit different. I will use a motorized pan tilt video camera base with 24VAC motors and weight rated for 18kg. Very much the same schematically. And maybe upgrade some of the sensors. I will contact Julie/Joe for the code. 73
I have received Rotor5 code from Julie & Joe. Is this the same version you used? Did you wire it up the same as found in the rotor mk2 powerpoint presentation? The 4x RS422-TTL converters have me a bit puzzled going from USB/TTL to RS422 to RS422 to TTL. Is that to get power to the acc sensor? Did you find that it is necessary for 4 converters?
I believe we started with that a year ago but we had to make a lot of changes to it for 60Hz A/C motors. If you are using DC motors then it should be just fine. Yes, 4 of the RS422 modules so you can send and receive in full duplex. Yes, the USB/TTL board so we can connect to the PC with USB then the MAX485 so we can send the rotor control commands as far as we care to (RS-485 has a very, very long wire buss range and is used for programmable logic controllers in factories/refineries/etc). Then on the other side it connects directly to the Arduino. Works GREAT! I ended up having to add some ceramic capacitors to eliminate RFI in the RS-485 buss (kept popping chips) and I also had to move the LSM303 off the antenna as it was causing a lot of QRM (I stuck a 3/8 in PEX pipe into the back of the arrow antenna and mounted the LSM303 one foot behind the antenna and drastically reduced the QRM produced by the LSM303). It's been fun working on this project but it's really fun to actually watch it track a satellite and to talk via satellite!
My intent for the project was for a mobile setup so I had a mental block staring at the schematic. All I needed was a short cable to the PC. I like having the option to do either so I'll probably get the converters. How did you wire in the caps to the converter bus? What band/mode was giving you the RFI? Photo. email on QRZ.
Hello, you have a cool project, I would like to repeat it, could you please share the materials and software?)
Hello… do you have any updated videos on this project? Please provide a link for your parts list. 73 de KD6UYK (Tim).
The link is dead, do you have a backup of resources plans ect?
Ok, this is still on my list of things to write-up but other items keep jumping in front. I will try to write up what I did this fall. Being president of a radio club keeps me busy in my free time!
Looks nice and solid. Does RF interfere with the compass sensor? I've nearly finished one that works with Gpredict over wifi. It has an ESP32 that emulates the rotator side of Hamlib (as much as it needs to) so Gpredict talks to it directly. I'm using two sensors for direction and elevation as I still need to get my head round the maths involved in compensating for tilt when getting the azimuth heading, which, unfortunately means my rotator has to be level.
No but the I2C bus does get into the receive antenna... Right now it's in the 'winter storage' though.
No RF does not intefere with the compas sensor, however the I2O does intefere with 2m or 70cm... I could frequently hear the data bus over the people I was trying to talk to. This part needs a bit of a redesign with some shielding and separation
So is this set up still working for you? I’m looking for something similar for my log periodic antenna for satellite work that will do azimuth and elevation.
I put it away for winter and never got it back out again... I had to focus on other priorities. I'm trying to get back around to it but frankly chasing U.S. grids is second to chasing DX in this new solar cycle that has made 12 and 10 m so full of activity! As for a Log Periodic, I suspect you would have a problem with weight. These motors do not have a lot of 'brake' resistance in the gears so something heavy in the wind would likely be problematic.
Is there code for this I can download and look at? Thanks!
Not yet. I did finally get everything out of storage and I plan to start putting this back together soon but I will also be helping with a Tech license course so not a lot of free time. I need to get back into Arduino, etc and remind myself how this works..
For some reason Mk3 and Mk4 are not available anymore on the sarcnet site. Why?
I dunno. I'm the wrong person to ask.
@Indiana jones got a question for you. Since every sat is pretty much low earth orbit at this point, if the antenna begins to rotate through the arc at the correct time at a standard rate starting from the correct position on the horizon, would it not track the satellite ? Basically the motors would be 'bumped" similar to a cog on a clock. The viewing time is different depending on how low the orbit is but the rate, of change has got to be the same I would think. Or close at least. most are 98 minutes for a rotation, the ISS is 93. So, if you had a system that would move the antenna at the same rate, and manually change the arc, you would follow the sat. That said, I do like the fact that your using an Arduino and will be looking at that system, but, in my experience, many trackers trying to use both azimuth and elevation as a completely variable 3d system are fairly complex. That said, studying the link sarcnet.org/projects/project_rotator.html and one application that really impressed me and would need their complete system would be the Ship that changed heading and position, would need everything they offer !
The antenna has a 15 degree or so range so yes, you don't have to be on the bulls-eye. But they come from a variety of directions and at different rates and sometimes one after another :-) The FM sats are real easy but the SSB sats take more work and that's why I wanted a rotator and I wanted to learn Arduino.. I still need to do a follow-up video but it works great (you know, until the Oklahoma winds blew it over). Now that the Spring storms are less frequent I will start putting it all back together and get ready for Field Day.
@@N5ZY I had coverage of Oklahoma with ao95 and have qsl cards from Alaska with contacts from northern California ! I had really wished more Hawaiians would have gotten on because I think a sat half way in between would work. That said, I used a vertical, and worked when the sats went directly over the Airport in Anchorage and a guy using a good handheld with a beam pointed straight up could receive me (I had duplex and could hear my signal) . I'd love to put a better system together with my uhf and vhf beams on some sort of tracker. Not sure I'd do any better though than my vertical when the sat is going over the airport in anchorage, as there isn't nothing beyond that !
I just did something very similar that works works with gpredict you can see it in action on my qrz page 73 de ve2ota
The problem I had with gpredict, if I remember correctly, it was either no satellite mode on the IC9100 or it was rotor control.. it's been a long time, I don't remember which one now.
Interesting project. Plant to build one for Sri Lankan Amature radio operators. 73!
Thank you! Good luck! It works really well and was a lot of fun to build something with Arduino.
Great video. I am working on nearly the same project. Would you be willing to share the US version of the software? KJ4QDZ Thanks.
Hello Tom, thanks for the comment! The design seems to be solid and working great. The software is working great. I just need to write-up a parts list. As for software release, I'm just the prototype builder :-) Contact Julie VK3FOWL and Joe VK3YSP via www.sarcnet.org/ and tell them you saw this video and would like the code. They said they were planning to release it on their web site but when they release they likely need a full parts list, build photos, etc.
Thanks again for the like - it's strange to see so many people watch the video but no like/dislike.. I don't know if it's helpful to my fellow amateurs or not.
I watch a lot of youtube videos on my TV/xbox. I dont always give a like. FYI- I sent you email a couple days ago but no reply. No prob. I did see a parts list for Mk 1-4 versions. I already have my parts list which will be a wee bit different. I will use a motorized pan tilt video camera base with 24VAC motors and weight rated for 18kg. Very much the same schematically. And maybe upgrade some of the sensors. I will contact Julie/Joe for the code. 73
I have received Rotor5 code from Julie & Joe. Is this the same version you used? Did you wire it up the same as found in the rotor mk2 powerpoint presentation? The 4x RS422-TTL converters have me a bit puzzled going from USB/TTL to RS422 to RS422 to TTL. Is that to get power to the acc sensor? Did you find that it is necessary for 4 converters?
I believe we started with that a year ago but we had to make a lot of changes to it for 60Hz A/C motors. If you are using DC motors then it should be just fine.
Yes, 4 of the RS422 modules so you can send and receive in full duplex.
Yes, the USB/TTL board so we can connect to the PC with USB then the MAX485 so we can send the rotor control commands as far as we care to (RS-485 has a very, very long wire buss range and is used for programmable logic controllers in factories/refineries/etc). Then on the other side it connects directly to the Arduino. Works GREAT!
I ended up having to add some ceramic capacitors to eliminate RFI in the RS-485 buss (kept popping chips) and I also had to move the LSM303 off the antenna as it was causing a lot of QRM (I stuck a 3/8 in PEX pipe into the back of the arrow antenna and mounted the LSM303 one foot behind the antenna and drastically reduced the QRM produced by the LSM303).
It's been fun working on this project but it's really fun to actually watch it track a satellite and to talk via satellite!
My intent for the project was for a mobile setup so I had a mental block staring at the schematic. All I needed was a short cable to the PC. I like having the option to do either so I'll probably get the converters. How did you wire in the caps to the converter bus? What band/mode was giving you the RFI? Photo. email on QRZ.
Bull........