Hi Chris,
Good for you! I'll give some quick replies below (not all points, just some...)
At 09:22 PM 9/8/2011 +0100, Chris Bloy wrote:
Hi Group,
I have finally order the fibre glass pole from Moonraker of all places and am awaiting its replacement after being damaged in post!
Anyway, I have also received and played with my new shiny LVB tracker to interface to the G5500 and have a couple of questions that may you guys could help me with!
a) I have calibrated the rotator with the G5500 and it would appear at 0 degrees on the LVB tracker, the control box is at 0? If I use the controls on the control box it moves about 2 degree to the stop point. Is this normal or have I missed something as I have recalibrated several times!
Have you done the needle calibration as described in the G-5500 manual? That is important, too. If I can get things within a deg or 2, that's usually about the best I can get...so you might be "there."
b) The tracker has a USB interface and uses a virtual serial port to communicate with, but it seems to disconnect quite a lot when using NOVA during the testing?
A few months back I removed the USB interface and installed a MAX232 chip so I can use a "real" serial port. It is MUCH, MUCH more stable. It's bullet-proof like this, basically. I too had port issues using the USB interface; I urge you to move to serial if at all possible.
c) What are the recommended settings for NOVA as I am not sure I understand them 100%! I know it uses the G232A command set and does control the rotator, but I am not sure I have set the interface section correctly.. Do I set the maximum azimuth to 450 and leave the azimuth setting to 0-360?
Suggestion--move to SatPC32 so you can have full frequency control AND tracking ;) I loved NOVA in its day, but without frequency control it falls off my list pretty quickly...
73!
Mark N8MH (okay, maybe I did comment on all points...hi hi).
Sorry for the questions, but I know how to use it once its been working, just never had to create all this from stratch.
I have checked the archive on AMSAT-BB and not found much to help, although some hints to actually get the rotator talking did come from the group!
Many Thanks,
Chris Bloy - M0DQO
Sent via [email protected]. 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