Gus, These days is the hardware can all be made to chat with other bits of hardware. Doesn't matter which IDE/mfgr that gets chosen for the product we're talking about. Most these days can be made to do the same thing with some code.
You bring about a good point. A contraption (az el rotator) can be driven with a smart phone. Not sure the radios could be driven that way. Not much of a hindrance, though.
The key is that the modules are off the shelf, cheep, supported and can be for the most part purchased at Radio Shack/downloaded from the internet. (shameless plug: they have microcontrollers in stock along with a pretty good line electronics goodies.)
Norm n3ykf
On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 9:35 PM, Gus 8p6sm@anjo.com wrote:
I think AMSAT-UK even has software available.
And with the addition of a bit of EEPROM, you could even pre-load the controller with ephemeris data for several satellites for several days in advance. Emergency / field-day / portable operation without needing a computer.
Add a bluetooth module and an Android app, and you could have an all singing, all dancing, full-featured satellite station in a briefcase.
I'D buy one...
On 02/23/2013 10:01 PM, Lizeth Norman wrote:
Samudra and the gang, The bee's knees would be an Arduino Mega 2560 talking over one of it's serial ports to the pc. Using the output of the Orbitron (or insert your fave rave software here) DDE server to drive the microcontroller. There are enough digital/analog pins to drive/slave anything from there. Simple serial port setup. Repeatable. Extensible. The chip has several other HARDWARE (i.e has it's own hardware buffers for i/o) serial ports for more and more fun stuff. Have a look on youtube or google for code to drive steppers / selsyns.. 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
-- 73, de Gus 8P6SM Barbados, the easternmost isle.
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