Hi all, This actually should be reachable by Joe/Jane Average Ham. The software tools at the freely at the disposal of the general public has made incredible things possible. Neat thing is the playing field is flat. There are so many vendors almost giving away development hardware. For example, interfacing various different types of motors are just a statement away. Basically, learning to program a microcontroller is just a few weekend's studies with youtube and a few various tutorials. Not something that you have to spend a semester on. Exciting time to be involved with ham radio.
More examples are the CAD tools that are available to model this type of stuff. My design uses off the shelf materials that I could model with certainty in something like SolidWorks.
I live in Central Fl. We get weather here. The antennas I use are rated to 90 mph and I live in a 110 mph wind zone. At those velocities, I can't imagine much would stand. Have fun, Norm n3ykf