Hi Tony and the list
I also use the excellent InstanTrack software. Runs fine on an ancient laptop discarded by my employer.
Didn't know about the option to use the parallel"printer" port on old PC's.
Is that the way to do rotator control and Doppler at the same time.
Serial port to the CAT port on the radio - doing this already Parallel port to the rotator control box - would like to do this
What would the command line look like in the .cfg file
73 John G7HIA
At 03:41 AM 10/20/2007, john heath wrote:
Hi Tony and the list
I also use the excellent InstanTrack software. Runs fine on an ancient laptop discarded by my employer.
Didn't know about the option to use the parallel"printer" port on old PC's.
Is that the way to do rotator control and Doppler at the same time.
Serial port to the CAT port on the radio - doing this already Parallel port to the rotator control box - would like to do this
What would the command line look like in the .cfg file
Hi John,
Yes, you can do doppler and rotor control at the same time on a typical old laptop by using the serial port for CAT and the LPT port for rotor control.
InstantTrack can work with any software that supports the Kansas City Tracker interface. You can download the parallel port driver software for FODTRACK and the WB5IPM Controller from the AMSAT Software archive for free at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/softwareArchive.php#pc-rot
There are probably a few other as well.
My own favorite is the iRotor driver for the Orbit 360 rotors but of course I may be a bit biased! The software and article about building the interface can be downloaded from here:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/downloads/iROTOR1.zip
Sadly, Orbit360s have become harder to find these days but perhaps there are other cheap TV antenna rotators that could be used.
73, Tony AA2TX
How close is the Orbit rotator to the Alliance U-110? Norm's Rotor Service has new-in-box U-110 units. 73, Jim KQ6EA
--- Anthony Monteiro [email protected] wrote:
At 03:41 AM 10/20/2007, john heath wrote:
Hi Tony and the list
I also use the excellent InstanTrack software. Runs fine on an ancient laptop discarded by my
employer.
Didn't know about the option to use the
parallel"printer" port on old PC's.
Is that the way to do rotator control and Doppler
at the same time.
Serial port to the CAT port on the radio - doing
this already
Parallel port to the rotator control box - would
like to do this
What would the command line look like in the .cfg
file
Hi John,
Yes, you can do doppler and rotor control at the same time on a typical old laptop by using the serial port for CAT and the LPT port for rotor control.
InstantTrack can work with any software that supports the Kansas City Tracker interface. You can download the parallel port driver software for FODTRACK and the WB5IPM Controller from the AMSAT Software archive for free at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/softwareArchive.php#pc-rot
There are probably a few other as well.
My own favorite is the iRotor driver for the Orbit 360 rotors but of course I may be a bit biased! The software and article about building the interface can be downloaded from here:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/downloads/iROTOR1.zip
Sadly, Orbit360s have become harder to find these days but perhaps there are other cheap TV antenna rotators that could be used.
73, Tony AA2TX
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
At 01:28 PM 10/20/2007, Jim Jerzycke wrote:
How close is the Orbit rotator to the Alliance U-110? Norm's Rotor Service has new-in-box U-110 units. 73, Jim KQ6EA
Hi Jim,
Alas, the U-110 is completely different. The OR-360 uses a DC motor whereas the U-110 is AC.
However, I am convinced that it would be very easy to make a simple controller for the U-110 with a couple of triacs and a few opto-couplers hanging on a parallel port
I would use the built-in pulse sensor and interpolate between pulses using the AC line as a time base. This could get you down to around 2-3 degrees accuracy which would be plenty for a 1 meter dish on S-band.
If I need another Az/El system in the future, I would certainly consider the U-110s.
73, Tony AA2TX
participants (3)
-
Anthony Monteiro -
Jim Jerzycke -
john heath