This section of the site is currently under construction. Please excuse the mess. Old Site Info (This will be properly archived in the near future):
Past Team Members Name
| Role
| Call Sign
| Email | Silas Van Natter
| Team Lead
| KF7ODQ | vann8699@vandals.uidaho.edu | Shaheer Khan | | | khan4036@vandals.uidaho.edu | Joshua Van Patten
| Assistant Lead
| KF70DR | vanp3221@vandals.uidaho.edu | Zach Hacker |
| KF7VCP | hack3582@vandals.uidaho.edu | Brian Cheldelin | Adviser | KF7ODS | chel4191@vandals.uidaho.edu
| Victor Zarate |
| KF7VCQ | zara3609@vandals.uidaho.edu
|
Past Projects
Project Name
| Team Members
| Description
| Micro-Trak Shell
| Zach
| To fabricate one Micro-Trak inclosures from fiberglass covered foam.
| Preservation of Knowledge -Lithium Ion Batteries
| Silas
| To document background information and handling procedures for lithium ion batteries.
| Packet Path
| Josh
| To select appropriate settings for Micro-Trak transmissions.
| Micro-Trak Power
| Silas
| To experimentally measure how much power a Micro-Trak uses and transmits.
| Preservation of Knowledge -Antennas
| Victor | To document the procedure for fabricating J-Pole antennas, including how to crimp SMA connectors.
| Altitude Switcher | Victor | To create a circuit that switches the Micro-Trak to transmit mode 2 above 5,000 ft. Mode two will be set on a less frequent transmit interval to decrease flooding the APRS network.
|
Current Projects
Project Name
| Team Members
| Description
| Comm Tutorial | Austin, Zach | To write tutorial explaining Comm team's job during pre-launch, launch, and post-launch. | Micro-Trak Shell
| Zach
| To fabricate one Micro-Trak inclosures from fiberglass covered foam.
| Micro-Trak Power
| Zach | To experimentally measure how much power a Micro-Trak uses and transmits.
| Preservation of Knowledge -Antennas
| Victor | To document the procedure for fabricating J-Pole antennas, including how to crimp SMA connectors.
| Altitude Switcher | Victor | To create a circuit that switches the Micro-Trak to transmit mode 2 above 5,000 ft. Mode two will be set on a less frequent transmit interval to decrease flooding the APRS network.
|
Projects under consideration
Project Name | Team Members | Description | IRIS [Intelligent Reporting Information System] | Silas | We are looking into the feasibility of interfacing an Arduino with a ground computer through a ham radio serial connection. This will provide us with tracking information and real time system status. Information transmitted from the balloon would include GPS location, battery temperature, and battery voltage.
| Drone Digipeeter
| Zach | Normally when the balloon lands on the ground hills block the radio transmissions. We are looking into placing one of our radios into a large remote controlled air plain that can be launched as the balloon is coming down to put a repeater in the sky to retransmit balloon telemetry to the ground recovery crew.
| Balloon voice repeater
| | Launch day is never spent without some communication blackout. We may look into putting a low power voice repeater on the balloon to assist in radio communication.
|
This will grow to a comprehensive database of everything we know. What we are flying with now:Byonics Micro-Trak 8000 FA The
Micro-Trak 8000 FA is a frequency agile 2-meter transmitter with an
adjustable 300mW to 10W RF power amplifier that provides an easy way to
build a small APRS tracker.
VSWR Readings Spring 2013 |
Antenna |
Frequency |
VSWR |
BumbleBee |
146.39 |
1.98 |
|
144.39 |
12.28 |
Wisker |
146.39 |
1.89 |
|
144.39 |
2.14 |
J2 |
146.39 |
2.78 |
|
144.39 |
1.85 |
J4 |
146.39 |
1.86 |
|
144.39 |
2.19 |
VSWR, or voltage standing wave ratio, is a measurment of how efficent antennas are at transmitting. A VSWR of 1.00 is a perfect transmission with no power being bounced back from the antenna. A VSWR of infinity means that all the transmitted power is bounced back. High VSWR not only results in poor transmit range but also can damage a transmitter. Altitude SwitchThis circuit is to switch the
Micro-Trak transmit mode to a more conservative setting when at high altitudes.
Some fun things we are looking at:TrackuinoThis is an APRS tracker shield for the Arduino platform. It features
on-board GPS and radio transmitter, so the only external components
required are the GPS and VHF antennas. It was designed primarily to
track high altitude balloons, so it has other handy features like
reading temperature sensors and a buzzer for acoustic location. Useful Resources:dBm to watt conversion tablePower (dBm) |
Power (W) |
-30 dBm |
0.0000010 W |
-20 dBm |
0.0000100 W |
-10 dBm |
0.0001000 W |
0 dBm |
0.0010000 W |
1 dBm |
0.0012589 W |
2 dBm |
0.0015849 W |
3 dBm |
0.0019953 W |
4 dBm |
0.0025119 W |
5 dBm |
0.0031628 W |
6 dBm |
0.0039811 W |
7 dBm |
0.0050119 W |
8 dBm |
0.0063096 W |
9 dBm |
0.0079433 W |
10 dBm |
0.0100000 W |
20 dBm |
0.1000000 W |
30 dBm |
1.0000000 W |
40 dBm |
10.0000000 W |
50 dBm |
100.0000000 W |
Curtisy of: http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/dBm_to_Watt.htmComm Inventory: Item | Quantity | Weight (g)
| Comments | Web-sight | Micro-Traks | 6 | | | | Lithium Ion battery cell | | | | | Lithium Ion battery pack | | | | | VX-8GR hand held radio | |
| | | Power inverter | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
;) ;) |
 Updating...
Ċ RFComm Lead, Mar 24, 2013, 9:31 PM
Ċ RFComm Lead, Mar 24, 2013, 9:36 PM
RFComm Lead, Mar 13, 2013, 5:38 PM
Ĉ RFComm Lead, Mar 24, 2013, 10:08 PM
Ċ RFComm Lead, Feb 2, 2013, 1:36 AM
Ċ RFComm Lead, Mar 24, 2013, 9:55 PM
Ċ RFComm Lead, Feb 2, 2013, 1:35 AM
Ċ RFComm Lead, Mar 24, 2013, 9:56 PM
|