These pages are under construction.  Always have been, always will be

 -  Last updated on Saturday, June 27, 2009

Follow the links above for:

1. A view of the System

2. The Hardware design files

3. Access to all the Software in SETI Net

4. Earlier chapters of the Engineering Notebook that I maintain

This is the current Problem Of the Day (POD)      It's a Blog - Read from the bottom up... 

186.  2009-06-27 All up and running

I changed the operation of the KaulTronics control software so that it 'kicks' the rotors on each status.  This way if a rotor stalls it will be restarted at the next 1 sec tick.  Next I am not attempting to get back to where I was on the Radio Astronomy side when I was able to collect a good Sun Shot and get it baselined.  So far the RA receiver is not acting the way I think it should.

185.  2009-06-15 All up and running

I have been busy for the last month taking care of family business but I did get the system completely up and running.  Right now it is being used as part of an art project in France.  The audio output is streamed to an installation in a museum that depicts the search for community in space.  More details when they are available.

184.  2009-04-26 Now controllers don't work

The three Kerr controllers seem to have stopped working correctly.  They are sporadic, quit altogether sometimes and just don't do the job they were hired for.  I have an order in for three new controllers and a run of hook up cable.  We will see if that helps.

183.  2009-03-26 Azimuth Motor

I have noticed that I cannot position the antenna repeatable to within less that about 10° which is unacceptable for any serious work.  The problem is two fold.  First there is a great deal of gear lash that needs to be taken out and replacement motor needs to be installed. The new motor will have a rear shaft to run the position encoder.

Gear Lash

Loosen 1/2 bolt (2)

Break loose the two 1/2 bolts that mount the worm gear drive to the rotor

Coercion with a hammer

With that done a retest shows improvement but still not enough to be usable.  I was able to get the Elevation Motor replace by creating a motor transition plate that allows a motor to be attached to the rotor in place of the stock right angle drive.  Now I have to do it for the Azimuth motor.

Motor

2009-03-28 New Motor- I built an aluminum plate that holds the new motor and mount to the original mounting holes in the rotor. This is finished. The shaft on the new motor wasn't long enough so I had to build a shaft coupler, the hex looking thing with the set screws on it. The chain drive sprocket is mounted on the end of the coupler.
 

Transition plate and Shaft Extension

2009-03-28 New Motor- I built an aluminum plate that allows the new motor to attach to the original mounting holes in the rotor. The shaft on the new motor wasn't long enough so I had to build a shaft coupler, the hex looking thing with the set screws on it.  The chain drive sprocket is mounted on the end of the coupler. 

Motor Encoder Running

This pix shows the motor (foreground) with the encoder mounted on the motor shaft. The O'Scope in the background is showing the two phase output of the encoder.
The motor is ready to mount to the rotor in the morning