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The Sat

EL

 Az-

EL!

 

 

Azimuth-Elevation Rotor System, 

Rotor Controller Module, and 

Windows

 Control Program 

 

Instruction Manual 

Index  

Page  

 

I. Introduction:

 

Overview 

of 

the 

System 

     3 

II. 

Hardware 

Assembly       

 3 

- Assembling the table mount and the rotor stack 

 

 

 

- Connecting the rotor controller to the wall power supply  

 

 

- Connecting the rotor controller to the rotors and the computer 

 

III. 

Installing the Software on your computer 

 

 

 

 6 

Introduction 

to 

the 

software 

      6 

- Installing the Windows

 control program, 

AzElControl.exe

   

 

- Installing the 

Kermit

 

terminal 

program 

 

     7 

Finding 

the 

correct 

serial 

port 

      7 

- How to use 

Kermit

 to aim your antennas during setup 

 

 

IV. 

Operating the System

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The 

AzElControl.exe

 

program 

      9 

- Running the program the first time 

 

 

 

 

 

10 

The 

rotor 

control 

buttons 

       10 

- Preparing satellite pass data using 

Nova for Windows

 

  10 

- Preparing satellite pass data using 

InstantTrack

 

 

 

 

11 

The 

data 

file 

controls 

       12 

- A hint about ephemeris data files 

 

 

 

 

 

12 

Appendix A 

Running the controller with a terminal

 

 

 

 

 

14 

Warranty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 

Summary of Contents for Az-EL

Page 1: ...SatEL Az EL...

Page 2: ...on your computer 6 Introduction to the software 6 Installing the Windows control program AzElControl exe 7 Installing the Kermit terminal program 7 Finding the correct serial port 7 How to use Kermit...

Page 3: ...ng with and storing data into the controller II Hardware Assembly Assembling the table mount and rotor stack Begin by assembling the table support mount The table support mount will be useful during t...

Page 4: ...use a short length 1 5 feet of boom made from the same 1 electrical conduit We drilled a hole transversely at one end of a such a short boom and inserted a 6 length of wooden dowel to serve as a poin...

Page 5: ...onductor solid core wire used for telephones Such wire typically 24 gauge is a bit light for this application and as mentioned above we recommend stranded wire The conductors in the cable should be of...

Page 6: ...system In this way you can change the microprocessor date and time move the two rotors in all directions the elevation rotor up or down the azimuth rotor clockwise or counter clockwise etc You can als...

Page 7: ...t The rotors should not move if they do you have a problem and it is likely with the wiring between the rotors and the controller If the rotors do not move you can proceed to the next step which is to...

Page 8: ...tored pointing position to an azimuth and elevation of both zero In other words the rotors are now set up to be pointing at the horizon to the north How to use Kermit to aim your antennas during setup...

Page 9: ...Polaris and we certainly don t recommend it In fact we caution you against doing that An alternative is to use the sun on a clear day All satellite prediction programs allow you to calculate the posi...

Page 10: ...ber of Windows programs which communicate with some atomic clocks in the USA and set your computer clock appropriately If you are tracking fast moving satellites it might be worthwhile to run one of t...

Page 11: ...nd shorter for LEO SATs Select the default by pressing enter or type your own interval then press enter The screen then lists a screen full of text lines each with Times Azimuth Angles Elevation Angle...

Page 12: ...exceed that limit the subsequent data will be lost You may clear the controller s memory by clicking the Clear the buffer button in the rotor controls section of the window You would normally do this...

Page 13: ...typically one minute The resulting file may be extremely large with very many lines but the AzElControl exe program will pare them down to the minimum possible number If that is still more than the 50...

Page 14: ...g downwards r Start the azimuth rotor moving clockwise l Start the azimuth rotor moving counter clockwise s Stop the rotors if moving disable automatic motion g Enable automatic motion p Point the rot...

Page 15: ...and then back on Asks for identification The controller responds by sending back SatEL cx Sets azimuth and elevation and clears internal EEPROM The cx command the characters c and x typed without any...

Page 16: ...lts not caused by mishandling for one year from the date of purchase During that year the electronics box will be repaired or replaced for a flat 20 handling fee After one year the electronics box wil...

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