Copyright © 2010-2014 Eagle Tree Systems, LLC
http://www.eagletreesystems.com
Page 8
Figure 8 – Pan Angles for tracker (this one rotates more than
360 degrees)
How to Set Up the Antenna Tracking Hardware
The pan servo, and optionally the tilt servo, of your pan/tilt mount are connected to the EagleEyes pan and tilt servo outputs, as described in the
“Connections” section above. The EagleEyes board is capable of providing a maximum burst current of approximately 5 amps to the servos,
dependent on the capabilities of your power supply.
The maximum continuous current available to the servos depends on the input voltage, as well as the capability of your power supply. Higher input
voltages cause the on-board regulator to produce more heat. If the regulator becomes too hot, it will shut off briefly (for about 20 seconds) and then
start again.
Note that the rest of the EagleEyes functionality will not shut off - only the power to the servos. With the standard sized servos used for typical
pan/tilt trackers, there should never be a regulator shutoff, even at the maximum input voltage of 14 volts. If your tracker uses very large servos,
and they are constantly under heavy load, the regulator may shut off briefly at higher input voltages. If this occurs, see the Troubleshooting section
below.
The EagleEyes Tracker Setup Onscreen Menu
Tracking configuration is done on the menu shown at right, which is invoked from the
“Tracking Antenna Setup” menu item under the “EagleEyes Station Settings” menu.
Here is a description of the menu items:
Tracker Cal Wizard 90dg Tilt
- If your tracker TILTS 90 degrees (from horizontal to
vertical) select this wizard to calibrate the tracker.
Tracker Cal Wizard 180dg Tilt
- If your tracker TILTS a full 180 degrees (from
horizontal to horizontal) select this wizard to calibrate the tracker.
Set Panning Speed –
this menu item lets you adjust the panning speed of your tracker.
Valid range is 1 to 9, with 9 being the fastest.
Set Tilting Speed –
this menu item lets you adjust the tilting speed of your tracker. Valid
range is 1 to 9, with 9 being the fastest.
Pan Test - Select Position –
Select one of the angles from this menu item, and the tracker
should correctly pan to the selected angle. Note that you need to first run one of the
tracking wizards above, before using this option.
Tilt Test - Select Position -
Select one of the angles from this menu item, and the tracker should correctly tilt to the selected angle. Note that
you need to first run one of the tracking wizards above, before using this option
.
Force Pan/Tilt Angle Hold? -
this menu item lets you enable forced pan and tilt angles (entered below). Note that when this item is set to
“YES”, the pan and tilt angle of your tracker will be forced to the angles specified below, until you turn this option off. This option is useful if
you wish to set your antenna to hold a fixed position, if you are not using the tracking function.
Forced Pan Angle -
this menu item sets the fixed pan angle that is used, if the “Force Pan/Tilt Angle Hold?” menu item is set to “YES”.
Forced Tilt Angle -
this menu item sets the fixed tilt angle that is used, if the “Force Pan/Tilt Angle Hold?” menu item is set to “YES”.
Reset Pan/Tilt Settings! –
this menu item resets ALL of the pan/tilt settings to default values, and clears all angle calibration. This is useful if
you have miscalibrated the tracker, or otherwise wish to recalibrate.
How to Configure and Calibrate your Antenna Tracker
Before the EagleEyes can point your tracker correctly, it must learn the
relationships between pan and tilt angles, and your tracker’s pan and tilt
servo movements. The EagleEyes learns the relationships in the
calibration wizard, by having you move the tracker’s pan and tilt servos
to predefined angles.
Before calibrating the tracker, you will need to confirm that the
EagleEyes is receiving telemetry data from the Vector. If telemetry is
being received, the EagleEyes “Telemetry” LED will be flashing at
about 2 blinks/second. Please see the troubleshooting section if this is
not the case.
Calibrating Pan Angles
To calibrate the tracker’s pan movements, the first step is to make sure
you can tell which pan directions on your tracker correspond to 0
degrees (antenna centered and facing forward) -90 degrees (antenna
pointing exactly to the left when standing behind the tracker) and +90
degrees (antenna pointing exactly to the right).
The more accurately you can determine these angles, the better the
calibration will be. See figure 8 for more information.
