[HamWAN PSDR] HamWAN portable

[Jeff Francis™]

  Fair enough, but what the picture doesn't show you is this is the antenna
I was pointed at:

  http://plane.gritch.org/plane/tn/2013-09-08%2013.35.49.jpg.html

  I was only a bit further away from where I took this photo.  So the angle
was correct for my location (and yes, I did pan around quite a bit to make
sure I had the strongest signal).  I was looking up at the tower from where
I was standing.  Not too hard to sight in from that distance, no compass
required.

  So do I need to have my MAC address added to a table somewhere for this
to work, or is my problem elsewhere?



On Sat, Oct 5, 2013 at 9:41 AM, Tom Hayward <esarfl at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Oct 5, 2013 at 9:26 AM, Jeff Francis™ <jeff at gritch.org> wrote:
> > http://plane.gritch.org/plane/tn/2013-09-08%2014.18.42.jpg.html
> >
> >   If you look in the back of the truck, you can see precisely the same
> > antenna setup that Tom is using laying on top of the spare tire (next to
> the
> > stool).  From the park, I was close enough I just propped the antenna up
> and
> > did it that way.  No need for the tripod (and the strange looks from
> other
> > park-goers).
>
> From that photo, I can tell you that it won't work. You're aimed at
> the sky. The beamwidth of these dishes is very narrow and they must be
> aimed precisely in both azimuth and elevation.
>
> Here's my algorithm for aiming:
> - First, I calculate the bearing from my current location to a HamWAN
> site (your APRS client should be able to do this for you with the
> HamWAN* objects).
> - Then I sight that bearing with my compass.
> - With the Poynting on the tripod mast, I sight down the feedhorn of
> the Poynting and line it up with the same landmark I spotted with the
> compass, being sure to keep the feedhorn level in the elevation axis.
> - At this point the signal LEDs on the modem have usually registered
> something (I'm connected) and I can pan and tilt slightly in each
> directly to maximize signal.
>
> This works really well for me because I have a sighting compass
> accurate to 1 degree and I know how to use it. Another technique is to
> plot the path on Google Earth and look for landmarks along the path.
> I've done this and sighted "between the two water towers." This
> technique requires more patience and panning.
>
> This is microwave. It's a lot harder to get a signal than VHF, but
> it's really satisfying when you do (and faster than 1200 baud!).
>
> Tom KD7LXL
>
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>



-- 
-=jeff=-
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