I got fed up with
noisy power supplies to here is my solution.
1. A linux computer
runs Predict as a server
2. A perl script
wakes up every minute, and asks predict if ISS is above the
horizon.
3. If ISS is above
the horizon, a command is sent to a parrallel port control
card.
4. The control
toggles a relay
5. The relay action
turns off the battery charger and engages the radio
6. When the ISS is
below the horizon once more, the script turns off the relay.
7. The radio turns
off and the battery charger re-engages.
8. The radio has a
30 minute time out set as well to guard against problems.
So far it works
really well.
The rack clicks and
comes to life as ISS rises and goes back to sleep when it
descends.
Here is a
photo.
I am not having much
luck with the helix's i have built the front to back seems
bad.
I have however had
great success on 2m, with an 8 element quad.
Cheers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Rich VK4TEC
