Choosing channels
- 5.805 GHz (ch 161) for rocket telemetry (HASSDMSDASDMSDM)
- 2.462 GHz (ch 11) for LTC/LC comms (802.11b)
- 2.390 GHz for ATV (coordinated fast-scan TV)
- 1.5765 GHz (L1) for GPS
TrackMaster 3000
- Antennas
- 5.805 GHz 802.11a: http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=332106&eventPage=1 (12dBi, 30 deg, RHC polarized)
- 2.390 GHz ATV : TODO: find a commercial 2.4 GHz helical (12dBi, 30 deg, RHC polarized)
- Radios
- USB 802.11a radio (hacked with antenna connection: one branch has a dummy load, other goes to PA)
- ATV Receiver
- Cabling:
- 12V/Gnd power cable
- 3m (16ft) USB 2.0 cable
- 3m (16ft) mono "AV" cable (video, left audio)
- Power supply:
- Both the ATV and 802.11a require 12V +/- 5% @ < 1 A, so use a L4940 LDO (450mV dropout at 1A) (digikey 497-6430-1-ND)
- Lots o' capacitors.
- Misc:
- Some patch cabling
- Physical setup: another shoulder mount? How about a tripod this time?
LTC/LC Communications (Ground station design)
- Declared that the fresnel zone problem we saw in 2005 seems to be resolved by the higher LTC antenna height on the new launch tower.
- Although it's "better", but off "tracking station" idea for the future due to its complexity. This means we still need to be > 1/2 mi away from launch tower when we launch.
- TODO: replace BBQ grills with bettererer antennas.
- BBQ grills: 21 or 23 dB but big and fragile
- replace with horizontal polarized ~ 20 dBi (do a link budget for 2 miles) for -73 dBm at the WiFi card
- If possible, replace with a 15 dBi Yagi that we've seen a bunch of. Better would be a small dish, but that looks heavy.