Related Manuals for RESEARCH CONCEPTS RC1500
Summary of Contents for RESEARCH CONCEPTS RC1500
- Page 1 RC1500B Quick-Start Guide Patriot 1.2M & 1.8M Inclined Orbit Tracker V 2.60 5420 Martindale Shawnee, KS 66218 913.422.0210...
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Page 2: Table Of Contents
Table of Contents Controller Menu Overview ......................3 Antenna Setup..........................4 Tools & Supplies Needed to setup Patriot single axis mount:............ 5 Patriot Single Axis Inclined Orbit Tracking Wiring Procedure..........7 Patriot Single Axis Inclined Orbit Tracking Mount Setup Procedure ........11 Single Axis Tracker TLE Setup.................... -
Page 3: Controller Menu Overview
Controller Menu Overview Controller Menu Overview The chart below outlines the menus for the RC1500. The menus can be accessed by tapping the mode button. Holding down the mode button for 5 seconds will allow the user to toggle between the operation and programming sides of the software. -
Page 4: Antenna Setup
Antenna Setup Antenna Setup Single Axis Inclined Orbit Satellite Tracking with a Polar Mount The apparent motion of an inclined orbit satellite appears as a narrow figure 8 pattern aligned perpendicular to the geo-stationary satellite arc. As the inclination of the satellite increases both the height and the width of the figure 8 pattern increase. -
Page 5: Tools & Supplies Needed To Setup Patriot Single Axis Mount
Antenna Setup Tools & Supplies Needed to setup Patriot single axis mount: 3/4 Socket 3/4 Crescent Wrench 1/4 Allen Wrench 1/8 Star Wrench Large adjustable Crescent Wrench Small Flathead Screwdriver Wire Strippers (14-22 AWG) Wire Cutters Cable Jacket Stripper (Greenlee p/n 45109) Hand-Held Inclinometer Heat Shrink/Heat Gun (3/16, 3/64, 1/8 inch in diameter) Cable Ties (Small, Medium and Large) - Page 6 Antenna Setup This document describes how to setup the Patriot 1.2M & 1.8M single axis inclined orbit tracking antenna mounts. A diagram of the Patriot antenna mount is given below. Figure 4 - Patriot Single Axis Inclined Orbit Satellite Tracking Antenna Mount RC1500B Quick Start Guide...
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Page 7: Patriot Single Axis Inclined Orbit Tracking Wiring Procedure
Figure 5 – Stripped Outer Jacket 1. The first step in wiring the back of the RC1500 is to cut back the outer jacket 9 ¼ inches and remove the plastic film exposing the two sub-cables. 2. The removal of the outer jackets will reveal two 16 gauge wires (red and black in color) and 3 triple shielded wires for the position sensor enclosed in a foil shield with a bare drain wire. - Page 8 9 ¼ inches. 9. For best results, either tin the end of each conductor or use wire ferrels. 10. Place cable ties for added strain relief as shown in Figure 8 Figure 7 – RC1500 Back Panel Diagram RC1500B Quick Start Guide...
- Page 9 Antenna Setup Figure 8 – Connection at RC1500 Back Panel / Strain Relief Figure 8 shows the proper inches of cable to protect against cable stress. The larger 16-gauge cables are cut 5 ½ shorter to take any type of stress caused by the controller being moved or the cables stretched.
- Page 10 Antenna Setup Figure 9 – Wiring Connection at Actuator Table 2 explains the connections at the actuator. The connections are labeled 1-6. Do not connect the drain wire at the antenna. Having the drain wire connected at the antenna can cause a ground loop resulting in runaway errors. Insulate drain wire to prevent it from making contact with earth ground.
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Page 11: Patriot Single Axis Inclined Orbit Tracking Mount Setup Procedure
Antenna Setup Table 2 Patriot Single Axis Inclined Orbit Tracking Mount Setup Procedure 1. The antenna mounting pipe is 3 ½ inches (outside diameter). Install the antenna mounting pipe so that it is plumb. 2. Assemble the Patriot 1.8M Orbital Tracker according to Patriot’s Assembly Manual. The actuator power head has a weep hole. - Page 12 Antenna Setup 3. The actuator will be in the fully retracted position. To ensure the maximum range of upward travel, slide the clamp on the tube of the actuator towards the clevis end of the actuator until the clamp touches the actuator bellows boot. Figure 11 –...
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Page 13: Single Axis Tracker Tle Setup
Antenna Setup Single Axis Tracker TLE Setup 5. Run the SingleAxisTrackerTLESetup.EXE program to calculate the Mount setup angles. The program takes as its input the Antenna Latitude and Longitude, Antenna Offset, Declination of the Actuator and the Satellite Longitude. The outputs of the program are the Mount Latitude Angle, the Mount Hour Angle, and the Elevation Angle for a Satellite whose Longitude is the same as the Earth Station Longitude (RF). - Page 14 Antenna Setup Example: (Screen shots correlate to example problems found in setup procedure) Figure 14 – SingleAxisTrackerTLESetup.EXE (See Appendix A for in depth information about the software program) Figure 15 – CONFIG.TXT RC1500B Quick Start Guide...
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Page 15: Mount Latitude Angle
Antenna Setup Mount Latitude Angle The mount should initially be pointing as close as possible to true South if in the Northern Hemisphere. Point the mount North if in the Southern Hemisphere. 6. Set Latitude Angle using the threaded eye bolt. Use the built-in Latitude scale to set the latitude angle to the earth station latitude. - Page 16 Antenna Setup 7. As a final adjustment, use an inclinometer to measure the angle. Place the inclinometer as depicted in the photo below. Adjust the eye bolt so that the inclinometer reading is 90 – Mount Latitude_Angle degrees with respect to horizontal. Example 50.3 degrees.
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Page 17: Mount Hour Angle Also Referred To As The Mount Polar Angle
Antenna Setup Mount Hour Angle also referred to as the Mount Polar Angle 8. Position the large nuts on the Mount Hour Angle adjustment threaded rod so that the Hour angle is zero. Use built-in protractor shown in Figure 19. Figure 19 –... -
Page 18: Down Limit
Antenna Setup Down Limit 9. In this step we set the ACU’s (antenna control unit’s) Down limit. With the Mount Hour angle set at zero, the Down limit is set when the antenna’s RF Pointing Angle is equal to the Base_Elevation Minus 10 Degrees. Base_Elevation was found in step 4. The Patriot 1.2 and 1.8 meter antennas have a 22.5 degree offset. -
Page 19: Up Limit
Antenna Setup Power up the RC1500. Activate the LIMITS mode by first locating the following screen. Hit ENTER to proceed past the prompt message. ENTER PROCEED MODE EXIT MODE Next you will be prompted with the following display. 7 –... -
Page 20: Locate Inclined Orbit Satellite
Antenna Setup Locate Inclined Orbit Satellite 11. Place the ACU in Manual mode. Position the inclinometer as shown in step 9. Motor the antenna until the RF pointing angle is equal to the Base_Elevation value found in step 3. The Patriot 1.2 and 1.8 meter antennas have an offset angle of 22.5 degrees. -
Page 21: Set Mount Hour Angle
Antenna Setup Set Mount Hour Angle 12. Position the large nuts on the Hour angle adjustment threaded rod so the Hour angle is set to the calculated Mount Hour Angle found in step 4. Figure 22 - Set Mount Hour Angle Example: Mount Hour Angle = 19.2 degrees RC1500B Quick Start Guide... -
Page 22: Adjusting The East- West Bearing Angle/Varying Antenna Declination Angle Via The Actuator
After each small rotation, adjust the Declination angle via the RC1500 looking for a signal. If no signal is found move the Declination angle back to the original count value on the RC1500 and rotate the mount clamp another small increment and jog the Declination angle again. -
Page 23: Agc Tuning
AGC Tuning AGC Tuning Before continuing on, read through the Idirect Interface guide of this document. The information on that page will help clarify this AGC tuning procedure. To implement the tracking algorithms, the controller requires an input signal which indicates the strength of the received signal. Such a signal is generated within a satellite receiver, and is referred to as an AGC signal. - Page 24 AGC Tuning mode and examine the signal strength for the AGC channel which was not selected in step 3 above. If the signal strength reading for that channel is greater than 10, adjust the OFFSET and GAIN pots for that channel until the signal strength reading for that channel is less than 10.
- Page 25 AGC Tuning 10. Position the antenna ‘on satellite’. Jog the antenna off of the satellite until the picture is just barely watchable. Note the signal strength value. Go to CONFIG mode and use the SCROLL keys to bring up either the AGC C Band Threshold item or the AGC K/L Band Threshold item, whichever is appropriate for the frequency band that the user has chosen to operate at (and has adjusted the pots at).
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Page 26: Set Mode
Set Mode SET Mode ENTER TO PROCEED MODE TO EXIT SET MODE SET mode allows a user to store a satellite name, position, and horizontal and vertical polarization presets into the controller’s non-volatile memory. Once a satellite has been stored in non-volatile memory, it may be recalled using the AUTO MODE Note: The MODE key may be pressed at any time to exit the mode which is currently active. -
Page 27: User-Defined Satellite Names
Set Mode The user is next prompted to specify whether or not the satellite is in an inclined orbit. INCLINED ORBIT SAT? YES/NO SET MODE When the user has flagged the satellite “YES” with the Scroll Up/Yes key, the “DATA ACCEPTED” message will appear for a few seconds, and the controller will switch to “TRACK”... -
Page 28: Track Menus
Track Menus TRACK MENUS The TRACK mode MENU system allows the user to view and modify data relating to the satellite being tracked. The MENU system may be invoked whenever the CONFIG mode Expert Access Flag is set by hitting the 0 key while in the SEARCH IDLE, STEP IDLE, and PROGRAM IDLE states. -
Page 29: Modify
Track Menus the entry. The value 412 is shown as the declination position value at the current entry. To the right of the position one of the following characters will display: • The character ‘F’ which indicates the state of an update flag •... -
Page 30: Clear Track
Track Menus CLEAR TRACK: 0 0- NO,1-YES MNU MODE CLEAR TRACK select 0 or 1: Press 1 to clear the track table entries or press 0 to not modify the existing data. RESET UPDATE:0 0- NO,1-YES MNU MODE RESET UPDATE select 0 or 1: Press 1 to clear the UPDATE flags for the track data or press 0 to not modify the existing data. - Page 31 Track Menus Sub-Mode xxxxxx Action STEP REPEAK Causes the controller to immediately repeak the antenna. SEARCH SEARCH Causes the controller to initiate another search PROGRAM ALIGN The controller will reposition the antenna based on the current sidereal time and the data in the track table.
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Page 32: Config Menu Settings
Track Menus Config Menu Settings for 1.8M Patriot • Remote Enable: 0 • Elev 0 CNT: 0 • Slow Speed: 140 • 24vdc Rot Feed: 0 • Auto Move Cnfg: 0 • Fst/Slo Thrsh: 80 • Retry Attempts: 3 • Fst Deadbnd: 2000 •... -
Page 33: Interfacing An Idirect Modem To The Rc1500B Tracking Antenna Controller
Interfacing iDirect Interfacing an iDirect Modem to the RC1500B Tracking Antenna Controller iDirect modems can produce an analog voltage suitable for the AGC of an ACU to track an inclined orbit satellite. To enable the voltage output on the iDirect modem, set “tx_handshake_enabled = 1”... -
Page 34: Interconnect Schematic
Appendix A Interconnect Schematic RC1500B Quick Start Guide... -
Page 35: Appendix A
Interfacing iDirect Appendix A Figure 24 - Mount Latitude Angle Drawing RC1500B Quick Start Guide... -
Page 36: Figure 25 - Antenna Angles Drawing
Appendix A Figure 25 - Antenna Angles Drawing RC1500B Quick Start Guide... -
Page 37: Figure 26 - Pivot Points Drawing
Appendix A Figure 26 - Pivot Points Drawing RC1500B Quick Start Guide... -
Page 38: Universal Time Vs. Local Time
Appendix A Universal Time vs. Local Time We use Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) to define a time that doesn't depend on where we are on Earth. Universal Time, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and Zulu (Z), are based at the prime meridian (0° longitude) of Earth and are used by scientists to avoid confusion of time zones. -
Page 39: Definitions
Appendix A Definitions The following list of definitions directly correlates to the inputs and outputs of the SingleAxisTrackerTLESetup.EXE program. Antenna Data Earth Station Data Input. Latitude - Equal to the Latitude of the earth station (0º-90º). Latitudinal Hemisphere - Equal to the Latitudinal Hemisphere of the earth station (North/South). - Page 40 Appendix A TLE Pointing Data - Satellite pass predictions. Time (UTC) - Equal to the UTC time of the day. Azimuth (DEG) - Equal to the Azimuth True Heading. Elevation (DEG) - Equal to the antenna bore sight pointing angle relative to the earth station Lat/Long with respect to the Time (UTC).
- Page 41 Appendix A Mount Setup – The setup data of the antenna required in order to point to the desired satellite. Mount Latitude Angle – The amount of tilt at the latitude angle pivot point that is approximately equal to the antenna’s latitudinal position on the Earth. RF –...
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Page 42: Document Revision History
Revision History Document Revision History 3/11/2009 Rev 1.01 Corrected various punctuation and layout errors. Added different headers and footers. 5/19/09 Rev 2.01 Added new pictures of new mount, corrected various punctuation and layout errors. Added text in antenna setup, steps 5 and 11. Deleted various returns and put in page breaks.