Episode XXIX: Epilouge

Hello there, my dear readers. I must apologize for my nine-month absence from this place. It seems time had slipped away from me. I'm back, though, with one last entry.

February 2, 2009 is a day that no one involved with Operation: First Contact will soon forget. One this day, all of our efforts came to fruition. From a small electronics lab at Humber College, we made history.

For me, that morning started much too early. Waking up at 5:30 in the morning, I quickly showered and drove off to the school, grabbing coffee and Timbits on the way. We all met up at the school for 6:30, and made sure that all the last-minute tasks were completed. The room seemed empty at 6:30, but we knew that in a mere couple of hours it would be filled with family, friends, and the media.

As the morning went on, people started to trickle into the room. Professors, administrators, and people from the school's marketing department. Humber's security was there in full force, making sure that only our friends, family, guests, and the media were admitted into the lab.

I was super nervous about the events that were about to transpire later that day. The entire country was going to be there watching us. What if something didn't work? What if we couldn't make our contact? We'd look like fools in front of everyone.

I get nervous pretty easily. The day before our contact, I did a live interview on CBC Newsworld. In a state of near-panic, I used the phrase, "A lot of people want to know how one urinates in space." I used the word "urinate" on live TV. That was just with the CBC watching me. The day of contact, though, representatives and reporters from many different networks and news organizations were present. In short, we were graced with the presence of CBC, CTV, Global, The Canadian Press, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, OMNI, CFRB, and countless other outlets. Those who could not fit in the room were asked to go downstairs into the reception area, where our contact would be played live on a big screen.


There was a really strange energy in the air that morning. Anxiety, nervousness, and excitement seemed to be the predominant themes of the day. As the countdown ticked down, Gino and Mark Rector gave the crowd little bits of information about the project.

At 12:33, we were down to the wire. We had one minute left. As we opened up the squelch on the radio, the only sound in the room was the static coming from our radio. The room was jammed packed full of people, but no one made a sound.

"T-minus six, four, three, two, one. We're live." Mark Rector said into his microphone.

Gino spoke into the radio. "NA1SS, this is VA3JUV, Humber College, checking in for scheduled contact. Do you copy?"

Nothing but static.

Five seconds later, he tried again.

"I have you a little bit weak. Can you try again?" was the response from Dr. Sandra Magnus. We did it! We made contact! At that moment, it was like the weight of the world was lifted right off our shoulders. We did it!

Continuing on, we started asking our questions. If you're interested, here's an mp3 file of our contact. It's one thing to read the questions and answers, but it's a whole other thing to listen to the contact.

Click here to play the contact.

We'd like to congratulate our contest winners, Mike Bodnar, Bruce Pena, Sheree Pickering, Sanjeev Singh for their awesome questions.

After the contact was done, we all filed downstairs into the reception hall, where we spent the better part of an hour answering questions for all the different news outlets. There was food and coffee, but I don't think any of us had the chance to enjoy it. As soon as one interview was done, we were whisked off to the next.

The next day, Gino and Mark made an appearance on CTV's Canada AM. I got to be on the The Daily Planet, and Paul and I had the honour of speaking to Sandie Rinaldo.

In the days following the contact, we took some time to ourselves to relax. Then one morning, we got a surprise call from Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space. She invited us to a lecture she was giving at the University of Toronto. It was a pleasure and an honour to meet her.

Not long after that, we got a chance to meet Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff. Soon after that, we took a bus full of telecommunications students to Ottawa, where we met Marc Garneau, Canada's first astronaut.

Things have been fairly quiet since then, but as I write this, we're all getting ready to make the trip back to Ottawa, where we will be attending an awards gala hosted by Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame.

The Hall does a lot of good for Canada, and for the telecom industry in General. As I've said before, please visit their website. Look around their virtual hall of fame. You'd be surprised what you'll find in there!

Well, my friends, this is it. I want to sincerely thank every single one of you who has supported our project in any way. I can not adequately express my gratitude to you.

Who knows where things will go from here? The one thing that we've taken away from this is that you never know what the future holds. We started out as students who knew nothing about anything, and in a few short years, we contact space. None of us could have predicted that.

As Roberta Bondar said to me, "Reach for the stars. I'll see you there."

Episode XXIII: Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame Honours Humber College Students and Professor for Space Communications Project

The countdown to contact is at four days now, and I promise each and every one of you that we're going to be super-busy from now until then. With time quickly running out, there's a whole bunch of things going on not just for our immediate group, but for a number of other people.

For instance, the marketing department here at Humber College has started inviting the media to our contact. Humber's chief of security is busy making arrangements to handle the crowds. The engineer from Radio Humber and I are going to be meeting up a little later to discuss the logistics of broadcasting the contact live on our own radio station.
Our group, on the other hand, is testing, tweaking, re-testing, re-tweaking, and repeating as necessary. We've got a super-busy weekend ahead of us, clearing out the lab where we'll be actually making our contact from. After all, we'd like to fit as many people in there as possible.

I got an interesting email from Gino this morning. In it, a link to a press release from Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame. In short:

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 28, 2009) - Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame announced today that it will pay tribute to Humber College students Paul Je, Patrick Neelin, Gino Cunti, and Kevin Luong and their professor, Mark Rector for their innovative NASA-approved satellite radiocommunication system to make voice radio contact with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The Hall of Fame honours will take place at the 2009 Telecom Laureate Awards at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, October 29, 2009.

If you'll allow me to do so, I'd like to talk a little about the hall of fame.

I can't speak on the behalf of my teammates, but I think that having an organization dedicated to honouring Canadian achievements is an amazing idea. I've had many conversations with first- and second-semester students here at Humber, and one of the things that I stress is that the telecommunications industry is one of the most important industries in the world. In Canada alone, there are 15.6 million cellular phone subscribers. In 2005, roughly ten percent of Canada's non-cellular telephones were VOIP-based. It's predicted that by 2010, that figure will increase to ninety-five percent. The telecom industry is growing more rapidly than any industry in the world. 

Another example of how important the industry is: When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans back in 2005, one of the first things the military did was try to establish a communications link so that they could co-ordinate their efforts. In addition to that, amateur radio operators in the area played a critical role in getting information back and forth to the affected areas where the communications infrastructure was destroyed.

Canada's role in as a pioneer in the telecommunications industry, I feel, is often over-shadowed or taken for granted. Without the efforts of people like Guglielmo Marconi and Reginald Fessenden, the industry would be drastically different. If you do a little bit of research, you'll find a whole list of Canadian telecommunications advances. And yet, so many of these great feats are taken for granted.

That's why I believe that Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame is so important. There are a lot of of brilliant Canadians who have helped to shape the industry. They have, quite literally, changed the world forever. You hear about sports players being inducted into their various halls of fame, but let me tell you this: the people that Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame pays tribute to are heroes, and they deserve to be treated as such.

The hall of fame, I feel, celebrates Canada's achievements, and promotes the idea that not all of our heroes are from the past. We could talk at length about people like Marconi and Fessenden, but who knows that the future holds? The Hall promotes that idea, and inspires students to work to their full potential. It honours the professors that teach students. All in all, Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame is doing a whole lot of good. Not just for Canada, but for people all around the world. I am honoured to be recognized by such an influential organization.

Episode XXII: Date confirmed!

Holy crap, our contact is coming up quick! We got official notification on Friday that our contact is going to take place on February 2, 2009 at 12:29 pm (Eastern Standard Time).

With only one week left, we have a lot of testing and re-testing to do. We know that everything is going to work, but it's just a matter of confirming that everything is going to perform the way it's supposed to.

There's a buzz circulating around the school. An excitement in the air, even. This is it. This is what we've been working so hard for. It's right there in our grasp! If you think Gino and Paul look happy in this photo, you haven't seen anything yet.

Episode XXI: Almost Game Time

I think that one of my biggest regrets about this project is the fact that I haven't been keeping up this blog as often as I had hoped to. It's almost game day, and we have accomplished a whole lot so far. Looking back at this blog, though, I realize that it's hard to really get an accurate picture of each little thing we've been through. I feel I must apologize for this.

You can sleep easy, though, knowing that while this blog hasn't been updated all that much, we've still been extremely busy. The good folks on the ISS have been playing around with their radio setup, and that's caused us a few little problems in our testing. We've managed to work around it, though, and get all our testing done. An example of our final push: the last couple of nights, we've haven't left school until 10 or 11 o'clock at night.

I suppose at this point, it goes beyond testing. We're not just testing; we're rehearsing. We're all going to have a role to play, and we're going to make sure that come contact day, everything goes smoothly.

As I'm sure you've noticed, we're holding a contest here. In a nutshell, we want you to suggest some questions! Given the chance, what would you ask the brave men and women on the space station? On our home page, we've got a link at the top of the page. Click on that link, and fill out our easy form. Almost instantly, we'll get an email with your question. We're going to choose a few winners to come to our contact live and ask the questions themselves. Pretty darn exciting, eh?

In any event, expect to hear a lot more from us in the coming weeks. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to be making some history!

In the meantime, though, enjoy these pictures taken by Debby Walker from Humber, Etc. Thanks Debby!

 Kevin, Gino, and I working hard on our HCB Tracker.

Paul getting ready to work hard.

I'm not sure what we're panicking over, but I'm sure it's nothing!

Episode XX: Contact Coming Soon!

Hello there, my dear readers. The holidays are in full swing, and there's no shortage of snow on the ground. It's truly a magical time.

My friends, I have a pretty big announcement for you. I just got the news, myself, and I can't wait to share it.

Over the last year and a half, we have dedicated a good portion of our lives to Operation: First Contact. Reading back in this blog can give you an idea of the amount of work we've put into this project. It hasn't always been an easy road that we've travelled, but it sure was rewarding.

All our hard work... everything we've worked so hard for... it's all about to pay off.

I just got the email confirming that we have a window for our contact! Clear your calendars, because sometime between February 2 and February 9 we are going to make history!

As a group, we're going to take a little time to collect ourselves over the holidays. When we get back, though, we are going to push harder than we ever have in preparation for the big day.

As you know, on the day of contact we will be asking questions to the astronauts on the International Space Station. We figured that it would be selfish of us to ask all the questions without involving the school. I'm sure that there's a lot of you out there who would love the chance to ask your own questions. This January, we are going to be hosting a contest. In a nutshell, students from Humber College will be able to submit questions to us. Whoever has the best question will be able to ask the questions themselves when we make contact. Imagine being able to say you talked to someone in space!

Check back here in the new year, and we'll have everything ready to go! In the meantime, I hope that everyone has an amazing holiday season, and a most awesome new year!

Episode XIX: Random Happenings

Hey there, everyone. I must apologize for the lack up updates around here lately.  I got into a bit of a funk where I got nothing done, I almost destroyed my  computer, went into another funk, and now I'm being bombarded by exams! I'll  write something a little more substantial as soon as things let up for now. For  now, though, here's what's been going on lately.

The last few weeks have been pretty kind for Operation: First Contact. We've  completed construction of our primary station, and we're performing all our  testing to make sure that everything is behaving the way its expected to.

We pointed our antenna to true north, which is 10 degrees and 45 minutes west of  magnetic north. What does that mean? The earth's magnetic poles are constantly  moving in an arc-shaped pattern, taking 25,000 years to complete a rotation. This means that magnetic north is constantly changing. True north, on the other hand,  is in a fixed position right at the top of the globe. True north is where all the  lines of longitude intersect.

One small problem we've fixed is the polarization of our antenna. Last week, we  were up on the roof making some adjustments to our antenna in the freezing rain  and snow. We noted that our antenna was set up for left-handed circular  polarization. After doing a little research, we discovered that we should be set  up for right-handed circular polarization.

Also, we're in the process of implementing a new piece of equipment into our  communication system, called a TNC (terminal node controller). This magic box will allow us to exchange data packets back and forth with the space station.  We're in the testing phases with it, but you should expect to hear more about  that in my next update.

We've been in contact with a gentleman named Steve who works for ARISS. From what I've heard, he'll be coming from Ottawa to take a look at our setup sometime in the beginning of January. We're all pretty excited about that. It's nice to have tangible proof of our progress.

If anyone has access to current issues of Humber's newspapers, there's a great article in Humber Etcetera about the space station's new urine recycling system. Also, there's a pretty great article in Radix about our project. I'd like to express my thanks to Kristine Mason and Angelo Elia for writing up some pretty great articles.

I'd also like to send a shout-out to anyone from Carl Oliver's physics class. I'll be talking to them about some stuff tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure a great time will be had by all.

For those of you still in school, good luck on your exams! For everyone else, have a great holiday!

Episode XVIII: An interview (AKA: I'm starting to forget my Roman numerals. Is XVIII right?)

Wow... I'm so impressed with the kind of media attention we've been getting lately! Honestly, I'd really like to thank everybody so much for taking such an interest in this project. I can't express in words how much this means to not only myself, but everyone involved with the project.

This evening, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Cindy Pom, a reporter from The Varsity, which is the school paper of the University of Toronto. She's going to be writing up a story for their paper. My friends, I would like to share that interview with you!

---

CP: So, you mentioned that what makes this project unique is that you're only 4 college students. How proud are you of this accomplishment?

PN: Quite proud, really. Only a year ago, it seemed like an almost impossible feat. It’s really an amazing feeling.

CP: Why did it seem impossible a year ago? A year ago, did you guys think you didn't have what it took to build something this successful?

PN: When we first brought the idea for this project to our professor, Mark Rector, he thought we were in way over our heads. We were only a year into school, and we didn't really have an in-depth knowledge of what we were doing. At that point in our schooling, to say we're going to build two radio stations to contact space... it just felt almost impossible. That just encouraged us to do our own research, though, and to learn everything on our own. In a way, the psychological battle was, and in some ways still is, one of the hardest things we've had to overcome.

CP: Interesting.  Just to be clear, you're building two radio stations for NASA but so far, you've built one?

PN: That's correct. Basically, we'll have a primary station and a backup station. Should something go wrong with the primary station, we'll be able to flip a switch and turn on the backup station.

CP: So you've built the primary station so far? (and the backup is still to come)?

PN: That's correct, yes. We’ve built our primary station, and we've done most of the testing for it. We’ve got maybe another week of testing to do on our primary station. Once we're confident that it will work, we can start to build our backup station.

CP: You haven't made contact with NASA yet, right? So, how do you know that it'll work (that you'll be able to make contact)?

PN: There is an organization called ARISS, which acts as a middle-man between us and NASA. Basically, ARISS (which stands for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), is an international organization which acts on NASA’s behalf. When a radio club wants to set up an official contact with the space station, they would submit their application to ARISS, which forwards it on to NASA. We got our approval from ARISS back in the beginning of September.

CP: Oh, I see. So, when ARISS approves your proposal, that means that NASA has okay-ed you making contact with them?

PN: That's correct, yes. Basically, there are a couple of components to the application. The first, and most important, is the equipment. As I mentioned earlier, they have guidelines for all the equipment. Second, we had to write up an educational proposal explaining how we, as students, would benefit from making contact with the space station. The third part was explaining how we were going to publicize this event. At first, we thought we were only going to be advertising this just in the school itself. But, this has taken on a life of its own.

CP: Okay. Just to clarify - the radio you built is: a simple-looking antenna with a complex communications device.

PN: The antenna itself looks simple, but there's a lot of science behind how it's designed.

CP: How did the word get out? Looking back a year from now, could you have possibly believed this would have happened?

PN: If you told me that this story would be in newspapers from Hong Kong to Newfoundland and everywhere between, I would have told you that you were crazy. As for word getting out about this, it all started in the school. As a group, we've put on several presentations about the project for the school's faculty, administration, and students. Our latest presentation was with a gentleman named Clint Thomas from the Canadian Press. He wrote up a nice story about us last Tuesday, and by Saturday morning, it was all over the news.

CP: Ah yes, I read it. It was great.

PN: Thank you.

CP: How do you think Humber has contributed to the success of your project? What will you get out of your education there?

PN: First of all, I feel that we're receiving a really solid education at Humber. The professors really know their stuff, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to make sure you have a complete understanding of whatever they're teaching. As far as Humber's contribution, the school has been so supportive. John Davies, the president of our school, attended one of our presentations, and he was so impressed, that he offered to help us out financially. As we were building everything, if we had a question, we knew that there was always someone around who could help us out. I can't speak highly enough about our school.

CP: Now, I've heard that only a limited number of students have been able to build this radio station. And the majority of them have been engineering students at university. The fact that four college students have accomplished the same project -- do you think this "does away" with the notion that college educations are not on the same par as university ones?

PN: I suppose it's all about how you apply yourself. No matter what kind of education you have, it's all about having a goal, and learning what you need to in order to accomplish it. I don't feel that a university education is any better than a college education. It’s all on how you decide to use it.

CP: The Canadian Press article said you were waiting for an official plan from NASA --I would like to clarify what this means: does it mean you are awaiting a date to make contact with them?

PN: Absolutely. Basically, through ARISS, NASA has given us our approval. They’ve said that we've met their criteria, and that we will have a date for sure. at this point, we're just waiting for a date when they can squeeze us in. they have to make up the flight plan, which will say, "do a space walk, talk to Humber College, and fix the Hubble telescope." Or something to that effect.

CP: When are you hoping the date will be?

PN: Our last day of class is May 1, so we're hoping sometime before that. Anytime between mid-January and April would be ideal.

CP: It would be nice before you graduate, right?

PN: For sure. But, if it means coming back to Humber in the middle of summer, I think we're willing to do that.

CP: Now, when you make contact, is there a time limit?

PN: We're going to have a window of about 10 minutes.

CP: Is that a NASA stipulation, or is that for technological reasons?

PN: The space station is travelling at 27,000 km/h. From the time it comes over the horizon until the time it disappears over the opposite horizon is about ten minutes. After that, it'll be out of our range.

CP: So, the international space station is moving at the speed above, and in order to make contact with you, it has to be in range (which means over the horizon, from one end to the other)?

PN: Exactly. When it's at its closest point to us, it'll be about 440 km away. When you take the speed into account, plus the fact that it's only the size of a football field, it's very difficult to keep track of after it goes out of range.

CP: So, what are your plans after Humber? Venturing into space?

PN: I wish!

CP: Would you consider it?

PN: if the chance came up, I’d love it. For now, though, I plan on getting into either radio or television broadcasting. I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with radio, so it will be nice to get into it for a living.

CP: Well, you've just built one!

PN: Exactly! What better way to get into radio than to build a station?

CP: But space radio stations are different from radio stations, right?

PN: It's the same principles, really. They’re just implemented differently.

CP: Do they run on different wave lengths? (Ok, I'm not really sure what I'm talking about, but they both run on radio waves, right? so it must be a difference of construction...) We don't really need to get into this, it just peaks my curiosity!

PN: No problem. It’s all about radio waves, once you get into it. Different frequencies are used for different things, and different frequencies need different equipment. Then you get into things like power, modulation schemes... its great fun!

CP: Oh, one more thing! In that 10 minute period, is it true that you are going to get a Humber student to ask the astronauts a question?

PN: Starting in January, we're going to open up a contest to Humber students. Basically, they'll be able to go to my website and submit a question for the astronauts. As a group, we're going to pick the best question. Whoever wins will get the chance to ask the question themselves. It’s a pretty exciting contest, I think. A lot of people are looking forward to it!

CP: Oh definitely! On the top of my list is...how do you become an astronaut?

PN: Sorry, Humber students only!

Episode XVII: Toronto college students design device to contact International Space Station

It looks like we woke up to a surprise on Saturday morning.

Last Tuesday, our group put on a presentation for Mr. Clint Thomas, a reporter for the Canadian Press. Afterwards, we had a short Q&A session up on the roof. He wrote up an amazing article, and put together a great video!

I was at work on Saturday morning when my boss came up to me. He says to me, "I just heard about your project on 680 News in the car on my way here." I thought to myself, "Wow! I can't believe it! This is huge!"

I did a little research after work, and it turns out that our story has been published all across Canada. A quick Google search showed me that this article has been published in newspapers from Lethbridge, Alberta to St. John's, Newfoundland, and a whole bunch of places in between. In addition to local papers, I also found our story up on the Macleans website, the CBC's website, Yahoo.ca, Canoe, and the Sympatico page.

Even now, I just saw a headline on Toronto's CP24 channel about us. Last night, I saw our headline on CTV Newsnet.

To be honest, I feel it's a little mind-blowing. We're just four students from Toronto. We're not doing this project for any sort of fame. We're doing it because we want to do something big and exciting.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has emailed me little supportive messages. I'd like you to know that as a group, we really appreciate all the support and well-wishing. Thank you all so much!

Episode XIV: Getting Closer!

Hello there,

So, I got this fancy new website up and running, and then I got too busy to update it. And by busy, I mean to say that I got my Astro Boy DVD set in the mail and can't stop watching it. I can't help it.
Of course, we've been busy for real lately. There's a whole bunch of new stuff going on. Exciting stuff!

For instance, we soldered the connectors to the control wires for our antenna's rotor. After all that was said and done, we were able to control the movement of our antenna from inside room N214. Here's a few pictures of us working on that.

Today, Mr. Rector, Paul, and I went out to Radioworld and purchased a transceiver. After much research, we decided to go with the ICOM Ic-V8000. For the cost, it has exactly what we need. On Friday, we're going to be integrating it into our setup, and doing all the necessary testing.

I also got an email from Jeff Wimbush from The Humber Daily Planet. He just finished editing a video interview that we did with him, and he has posted the complete story, along with the video. Go read the story! Now!

Episode XV: A New Home

Hello there, my friends, and welcome to our new website! The blog at LiveJournal was okay, but it didn't offer me the kind of flexibility that I want. There's a lot of big things to come for this site in the next few months. My little sister Melissa came up to me and asked if she could design the layout of the site, and I was more than happy to pass it off to her. All the writing and stuff, that's still mine. But the overall design is hers. It's pretty nice, eh?

So, being that this is a brand new site, there are probably a few little kinks that need to be worked out. Maybe there's some links that don't go anywhere, or there's missing pictures? If you find anything like that, email me and let me know.

First of all, go and check the Links section out. There's a lot of pretty awesome Humber and NASA websites there. Humber College has a lot of really awesome reporters and journalists working for the various media outlets, so I strongly suggest checking them out. Both the Humber Daily Planetand Humber Life have released articles regarding our project so far, and as soon as I get permission from the appropriate people, I will either link to them or re-post them here. Honestly, though, check out some of the other stuff in our Links section. You won't be disappointed!

Second, there's still a little more work to do. The Bio section, for instance, isn't up yet.

Last, on a more personal note, I would like to dedicate this website to the memory of my grandfather, who passed away in March after a long battle with cancer. I always wanted him to be proud of me, and this project will be my way of paying tribute to him. Ti amo, Nonno.

Episode XIV: Taking it to the Streets

Now that we have been given the official go-ahead for NASA, the time has come to start getting the word out to everybody about our project. Today, we put on a small presentation for Humber's media outlets. Representitives from Humber's marketing department, Humber Life, Humber Et Cetra, and the Humber Student Federation came and joined us in Screening Room B for out presentation this afternoon. In a nutshell, we explained all the work we've done so far, and how we would like some media coverage. Following the presentation, we had a Q&A session where everyone could ask us questions about the project, and then a tour and photo shoot on top of the N building.

Personally, I am so excited that we've come as far as we have so far. As we explained during our presentation, it hasn't come easy at all. As a team, we've had our fair share of obstacles. The important thing, though, is that we always manage to overcome them. We may not always agree on everything, but we respect each other enough to know that we all have vaild opinions.

I have a few surprised planned for this blog, which I plan to roll out in the next few weeks. Keep your eyes peeled for some big changes, and expect to see a lot more of us around!

Episode XIII: Acceptance

"Good evening Gino.

Sorry for the delay but I am happy to report that your application has been approved and has been placed in queue waiting for a time slot for the contact.

You will be contacted a couple of months in advance and a mentor will be assigned to you to make sure that everything goes smoothly.

Good luck.

73,
Daniel, VE2KA.
ARISS Canada team member."

Episode XII: I'm starting to run out of Star Wars-inspired titles

We're back! Finally, some action around here.

A few days ago, Paul recieved the azimuth/elevation rotor for our primary station. For the first time since the end of last semester, our group met up at the school yesterday evening to install it. It was really great to see everyone, and to finally make some progress on Operation: First Contact.

For the purposes of this project, we did a lot of research into what components we should incorporate into our radio station. Ultimately, we decided on using the Yaesu G-5500 rotor based on it's price, ease of use, and reliability.

The unit itself was fairly easy to assemble, and phyisically integrated well with our antenna and stand. Our next step with the rotor is going to be connecting the unit itself to a controller box, and testing how it will work with our setup. Paul and I are going to go look for all the cables we need this weekend, and with any luck, we'll be testing the rotor sometime next week.

Episode XI: Construction Begins

Finally! It looks like we're all more or less finished with school for the semester! For most of us, that means one of two things:

(1) You've gone back home to mom and dad for a summer of lazing around, or
(2) You have to spend your summer working full time in a hot, sweaty factory.

Unfortunately, I fit into the second category. So I'm sure you'll understand why this entry is a few days late.

Last Friday, our team made the first real significant advance in the project. Armed with tape measures and screwdrivers, we built the antenna for our primary station! And what a beautiful antenna it is! Fourteen feet long, 10 dB of gain, with circular polarization. It was a beast of an antenna to assemble, but well worth it. We assembled it in room N214, and ended up having to take it up to the roof in three sections.

When all was said and done, it took about seven hours to assemble the antenna, clean the junk off the roof of the N building, take up our antenna, and mount the antenna stand to a pair of four by fours. And those bags? Thirty kilograms each. That antenna's not going anywhere. By the end of it, we were all filthy and smelly, but it was an awesome experience. 

In the middle, in the blue hat, is Mr. Kelly Gray. Many thanks to him for his help!

Episode X: Identities Revealed!

I guess at this point in the project, you're saying to yourself, "This project is pretty awesome! I wonder who's hands I should be shaking."

My dear readers, today is your lucky day.

 

From left to right: Mr. Paul Je, Mr. Gino Cunti, Mr. Mark Rector, Mr. Patrick Neelin, and Mr. Kevin Luong.

Again, a million and one thank you's to Brenda Dube for her amazing photography!

---

Tomorrow morning, we're all meeting up to start on the construction of our primary antenna. We're supposed to go on the roof, so let's all hope it doesn't rain.
See you tomorrow!

Episode IX: Presentation Time

Hello there, friends!

I'm sitting here in the computer lab, trying to study for my last two exams, and my mind keeps drifting back to First Contact. It amazes me how quickly this project has gained momentum. It's a great feeling, when people ask me about how the project is progressing.
Last Friday, in particular, was amazing.

In short, we hosted a presentation of this project for a few very important people, including the president of Humber College, Mr. John Davies, Associate Dean Mr. David Alcock, and Associate Dean Ms. Susan Krausz. It was, without a doubt, the best presentation I've ever been a part of. For those who are close to me, you'd know that I am not normally very good at public speaking. Maybe it was the suits. Maybe it was the giant carafe of coffee and donuts. Maybe it was the energy in the room. Whatever it was, we all put on a pretty excellent presentation.

I'd like to thank Melissa Neelin for helping us to prepare for the presentation, Brenda Dube for taking such amazing photos of the presentation, Mr. Rector for talking us up before we went on, and Mr. Ramdas for taping the presentation.

I'd also like to thank all the students, faculty, and members of the administration who attended, too!

Episode VIII: The Struggle Ends

Good day, everyone!

The last week has been pretty darn productive for Operation: First Contact.

Last Wednesday, on April 9th, we put on a presentation for a panel of students representing all the different programs at Humber. Our presentation went really well, and we got approved for some extra funding for the project. I'd like to thank the panel so much, because without their support, we'd have to resort to begging for spare change!

On that note, last night, we had a booth set up at a party set up by Humber Rez. While we didn't make a whole lot of money, we certainly made people aware of our project. My sister Melissa came up from Welland to give us a hand with everything, and we're all really thankful that she did! She's going to be starting at Humber next year, and she's going to be a welcome part of the Humber Telecom Club!

Tomorrow, assuming all goes according to schedule, we should be starting the assembly of our primary antenna. We ended up deciding that the Hy-Gain OSCAR-style Yagi was the very best antenna to suit the needs of our project. While we assemble it, we're going to be taking some primary measurements for the antenna we're designing. Over the summer, we'll be building our antenna. We'll also be spending a considerable amount of time testing, re-testing, and re-re-testing both antennas.

Now for some really big news!

Friday, we are going to be hosting a meeting for some of the most important people at Humber College. I'm not going to give away too many of the details just yet, but trust me when I say that it's going to be pretty exciting!

Check back here next week to see how it went!

Episode VII: Meetings and other fun stuff

After a short hiatus, I'm back! I apologize for my lack of updates. Between school and some of my personal family matters, the last month has been pretty crazy. In spite of all this, though, we've managed to stay fairly busy.

First up: I'd like to send my congratulations out to Gino, who completed a fairly extensive training program out in Mississauga and obtained his amateur radio license. You'll know Gino when you see him, because he's going to get all the clothing associated with being a ham. He'll be the guy wearing a really big baseball cap with VA3JUV printed on it. He'll be carrying around a handheld radio, speaking in the mumbo-jumbo language only true radio aficionados can understand. If you ask him to spell something, he'll use words instead of letters. He's just that cool!

Just as I wrote that, I got a text message from Gino saying that he just passed his advanced amateur radio exam, and that he's now qualified to build a transmitter. That guy, I tell you.

We've made some progress with First Contact in the last few weeks. After doing some more research, we've decided on using a Hygain Two-Metre Oscar antenna. It has a circular polarization, which will help to cut through the atmospheric conditions. The antenna itself shouldn't be more than $250, and Skyward Towers Inc. has given us a quote to mount the antenna once we purchase it. We're hoping to get the antenna soon, stick it on a temporary tripod so that we can play with it and learn about it. Then come May, we'll go up there and mount it on the tower.

A bit of an obstacle we're facing right now is finding a rotor which can manipulate both elevation and azimuth. More specifically, we're trying to find one that's decent yet cost effective. Personally, I like the idea of taking one of our team members and wrapping them in tin foil and pointing them at the space station.

Last Friday, we had a meeting with Professor Ramdas, Professor Oliver, and Professor Rector. We presented them with a pretty awesome Powerpoint presentation, and told them everything we've researched and planned. Then today, we had a meeting with Professor Rector about some soon-to-be-officially-announced news. While I can't really talk about it until it's officially announced, suffice it to say that things with this project are about to get really exciting very soon. I recommend checking back here soon to find out more details!

On that note, I shall bid all of you farewell for now. Have a great week.

Episode VI: The Struggle of the Antenna, Part Three

As promised, here are some pictures of the antenna tower we're hoping to work with.

Mr. Rector, if you're reading this, thank you very much for sending them!

This is the antenna tower on the top of Humber's N building, as seen from the J building. It doesn't look all that big from over here.

Here, though, you can see just how high the tower really is. I estimate it's about twenty feet high.

Here's the tower from another perspective. And yes, I'm giving the thumbs up!

Here's the base of the tower, with my foot being used as a reference as to the size of the base.

This is a really neat photo of how the Yagi, whip, and dipole antennas are connected to the tower.

Another shot of the top of the tower.

Episode V: The Struggle of the Antenna, Part Two

Before I start, I'd like to share a joke with you that I found on the wall of Professor Gallant's Facebook group.

Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love, and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

Wocka wocka!

Ahem... moving on...

While checking my email in the N205 computer lab today, I found an exciting, yet somewhat unexpected, email from Professor Rector. In a nutshell, he had to go up on the roof of the N building to take some photos of the existing antenna tower. As I've previously posted, there's already an antenna up on the building. We know two things, however; first, it's not being used at this time. Second, it's was designed for HF frequencies, whereas we'd require an antenna which is designed for VHF frequencies. Apparently, Professor Rector has contacts with a tower company he worked with some years ago who can help us get the antenna we need attached to the tower.

Anyway, it was roughly 2:50 when I got this email, asking Gino and I to meet him at screening room B at 2:30. I got pretty darn excited when I got the email, until I noticed the time. I was sure that I was too late! I managed to catch him, though, and before I knew it, we were up on the roof of the school, braving the -15 degree cold. Unfortunately, due to some previous obligations, Gino was unable to join us. I'm sure it won't be the last time we're up there, though. While we were up there, we did a bit of an inspection of what was already up there. I was impressed with the size of the antenna tower, myself. The tower itself is roughly thirteen feet high, with two dipole antennas, an HF Yagi-Uda, and a whip antenna on top of everything. We also noticed that there was a rotator motor at the base of the tower. At this time, though, we have no idea how old it is, or if it still works. I suspect that will be one of the things we check out when the snow thaws. The plan for what we're actually going to with the antenna tower is still up in the air at this point. We're going to have to do some more research into this project before we can really decide the best course of action. We know, though, that we will need a new antenna. That will be figured out a little later.

I now have the task of figuring out the path the space station will take while it flies above us, as that will determine how and where the antenna gets attached to the tower. We also need to get busy filling out our application! We're going to talk about the application after our midterms are done, and I'll be doing some more research about the ISS in the meantime. I'm also waiting for the pictures that Professor Rector took so that I can post them up here! As well, on Friday a group of us will be meeting up and discussing what we'd like to do with the club now that we're officially sanctioned.
Soon, I'll be posting some of the technical requirements we're going to need to take into consideration so that all my dorky readers can really appreciate the complexity of this project. Things are getting really exciting!