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.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
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.
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 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.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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!
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!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Episode IV: A Club is Born
Good news! Yesterday, Gino and I attended the club sanctioning meeting in the Humber Students' Federation Events office and we got the Humber Telecom Club officially sanctioned!
Our meeting was scheduled for 4:30 yesterday. In the office, we were greeted by Aaron Miller, the HSF's programming director, and two Asian women. The two Asian women were there to represent their own club, the Humber Bible Fellowship. We talked about how the club system works at the school, about money matters, and about promotion and marketing. I'm happy to report that both Gino and I are now well-versed in the ins and outs of the club system! We ended up getting out of the meeting at roughly 5:10.
So, I'd like to officially announce to the world that the Humber Telecom Club is open, and ready for business! Once all our mid-term exams are completed, we'll publicly announce some meeting dates, and if we're lucky, a list of things we'd like to get accomplished at the meetings. Until then, our noses may be stuck in the books, but our minds are already in orbit.
Also, I'd like to apologize for not posting this up last night. I got a stern lecture from Gino today about the importance of keeping this blog as up-to-date as possible, so now I know better than to wait when there's big news!
Our meeting was scheduled for 4:30 yesterday. In the office, we were greeted by Aaron Miller, the HSF's programming director, and two Asian women. The two Asian women were there to represent their own club, the Humber Bible Fellowship. We talked about how the club system works at the school, about money matters, and about promotion and marketing. I'm happy to report that both Gino and I are now well-versed in the ins and outs of the club system! We ended up getting out of the meeting at roughly 5:10.
So, I'd like to officially announce to the world that the Humber Telecom Club is open, and ready for business! Once all our mid-term exams are completed, we'll publicly announce some meeting dates, and if we're lucky, a list of things we'd like to get accomplished at the meetings. Until then, our noses may be stuck in the books, but our minds are already in orbit.
Also, I'd like to apologize for not posting this up last night. I got a stern lecture from Gino today about the importance of keeping this blog as up-to-date as possible, so now I know better than to wait when there's big news!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Episode III: The Struggle of the Antenna, Part One
So, there hasn't been all that much done of the project these last few days. Mid-term exams have started, and we're all more or less concentrating on getting through those.
Today, I spoke with Professor Rector about the Yagi-Uda antenna on top of the N building. He's still working hard to see what can be done about modifying the antenna to work for our purposes. Right now, it looks like the school doesn't want any students on the roof. The exception to this may be Gino, who runs Sky 1 Communications, a very fine satellite company. He may be allowed on the roof due to the nature of his company. Professor Rector also said that he has some contacts who may be able to help us lower the antenna to ground level at a discounted price. This is, of course, assuming that the school will allow us to modify the antenna at all.
In the meantime, we have some exams and other projects to take care of. Come March, I expect to see this project progress a little more.
Also! Gino, Paul, and I talked to to the staff at the HSF events office today. There's going to be a sanctioning meeting on February 25, and that's when we'll see if our application to get the Humber Telecom Club approved. Until then, we're going to be waiting in nervous anticipation. As soon as our group gets sanctioned, I promise you'll read about it here first!
If I haven't mentioned it before, we're hoping on actually making contact with the space station in March or April of 2009. You can expect to see this blog updated with all the details between then and now. Bookmark this page, and check back often for updates!
Today, I spoke with Professor Rector about the Yagi-Uda antenna on top of the N building. He's still working hard to see what can be done about modifying the antenna to work for our purposes. Right now, it looks like the school doesn't want any students on the roof. The exception to this may be Gino, who runs Sky 1 Communications, a very fine satellite company. He may be allowed on the roof due to the nature of his company. Professor Rector also said that he has some contacts who may be able to help us lower the antenna to ground level at a discounted price. This is, of course, assuming that the school will allow us to modify the antenna at all.
In the meantime, we have some exams and other projects to take care of. Come March, I expect to see this project progress a little more.
Also! Gino, Paul, and I talked to to the staff at the HSF events office today. There's going to be a sanctioning meeting on February 25, and that's when we'll see if our application to get the Humber Telecom Club approved. Until then, we're going to be waiting in nervous anticipation. As soon as our group gets sanctioned, I promise you'll read about it here first!
If I haven't mentioned it before, we're hoping on actually making contact with the space station in March or April of 2009. You can expect to see this blog updated with all the details between then and now. Bookmark this page, and check back often for updates!
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