Parabolic antennae/dishes mounting points...I need pictures please

[Pablo Lewin]

Hi everybody

I ,together with another person are working on a project to build an inexpensive, goto/tracking mount for Radio Astronomy/EME purposes, based on the visual telescope Onstep movement (OnStep is a computerized goto system for stepper motor equipped mounts. It was designed, from the beginning, as a more or less general purpose system and provisions were made in the firmware to allow for use on a variety of mounts including Equatorial (GEM, Fork, etc.) and Alt/Az (Dobsonian, etc.) It uses an LX200 like computer command set with a few extensions to suit hand-controllerless operation.).

Anyway what I need right now is pictures of various dishes attach points for different systems, preferably one master shot (the entire dish) and one close up shot maybe with a ruler so I can approximate size.

You don't have to reply to this post if you don't want to and you can email the pictures directly to me at

pabl...@gmail.com

If successful this would be a revolutionary system with off the shelf component for a fraction of the cost of a commercial unit thus allowing newcomers to do some serious science with the small dishes

Thank you for your help!

Pablo Lewin WA6RSV

The Maury Lewin Astronomical Observatory

Glendora. CA.

[Alex P]

Hello Pablo,

I suggest you purchase the SARA "Scope In A Box"  and  develop a system based on that configuration. ( $300)

It, in itself,  is a  " revolutionary system with off the shelf components "

As small antennas have a beam-width of ~10 degrees, positioning is not overly critical, and non-powered Drift Scans are most frequently

used for data acquisition.  ( If used, You need to verify that the mount drive, control system, and associated cabling does not add RFI )

The L bracket is intended to interface with a 2" dia pipe, but will easily adapt to a Losmandy base plate.

( hole pattern 2.25" wide x 1.5" deep   ) Search info on  1.0m x 0.6m  2.4GHz parabolic antennas .

A Dec Axis Counterweight is required to a balance an equatorial mount.

Regards,

Alex  KK4VB

[Pablo Lewin]

Thank you Alex for your response, I already have several , what I need is pictures of attach attach points to dishes in the 1.2 to 3 meter class up to a couple of hundred pounds of weights to see how they're attached so as to create a universal system for different mounts..off the shelf they're very expensive but this Onstep system could save thousands of dollars and could make the 1 to 3 meter class dishes affordable to everybody with the tracking portion allowing for real science...

So far, other than you I got no responses...

Best!

Pablo WA6RSV

[b alex pettit jr]

Are you familiar with RFHamDesign products ?

https://www.rfhamdesign.com/

[fasleitung3]

Hi Pablo,

I am happy to send you a few pictures from the attach points of our small dishes as soon as I get a chance to take a few shots. In the meantime, I have a few comments/thoughts/questions:

My understanding of the Onstep is that it is a set of hardware essentially consisting of a controller, a stepper motor driver and a stepper motor and the corresponding software. The original intention of this project has been to complement existing mounts with a goto capability. In contrast to this, you plan to design a mount of your own. At least this is what I understand.

When doing the design, I would suggest that you do not only look into the attachement of the dish, but also consider that especially for somewhat larger dishes a counterweight will be needed. Such a counterweight will also have to be mounted either jointly with the dish or seperately. Another aspect is wind load. If the mount should be able to survive a storm with a 3m dish attached, than it will have to be quite massive. In order to ease this requirement it may be advisable to make provisions for some mechanics which allows the mount to be bolted in a firm position taking the strain away from the moving parts in case of a storm.

Good luck with your project,

Wolfgang

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[Pablo Lewin]

Thank you Wolfgang, yes you're absolutely correct about the purpose of Onstep...I'm working with an engineer who is totally dedicated and has been successfully constructing Onstep systems and mounts in the 100lbs class. I am tasking him with creating a system based on ONstep using a sturdy wheel bearing hub which is proven to be able to withstand just about anything short of a tornado...I'm not doing this to make money frankly, I'm doing it to provide a reasonably priced mount for the 1 to 3 meter class radio telescopes enthusiast  (and ham EME enthusiast) in the 500 to 800 dollar range. The person I'm working with is a proven engineering genius who is taking all the necessary parameters into account, in fact my only involvement in this project is to initiation and education (thus the pictures) it's up to him to come up with the product for his company to sell. I have no pecuniary interest in this project at all..don't need it...

[Pablo Lewin]

Wolfgang when you take the pictures if you would be so kind as to place a ruler next to it to get an idea of the measurement , that would be great!.

[eddiem...@gmail.com]

Hi Pablo,

Not sure if this is what you’re looking for but I made some pictures of my 1 metre dish on a HEQ5 mount. This dish is used for observations of methanol and water maser lines at 12.2 GHz and 22.2 GHz. The beam width of my dish at 22.2 GHz is only 1 degree, so sub- degree accuracy is necessary for pointing and tracking. A good tracking mount makes observations at such high frequencies therefore a lot easier. 

Best regards,

Eduard

Op 13 mei 2022 om 19:52 heeft Pablo Lewin <pabl...@gmail.com> het volgende geschreven:

Wolfgang when you take the pictures if you would be so kind as to place a ruler next to it to get an idea of the measurement , that would be great!.

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[Sasha Tim]

I am very interested in this project!! I have a 1 meter L band dish that I use for satellite tracking and would love to add a rotor to it! By the way, have you seen this page? https://wiki.satnogs.org/Rotators