I slid a PVC T over the boom. Put a tiny screw through the T and boom to hold the yagi so it wouldn't twist. The cross boom is just a piece of schedule 40 1/2" pvc pipe. I press fit the antennas on and remove them when transporting them. The cross boom is screwed down to the rotating disk. It works fine, but can be problematic at times. I finally spent the money on a 5500 rotor and LVB tracker box. It's nice because it just works, period. If you have any issues the AMSAT group is very familiar with this setup and you get all the immediate help you could ever need. Also it works seamlessly with SatPC32. I like very much the interface that HRD affords me, but there is no support for their satellite module. SatPC32 is very archaic, but does work.

Any brand of servo is fine as long as the torque specs are good. I bought my servos at servocity.com. They are a robot supply company. They come as a complete package with gears, mounting brackets and all. I don't know the exact servo model. Look on their website under Pan/Tilt/Roll and you will find what you need.

USB cable

+mvivona9 Tx yr fast reply. You mean this is very same usb cable that connects the arduino to the PC/Laptop (on which HRD is installed) What an efficient project given the fact only wires between the Arduino and the servo's are needed. And servo power supply I guess. Correct? Sorry bothering you. 73 Albert PD0OXW

+mvivona9 Tx will have a look. Need as a start some small servo's for initial demonstration purposes! 73 Albert PD0OXW

Jon Reeves you are correct sir. It is inch pounds. I'm an RC guy and generically we talk amongst ourselves and simply describe a servo as pounds of torque and the inches is always implied. Thanks for pointing that out.

It was just the Arduino controller connected to two large RC plane servos. Just an experiment. Wasn’t worth the trouble after all. I did better just by holding an Arrow antenna in my hand. Also satellite contesting (which is all there is) isn’t fun at all. Pretty boring after about 5 contacts.

@@MV_Checkmate I was looking for the pan/tilt assembly you have on your demo at 1:30. There are several programs running on arduino or pi that can run an AZ EL but I have not found an affordable AL El setup.

Dennis Schultz I bought the large servos from servocity.com. They have all sorts of items that I cobbled together. Wasn’t purchased as an AZ EL servo, but had to locate servos, plates, disks, mounts etc. good luck.

The first one? There is only one. No printed anything, sorry. Made from scratch. Codefor Arduino is sites.google.com/site/k6vugdiary/home/satellite-tracking-system

Sorry, but that was many years ago and I dont have it anymore. I went to the site and there was a menu on the left. After clicking around I think this link might be still have the code information. Good luck. drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0L2Lgq0G-D-NHFDald1UXhBTW8?usp=sharing

+Björn Fröjd Here is the link that we followed to build the Arduino controller. sites.google.com/site/k6vugdiary/home/satellite-tracking-system Also you might need the EasyComm II Commands Supported: AZ - report AZ position AZnnn.n - move AZ to nnn.n degrees (0 to 360) EL - report EL position ELnnn.n - move EL to nnn.n degrees (0 to 180) SA - stop Az rotation SE - stop El rotation Additional Commands Supported: VE - show version of this program HELP - show list of commands and current parameter values SV AZPW nnn nnnn - sets AZ servo MIN/MAX pulsewidths (in milliseconds) SV ELPW nnn nnnn - sets EL servo MIN/MAX pulsewidths (in milliseconds) SV SPEED nn - sets the turning SPEED (in rpm) for both servos SV DEFAULTS - sets all parameters to default values SV - report values of all parameters ECHO ON/OFF - turns echoing characters ON/OFF, used for debugging Feature set: - Steps Servos by 1 degree until target angle is reached - EEPROM stores calibration settings & configuration values - Flip Mode implemented to achieve Azimuth 0 to 360 and Elevation 0 to 180 angles - Used millis() function for better timing - Optimised text and string usage to reduce program size - Implemented parking position for servos on reset (AZ=90, EL=90) - Added handling of BACKSPACE and TAB characters in commands - Added Auto Power ON/OFF to save stalled servos - Added Support for CW (Hitec) and CCW (Futaba) servos

Very nice, thanks. This particular project doesn't require a separate controller. The Arduino board is the interface and controller directly between the ham tracking program such as ham radio deluxe and the PTZ motors via USB cable.

+mvivona9 Where did you find the unit you are using with the 30 lb motors? That look very nice. Also did you have any dde issues between HRD and arduino? Thanks Craig