South Yorkshire Repeater Group

‘Mars Antenna’ upgrade

July 21, 2010

Workers at NASA’s Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, Calif., have been making precise, laser-assisted measurements to ensure a flat surface for pouring new grout as part of a major renovation on the 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) “Mars antenna.”

While officially dubbed Deep Space Station 14, the antenna picked up the Mars name from its first task: tracking NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft, which had been lost by smaller antennas after its historic flyby of Mars.

This work represents the first time network engineers have redesigned and replaced the hydrostatic bearing assembly, which enables the antenna to rotate horizontally. To accomplish this, they lifted the entire rotating structure of the giant antenna for the first time.

The hydrostatic bearing assembly puts the weight of the antenna on three pads, which glide on a film of oil around a large steel ring.

The ring measures about 24 meters (79 feet) in diameter and must be flat to work efficiently. After 44 years of near-constant use, the Mars antenna needed a kind of joint replacement, since the bearing assembly had become uneven.

D-STAR SIMPLEX EXPERIMENT

July 8, 2010

D-STAR SIMPLEX EXPERIMENT

Saturday the 10th of July 2010 I shall be running tests on the DV VHF simplex frequency 144.6125Mz from 10:00 through till 18.00 hrs GMT
The aims of the tests are simple. I would like to establish some statistics on D-Star VHF simplex for comparison with standard FM.

I have already tested it over a short distance and found the audio and signal quality was 100% better. Tests indicate that the simplex mode of DV compared to analogue simplex modes is superior, but I would like to gain more facts. This will require more users to make contact on the day with reports on their location, power and antenna used and if possible a comparison on analogue using the same setup?

To do this I need people who can be on the radio at the same time as me, this could be a very interesting experiment and I am willing to publish those statistics on the South Yorkshire repeater group and my own rotherhamamatuerradio websites for all to make use of.

What we need is;

for you to register your interest
to be available on the 10/07/10 form 10:00 till 18.00
to be able to keep a log
send your log in (via email)

Anyone wishing to participate please contact Ian M6DER to register your interest.

Later this year I shall be doing some tests using D-Star TV also, anyone wishing to take part in this should contact me as well stating dvtv in the email.

Thanks for your time.

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