Domain: vtc.edu
Stories and comments across the archive that link to vtc.edu.
Comments · 15
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Do it...
at-least, do it for the girls.
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Hamfests, duh
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Hamfests, duh
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Hamfests, duh
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Amateur (radio) balloon tracking
Amateur ballooning can be quite a bit of fun. There is a small but active ballooning sub-hobby within the ham radio hobby. Ham radio is an ideal medium for transmitting telemetry from balloons, since we have access to cheap high quality (and high power) equipment.
I participated in a balloon tracking experiment not too long ago. The students of Timberlane Regional High School of Plaistow NH launched several high-altitude balloons carrying APRS transmitters, as a part of their CAPSAT (Coordinated Algebra (II) & Physics Simulated Satellite) project. I was able to track two of them. The balloons carried GPS receivers and ham radio Automatic Position Reporting System transmitters.
The launch was from Hopkinton NH. The first launch went well, and we received good signals from the balloon all the way out into the Atlantic ocean. This was quite a bit farther than they expected the baloon to travel, they had planned on recovering and reusing it :o It was still cool IMHO. Check out this kick ass map of the balloon's track.
The second launch was also a success, and the baloon only traveled about 50 miles before touchdown. Map is here.
The third launch went up with the GPS receiver turned off :/ At last check, it was at 00.000N 000.00W. They didn't launch any more balloons that day.
My tracking station consisted of a Kenwood TH-D7 radio and a PowerMac 7500 604e-180 running XASTIR on Yellow Dog Linux. The full results of the day (and APRS logs for the entire hamfest) are here. -
Amateur (radio) balloon tracking
Amateur ballooning can be quite a bit of fun. There is a small but active ballooning sub-hobby within the ham radio hobby. Ham radio is an ideal medium for transmitting telemetry from balloons, since we have access to cheap high quality (and high power) equipment.
I participated in a balloon tracking experiment not too long ago. The students of Timberlane Regional High School of Plaistow NH launched several high-altitude balloons carrying APRS transmitters, as a part of their CAPSAT (Coordinated Algebra (II) & Physics Simulated Satellite) project. I was able to track two of them. The balloons carried GPS receivers and ham radio Automatic Position Reporting System transmitters.
The launch was from Hopkinton NH. The first launch went well, and we received good signals from the balloon all the way out into the Atlantic ocean. This was quite a bit farther than they expected the baloon to travel, they had planned on recovering and reusing it :o It was still cool IMHO. Check out this kick ass map of the balloon's track.
The second launch was also a success, and the baloon only traveled about 50 miles before touchdown. Map is here.
The third launch went up with the GPS receiver turned off :/ At last check, it was at 00.000N 000.00W. They didn't launch any more balloons that day.
My tracking station consisted of a Kenwood TH-D7 radio and a PowerMac 7500 604e-180 running XASTIR on Yellow Dog Linux. The full results of the day (and APRS logs for the entire hamfest) are here. -
Amateur (radio) balloon tracking
Amateur ballooning can be quite a bit of fun. There is a small but active ballooning sub-hobby within the ham radio hobby. Ham radio is an ideal medium for transmitting telemetry from balloons, since we have access to cheap high quality (and high power) equipment.
I participated in a balloon tracking experiment not too long ago. The students of Timberlane Regional High School of Plaistow NH launched several high-altitude balloons carrying APRS transmitters, as a part of their CAPSAT (Coordinated Algebra (II) & Physics Simulated Satellite) project. I was able to track two of them. The balloons carried GPS receivers and ham radio Automatic Position Reporting System transmitters.
The launch was from Hopkinton NH. The first launch went well, and we received good signals from the balloon all the way out into the Atlantic ocean. This was quite a bit farther than they expected the baloon to travel, they had planned on recovering and reusing it :o It was still cool IMHO. Check out this kick ass map of the balloon's track.
The second launch was also a success, and the baloon only traveled about 50 miles before touchdown. Map is here.
The third launch went up with the GPS receiver turned off :/ At last check, it was at 00.000N 000.00W. They didn't launch any more balloons that day.
My tracking station consisted of a Kenwood TH-D7 radio and a PowerMac 7500 604e-180 running XASTIR on Yellow Dog Linux. The full results of the day (and APRS logs for the entire hamfest) are here. -
Re:all-in-one technology
Now just a sec, I LOVED my databank watch! I kept all my BBS numbers in there!
For speaker/mic purposes, use a little earbud headset like a Jabra. Handsfree. They rule. Period. Why does a phone have to look like a phone anyway? Why do you have to hold it to your ear? Bluetooth headsets! Lets get out of the 20th century.
I guess the pocket PC form factor isn't the greatest for gaming, although with the touchscreen... Nevermind, I hate getting fingerprints all over my screen. It could be improved, anyway.
Okay I will admit that one size does not always fit all. But I would still kill to compress my ham radio, AX.25 TNC, pocket pc, and gps receiver into a single unit. APRS baby!
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VTCSUX
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A very good, brief pthreads tutorial
One of my instructors has written a very clear and concise pthreads tutorial. You can find it in postscript, pdf, and LaTeX formats.
It gets right to the point and includes simple C code examples showing how to create and manipulate threads, mutex's, and condition variables. It's still a draft, but you might find it usefull.
Here is the introduction to the paper:
"This document is intended to be a short but useful tutorial on how to use POSIX threads (pthreads). In this document I do not attempt to give a full description of all pthread features. Instead I hope to give you enough information to use pthreads in a basic, yet effective way. Please refer to a text on pthreads for the more esoteric details of the standard.
"In addition to talking about the pthread interface itself, I also spend time in this document discussion some issues regarding thread programming in general. While not specific to pthreads, it is a must that you understand these issues if you are to use pthreads--or any thread library--effectively." -
A very good, brief pthreads tutorial
One of my instructors has written a very clear and concise pthreads tutorial. You can find it in postscript, pdf, and LaTeX formats.
It gets right to the point and includes simple C code examples showing how to create and manipulate threads, mutex's, and condition variables. It's still a draft, but you might find it usefull.
Here is the introduction to the paper:
"This document is intended to be a short but useful tutorial on how to use POSIX threads (pthreads). In this document I do not attempt to give a full description of all pthread features. Instead I hope to give you enough information to use pthreads in a basic, yet effective way. Please refer to a text on pthreads for the more esoteric details of the standard.
"In addition to talking about the pthread interface itself, I also spend time in this document discussion some issues regarding thread programming in general. While not specific to pthreads, it is a must that you understand these issues if you are to use pthreads--or any thread library--effectively." -
A very good, brief pthreads tutorial
One of my instructors has written a very clear and concise pthreads tutorial. You can find it in postscript, pdf, and LaTeX formats.
It gets right to the point and includes simple C code examples showing how to create and manipulate threads, mutex's, and condition variables. It's still a draft, but you might find it usefull.
Here is the introduction to the paper:
"This document is intended to be a short but useful tutorial on how to use POSIX threads (pthreads). In this document I do not attempt to give a full description of all pthread features. Instead I hope to give you enough information to use pthreads in a basic, yet effective way. Please refer to a text on pthreads for the more esoteric details of the standard.
"In addition to talking about the pthread interface itself, I also spend time in this document discussion some issues regarding thread programming in general. While not specific to pthreads, it is a must that you understand these issues if you are to use pthreads--or any thread library--effectively." -
A very good, brief pthreads tutorial
One of my instructors has written a very clear and concise pthreads tutorial. You can find it in postscript, pdf, and LaTeX formats.
It gets right to the point and includes simple C code examples showing how to create and manipulate threads, mutex's, and condition variables. It's still a draft, but you might find it usefull.
Here is the introduction to the paper:
"This document is intended to be a short but useful tutorial on how to use POSIX threads (pthreads). In this document I do not attempt to give a full description of all pthread features. Instead I hope to give you enough information to use pthreads in a basic, yet effective way. Please refer to a text on pthreads for the more esoteric details of the standard.
"In addition to talking about the pthread interface itself, I also spend time in this document discussion some issues regarding thread programming in general. While not specific to pthreads, it is a must that you understand these issues if you are to use pthreads--or any thread library--effectively." -
Lojack on crackThis is pretty cool, but nothing really new. I'm actively involved with radio location systems. I'm currently working on a project to build cheap automatic radio location devices. The innovative thing here is that it's designed for the mass market.
My primary experience has been with APRS, the Automatic Position Reporting System. It's in many ways similar to this system. It's used quite extensively by ham radio operators to coordinate public service activities, track storms out in tornado ally, etc.
The neat thing about APRS is that it isn't just a position tracking system, but it's a distributed network of repeating stations linked via radio and landlines. Here are some neat links you might find interesting:
- My APRS server/digipeater
- These are the results of a baloon tracking exercise I participated in a little while ago
- The APRS homepage
- www.findu.com allows you to locate any ham radio operator's last known position transmitted via aprs from location in the world that has coverage to an APRS internet gateway.
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Lojack on crackThis is pretty cool, but nothing really new. I'm actively involved with radio location systems. I'm currently working on a project to build cheap automatic radio location devices. The innovative thing here is that it's designed for the mass market.
My primary experience has been with APRS, the Automatic Position Reporting System. It's in many ways similar to this system. It's used quite extensively by ham radio operators to coordinate public service activities, track storms out in tornado ally, etc.
The neat thing about APRS is that it isn't just a position tracking system, but it's a distributed network of repeating stations linked via radio and landlines. Here are some neat links you might find interesting:
- My APRS server/digipeater
- These are the results of a baloon tracking exercise I participated in a little while ago
- The APRS homepage
- www.findu.com allows you to locate any ham radio operator's last known position transmitted via aprs from location in the world that has coverage to an APRS internet gateway.