SUSU Antenna Array
From SUWS-wiki
This page describe the plan to build a new antenna array to mount back on the mast on the West Building (outside the Stag's Head). This would be of benefit to SUWS as well as other societies listed below.
Current Status
- Currently in purchasing and refurbishment stage as well as final planning on assembly and connections
Interested Parties
- SUWS (us) - General Amateur Radio operation / tracking high altitude balloons.
- Space Flight Society
- Interested in helping us.
- Interested in tracking satellite / high altitude balloons
- SUSUtv
- Interested in directional Wi-Fi for live campus broadcast
- Surge
- Interested in properly fixing their FM antenna
- Astronomy
- Interested in 1GHz-2GHz (?) radio astronomy.
- ECS Sensor Network Research
- 868Mhz omni for sensor network node
- There is still room for other interest should there be any
Antenna/Feature Ideas
Confirmed
- HF beam dipole
- triband 2m/70cm/6m omni
- 70cm+2m on dual-axis rotator
- SURGE FM broadcast antenna
- SOWN Wi-Fi @ coordinates
- 868 sensor net antenna on spur
Sensible
- 23cm on spur
- radio telescope (astrosoc)
- monitoring node (temp/wind ect)
Current Plan
From top of the mast to bottom.
- 6m/2m/70cm collinear (AR+satellites+HABs)
- Spur bar
- FM Broadcast antenna (SURGE)
- 2.4GHz omni (sensor networks)
- 868 MHz omni (sensor networks)
- Elevation rotator
- 2m Crossed Yagi (AR+satellites)
- 70cm Crossed Yagi (AR+satellites+HABs)
- 5GHz Wifi Dish (SOWN+SUSUTV)
- HF Dipole (AR)
- Azimuth Rotator
Kit
Arrived and reimbursed
- Triband Vertical
- Lithium Grease 500g
Arrived awaiting reimbursment
Arrived Requires Attention
- HF Dipole
- Refurbishment required
- Replacement parts will be required
- Fast Ethernet 16 port managed switch (with gigabit uplink)
- Requires extracting from rack in B32 L3 North server room.
Ordered
- 2m crossed yagi
Approved
- 70cm Yagi
- Link [[5]]
- Price: £52.96 + £10
- Date to be ordered: ASAP (Waiting on ML&S order)
- Budget: mast
- Screws For Rotator (M6*20)
- Link [6]
- Price £5.03
- To be approved/ordered: ASAP
- Budget: mast
- Loctite 243 (for securing the bolts)
- [7]
- Price 7.76+vat
- To be approved/ordered: ASAP
- Budget: mast
Awaiting Approval
- Ubiquity Powerbeam PBE-M5-300 and accessories
- Ubiquity Powerbeam PBE-M5-300 [8] - £66.46 (inc. VAT)
- Ubiquiti UK Cloverleaf Power Cable RB-290 - [9] - £3.00 (inc. VAT)
- Total price: £69.46 (inc. VAT) + approx. £12 P&P = £81.46
- To be approved/ordered: ASAP (It has been agreed this is of better and sufficient beam width. No radome for 300mm models)
- Budget: mast
- Horizontal mast section
- Needs 32-43mm diameter
- Link [10]
- Price £21.95 (Inc. VAT)
- Date to be approved/ordered: Approve ASAP. Confirm appropriate pole thickness with Waters and Stanton before ordering.
- Budget: mast
- 0.5in x 1 metre long aluminium tube (1.6mm thick)
- Replacement for broken part of HF dipole
- Link [11]
- Price £7.38 (inc. VAT)
- Date to be approved/ordered: Approve ASAP. (May check if anything else needs to be ordered from same supplier before ordering).
Planned but not ready for approval
- Vertical mast section
- Needs 38-63mm diameter
- Link [12]
- Price £52.95 (Inc. VAT)
- Date to be ordered: Later (confirm appropriate length)
- Budget: mast
- Mast Thrust Bearing
- Yaesu GS-065
- Barenco
- Price: £47.61 (Ex VAT)
- Date to be ordered: Later (confirm wall mounting)
- Budget: unknown
- Rotator and Bearing Wall Mounts
- Yaesu BE645Y, Pair including both rotator and bearing bracket
- Barenco
- Price: £59.23 (Ex VAT)
- Date to be ordered: Later (confirm wall mounting)
- Budget: unknown
- Rack Cupboard
- 21u 600mm Deep Data Cabinet/Data Rack
- Link [13]
- Price £180 (Inc. VAT)
- Date to be ordered: Later (pending susu approval).
- Budget: unknown
- HF Balun
- 14-30MHz >200W PEP
- Watson Balun (currently out of stock)
- Price £33.95 (Inc. VAT)
Parts known to be needed
- Extra Mounting hardware
- Dual axis Rotator Parts SUSU_Antenna_Array/rotator
- 2 Axis pole mount
- Internal patch panel parts
- panel [14]
- Parts for HF dipole
- Paint
- wirewool/sandpaper
- Balaun
- Coax parts
- coax
- connectors
- connection plate
Coax Info
Information sourced from Coax Data and ML&S
Prices sourced from ML&S inc. VAT
| Diameter | RF Loss | Max Power Handling | Cost | Datasheet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mm | dB/100ft @ 400MHz | W @ 50MHz (1:1 SWR) | /25m Reel | ||
| RG-58 | 5 | 10.5 | 450W | £20.70 | |
| RG-213 | 10.3 | 4.5 | 1500W | £32.25 | http://www.romkatel.ro/cataloage/pdf/eupen/RG213.pdf |
| Ultraflex 7 | 7.3 | 3.59 | 1820W | £29.70 | http://www.messi.it/dati/immagini/RGAC7PLUS-All1_EN.pdf |
Note: Connectors for Ultraflex 7 are uncommon, and so may add significantly to the expense.
Lightning Precautions
- Talk to E&F about:
- Current mast situation
- Building requirements
- Can we rely on lightning path through the rotator body?
- Kit will be toast whatever happens, priority is mitigating fire risk.
Static Protection
- Resistive bleeders on all coax
