30 LVB Trackers BUILT!

15 on top! 15 on the bottom. What started on April 7th is finally finished today... 30 LVB Trackers are built and ready for the Dayton Hamvention! In the process all the LCD cables and Button assemblies needed for the entire build (more than 30) were built so the next build will go much faster and with less effort. Going to try to enjoy the rest of the day.

4 days 19 hours till Hamvention

I drove to Dayton to attend a Inside Exhibitors volunteers meeting yesterday.
Now I don't like driving but the meeting was at 8:30am so I was on the road just before 5am. I love driving at this time... traffic is low and you get to see the day begin as I drive. I also stayed up all night to get a TM-d710 and AVMAP G5T working and semi-installed in my truck. It was scanning and about 30 minutes after my departure James, 2E0BMI called me on Echlink on the N8BHU repeater. And while I was chatting away the D710 automatically jumps from the operating frequency on vfo a to the aprs frequency on vfo b and sends an aprs micE packet on recive. So it simultaneously allows aprs tracking and voice operation... AWESOME!!! I didn't know the radio did this until James, 2E0BMI told me about it. Then when I drove out of range from an amateur repeater or link station I contacted James on Echolink via the Echolink app on my iPhone. And it worked with only one dropout from just north of Mansfield Ohio into Dayton!

There are a little more than 4 days till Dayton. Because of my trip to Dayton yesterday I didn't get much done. Today we are putting out a maximum effort in an effort to get them finished today. Guess I only do well when there is a threat.
So I'm gonna get to it... Blogging is too time intensive. 1:58pm

LVB Trackers - 8 days till Hamvention

Got 9 trackers tested, closed-up, cleaned and packed! Too many distractions, most semi-disturbing just took the wind out of my sails. I have two rotors going that makes the testing go twice as fast! The GX260 dell pc that is new to the project seems to be having virtual com port/SDX lock-up problems. It amazes me that more folks don't have trouble with that. I have tried numerous pc's and laptops and have more failures than success. One ham was having so much trouble with it I helped him switch over to the trackers serial port which works solid. Trying to get this small form factor pc working for use at the AMSAT boot at Hamvention. I think we'll use the serial interface too so there won't be any technical issues. That's what we did last year.

Tuesday during my physical therapy session, Bernie my airplane mechanic called wanting to inspect the plane this Friday. Went to the airport to scope things out and found too many obstacles to overcome. So we decided to wait a week... so I got Friday back.

Going to Mom's Thursday for the day. But I think I will make several excursions back here to move trackers on and off the rotors for testing. Hope to have all the trackers tested and ready for Hamvention by Saturday.

Saturday morning going to Dayton for a Hamvention volunteers meeting and pick up my credentials. Scary close!

There is 8 days till Hamvention but since I will be leaving Wednesday I only have 6 days to get ready!

Going to bed... Good Night! 1:13am

LVB Trackers - Assembly complete

The assembly of 30 trackers is complete. This is just one step. Next each tracker will be connected to a G5500 rotor and a pc running SatPC32 for testing. After successful testing, the tracker is then closed up, cleaned up and wrapped up for delivery. I hope 30 trackers will be ready for Hamvention by Friday.

LVB Tracker - 11 days till Hamvention

There are 11 days till Hamvention and I still have 11 trackers to assemble. This is totally unacceptable. I spent yesterday at Mom's but when I got home at 6:45pm my day at home just started. And when it ended I had one tracker on the bench that was not finished.... didn't even get one tracker built. Just too many interruptions at home! And on top of that Mork our dachshund boy is lame... he's limping on his right front leg... so now he has to go to the vet today and I have to got Mom's for the day. And while I'm typing this I can hear the hard drive on the Echolink Node computer starting and stopping, so that needs attention... It never ends... :)

So as a result, I have packed up the parts for the last 11 trackers to be built and will build them at Mom's. At least at Mom's there are very few interruptions. And I will be glad to have something to do since there is no internet of any kind available.

So we are on the road! 8:41am

LVB Trackers - 12 days till the Dayton Hamvention

Oh my... I have lost some time... Less than 2 full weeks till the Dayton Hamvention.

1:30pm STATUS: Well right now I'm in the middle of cutting the grass. A light rain shower is blowing thru so I came inside to get caught up on the basement stuff... Spent last night over at Mom's... She is doing better and I imagine the family (her kids) might consider letting her be alone but with frequent visits mostly around meal time. But tomorrow and Monday I will be there during the day. If I don't make significant tracker progress today then I will take the build on the road over to Mom's. This is nothing new... I assembled and tested over 20 trackers last year in my hotel room during Hamvention... well Friday afternoon, evening and into Saturday morning... About 12 hours. Don't really wanna do that again and besides this year I'm sharing a room with Gould, WA4SXM and I'm sure he won't want me in there building at 2am in the morning! 1:51pm