The ARS-Rotator-Interface
With FT100-SuperControl and an additional hard- and software, named ARS-interface (refer to picture 1.1), it is possible to establish a connection to the ARS-interface program, to further control the rotator via FT100-SuperControl either manually or automatically with the help of the special memory databases or with the help of a satellite tracking program like NOVA.
The free ARS-Interface program can be downloaded from the internet homepage of the author Pablo, EA4TX. Please have a look at the end of this page, where you can find detailed information on the distribution for the ARS-Software and of course of the ARS-Hardware.
If you still have a FT100-SuperControl
CD-ROM, you can find the ARS-Interface program in the drawer "ARSWin"
on the CD-ROM.
(Picture 1.1 - The ARS-Interface Programm version 1.5)
If we now go further,
we assume, that you have allready successfully installed the ARS-interface
program to your system. Also the program should be startet as a background
task. With the ARS-interface program it is possible to use a special demonstration
mode, so we are able to test and evaluate the program features without
an existing ARS-interface hardware too. The program will virtually show
you exactly how a rotor will work in reality then.
Manual rotator control:
Let's have a look to the program part in FT100-SuperControl. Please go to the pulldown menu and start "Network / Misc. -> ARS Rotor" or via the button "ARS-ROTOR". The following window will appear (refer to picture 1.2).
(Picture 1.2 - ARS rotor interface - not connected)
The button "connect" will start the communication with the ARS-interface program via the internal DDE-interface. For this case the ARS software must be set up correctly and must be running in the background. After a successful connect, you should be able to watch the latest rotor data in the part "Actual rotor data" (refer to picture 1.3).
The button "read status" will read out the latest rotator status if no automatic operation is selected. If automatic operation has been turned on, the read out of the rotator status will be an automatic task.
The button "info about ARS" will show you informations on how to contact the author of the ARS-interface.
The button "exit"
will end the communication with the ARS-interface program and will close
the ARS-interface window.
(Picture 1.3 - ARS rotor interface - connected)
Legend:
ST:0 = all relays are stopped
ST:1 = the brake relay is active
ST:2 = the left relay is active
ST:4 = the right relay is active
ST:16 = the up relay is active
ST:18 = the up and left relays are active
ST:20 = the up and right relays are active
ST:48 = the down relay is active
ST:50 = the down and left relays are active
ST:52 = the down and right relays are active
With the slider control "Azimuth slider control" you can actually control the rotator in the azimuthal way. The slider control offers selections between 0 to 450 degrees.
With the slider control "Elevation slider control" you can actually control the rotator in the elevational way. The slider control offers selections between 0 to 180 degrees.
In the part "Interface correction" you can turn on an automatic value correction, if your rotator does not exactly turn to the desired position. Under some circumstances the rotator could turn far behind the desired position. To prevent this glitch of the interface and rotator, you'll be able to enter correction values to improve the first positioning to the desired rotator position. For example if you want to turn the rotator to 270� degrees and it will overdrive and stop actually at the value of 277� degrees, FT100-SuperControl is able to internally subtract the difference of 7 to be able to stop at the desired rotator position. FT100-SuperControl will tell the ARS-interface to turn only to a value of 263� degrees. If the interface and the rotator lacks of accuracy, you'll be able to turn to your desired point nearly 100% on the first try ! Of course you can set different values for clockwise tuning (CW) and counterclockwise tuning (CCW). You'll also be able to set the values either for the azimuthal rotator and for the elevational rotator.
Automatic rotator control:
Lets go to the automatic rotator control. Please have a look to the part which is described as "Automatic operation" (refer to picture 1.4), where you can find two checkboxes. These checkboxes are used to either automatically read data from a connected satellite tracking program, or to automatically read data from an existing special memory entry when this entry has been clicked with your mouse.
(Picture 1.3 - ARS rotor interface - connected)
With the checkbox "Satellite tracker AZ/EL to ARS-DDE" we can initiate the continuous polling of actual az/el data from a connected satellite tracking program. Informations about how to successfully connect to a satellite tracking program can be found in "chapter 3 - Automatic Doppler correction". Please also have a look to the following picture 1.5, where you can see the actual AZ/EL-data from the satellite tracking program. This AZ/EL-data will continuously be polled by the ARS-interface function in FT100-SuperControl and the rotator will be continuously updated with the latest needed rotator positions.
With
the checkbox "When using
special memories, Easycomm data will be send to ARS-DDE" we can use the special memory banks to do
an automatic positioning of the rotator (refer to picture 1.6). If you
do a mouseclick on an entry of a special memory bank, and if there is
az/el data available within this selected entry, the data for az/el will
be submitted to the ARS-interface, to automatically position your rotator
to the specified direction. Please note, that you have to unlock each
entry first before you can use it ! Please have a look to the column "SER",
where you can see only zero's. This means that actually no entry in this
memory bank is allowed to send data to the ARS-interface. We can alter
these entries by going to the pulldown-menu "Edit
-> special memories", where
we can find all the memories and memory entries in an editable format.
Please enter a "1" instead of a "0" for each memory to activate the possibility
to send the data to the rotator interface.
Update: In the latest version,
it is possible to automatically save AZ/EL-data to the special memory
banks, if the ARS-rotator program window is still open and connected to
the ARS interface program. Also the value "1" for the column
"SER" will be written automatically !
(Picture 1.6 - special memory bank with DCS, DEC, ENC, AZ and EL)
Informations on how to purchase the ARS-Interface:
Pablo GARCIA, EA4TX (author of the ARS-interface)
C/ Fresno 67
28529 - Rivas-Vaciamadrid
(MADRID) SPAIN
e-mail: [email protected]
internet: http://www.ea4tx.com
For Germany:
WiMo Antennen und Elektronik GmbH
Am G�xwald 14
D-76863 Herxheim
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
e-mail: [email protected]
internet: www.wimo.com