HamShield for Arduino

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/749835103/hamshield-for-arduino-vhf-uhf-transceiver

[video=youtube;_oVcdt-3mfk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oVcdt-3mfk[/video]

Interesting if one has a purpose other than rocket tracking. It seems to be smarter than a usual tracker. Bottom line is I suspect one will need to be a licensed ham to use it. 250mW is not much power output if one wants to use it
for Ham Radio purposes. Plenty of power for rocket tracking though there are smaller GPS trackers already out there. As a receiving station, it might be O.K. but I'll tell you it's tough to go triapsing around a launchsite with a laptop.
Nice toy if it could be made cheaply. The Sainsonic AP510 has some potential for large rocket tracking if one was so inclined. Not usable for record seeking purposes (Sirf4 chipset) but perfectly able to find a rocket. 500Mw to 1.0 Watt output so
would have to test it out to make sure it would play well with one's electronics. Kurt

ksaves2 said:

Interesting if one has a purpose other than rocket tracking. It seems to be smarter than a usual tracker. Bottom line is I suspect one will need to be a licensed ham to use it. 250mW is not much power output if one wants to use it for Ham Radio purposes. Plenty of power for rocket tracking though there are smaller GPS trackers already out there. As a receiving station, it might be O.K. but I'll tell you it's tough to go triapsing around a launchsite with a laptop. Nice toy if it could be made cheaply. The Sainsonic AP510 has some potential for large rocket tracking if one was so inclined. Not usable for record seeking purposes (Sirf4 chipset) but perfectly able to find a rocket. 500Mw to 1.0 Watt output so would have to test it out to make sure it would play well with one's electronics. Kurt

Click to expand...

Yeah, as a ham myself I posted it here more as an item of possible interest to other hams reading this forum than with a specific idea of how it would be useful in rocketry. There might be one, possibly launch site based. For airborne use, there are very small transceiver modules with up to 1W output (versus this unit's 250mW) which are much cheaper and more appropriate. This guy was saying he was going to come up with a piggybacked miniArduino/RFM23BP transceiver module as one of his "MiniWireless modules, but I don't see it yet:

https://www.anarduino.com/details.jsp?pid=130

Winston-I am also a ham operator & enjoyed viewing the ham shield project. It'll be fun to watch the evolution of this and similar projects. I suspect as stated-further minaturization (e.g. arduino mini) and higher power transmitters are the next iterations. The possible eventual adaption & utilization on the license free bands may lower the relatively exorbitant prices of many of the currently available GPS trackers for all rocket enthusiasts. Thanks for posting!

Fred

FMarvinS said:

Winston-I am also a ham operator & enjoyed viewing the ham shield project. It'll be fun to watch the evolution of this and similar projects. I suspect as stated-further minaturization (e.g. arduino mini) and higher power transmitters are the next iterations. The possible eventual adaption & utilization on the license free bands may lower the relatively exorbitant prices of many of the currently available GPS trackers for all rocket enthusiasts. Thanks for posting!

Fred

Click to expand...

Ahhhhh Fred,

$140.00 for a combination dual deploy altimeter and GPS tracker with a receiver that for ~$6.00 can have Bluetooth connectivity isn't too shoddy.

https://www.eggtimerrocketry.com/page13.php

Yeah, I realize you said "many" but if one looks at what goes into a Beeline GPS APRS tracker I don't consider the pricing of that unit exorbitant. The market is very limited, the production runs are probably limited and the provider has to do a balancing act
if he wants to add improvements to the product.

I agree whole-heartedly that many of the 900Mhz GPS trackers in the past were "stiffly" priced as they knew they had a "lock" on the unlicensed market. Plus some of the units were tied to certain deployment devices. It's nice that prices are coming down.
It will lead to more interest in the hobby because if a person loses a lot of hardware with too many "sight unseen" flights, would encourage a fast exit as the costs of lost hardware might not be sustainable for long. Kurt

Kurt,
In my response to Winston, I purposely did not mention specific GPS-tracker manufacturers in order to highlight the fact that some ham based products evolve into 900 MHZ products that can be used by all individuals. As you may be aware, the Beeline excellent products (tracking transmitters and GPS products) are produced by a ham who has also produced 900 MHZ products. I also believe that in time, other manufacturers will also make the transition to 900MHZ for their products (https://www.jcrocket.com/gps-tracking.shtml). I am very aware of the very functional & economic Eggfinder TRS product; however, again the message of my previous response was to positively view the further development of the Ham shield, its potential evolution, and possible affect (if a 900 MHZ transition product arises) on lowering the price of some of the higher priced units currently in the market.

Fred (KG4YGP)
L2, member of ROSCO

Hello Fred,

I'm aware of John's site.The Ham Shield indeed can do "a lot" but the low power output will hobble it. Continued development to bring it up to
H/T power output will essentially turn it into another H/T. I'm all for choice here but I do not think it will break any new economic ground.
Those who want to support it "that far" may find out they've paid a hefty price for another H/T.

I'm reminded of the VX-8R fiasco where all of the early adapters misguidedly though that Yaesu would come out with a "firmware" upgrade
that would fix everything with all the bugs in that rig. Little did they realize that wasn't a design feature and they were stuck with a one time upgrade.

Yes the HamShield can do a lot but if one lives out of an urban area but 250mW is simply not enough power to take advantage of all the features to be of any use. Live next door to a digipeater or repeater and you'll be fine. Kurt

Hi Kurt,

Your comments equally apply to many of the commercial 900MHZ tracking and GPS units available. Most transmit at 250 mw output or less. As per your predictions about the long term efficacy of the ham shield, time will tell; however, in the interim I choose to look at the half-filled glass.

FMarvinS said:

Hi Kurt,

Your comments equally apply to many of the commercial 900MHZ tracking and GPS units available. Most transmit at 250 mw output or less. As per your predictions about the long term efficacy of the ham shield, time will tell; however, in the interim I choose to look at the half-filled glass.

Click to expand...

Yes but the purpose built rocket trackers make no bones or further claims other than being for tracking rockets. At altitude, the range is several miles. On the ground significantly less. Contacting the ISS on 250mW? Really? Certainly most hams would realize an amp would be required. The other issue is one would have to program it or depend on others to do it for them. Yes it's half full for someone with the skills to exploit it and add an amp to it for any utility for terrestial use.

I'm using an AP510 tracker where it's upfront that the learning curve is high and no support from the Chinese maker. The usegroup has plenty of irate buyers and it isn't that hard to get going.

I only hope the subscribers of the HamShield know what they are getting into and are accomplished with programming an Arduino. If so, no problem for them. Best regards, Kurt

ksaves2 said:

Contacting the ISS on 250mW? Really? Certainly most hams would realize an amp would be required.

Click to expand...

The balloon folks manage to get a range of 800km out of 10mW. That's enough to contact the ISS for about 3min, if it passes right above you.
https://ukhas.org.uk/general:uk_records#radio_range_10mw_50_baud

Of course, 50 baud is not that impressive, but it would be enough for a tracker.

Reinhard

Reinhard said:

The balloon folks manage to get a range of 800km out of 10mW. That's enough to contact the ISS for about 3min, if it passes right above you.
https://ukhas.org.uk/general:uk_records#radio_range_10mw_50_baud

Of course, 50 baud is not that impressive, but it would be enough for a tracker.

Reinhard

Click to expand...

Respectfully,

10mw 500 miles? Really? That is highly doubtful with a VHF tracker. A balloon at 100,000 feet has a radio horizon of 387 miles. 125 miles with a Yagi on the ground maybe a bit more
if one really, really and really has a good receive and a specialized antenna system. I've spent five years with a station next to a digipeater and the best I've seen is 450 miles and that is listening through a digipeater on a 90 foot tower. Tracker did 1 watt out. Kurt

ksaves2 said:

Respectfully,

10mw 500 miles? Really? That is highly doubtful with a VHF tracker. A balloon at 100,000 feet has a radio horizon of 387 miles. 125 miles with a Yagi on the ground maybe a bit more
if one really, really and really has a good receive and a specialized antenna system. I've spent five years with a station next to a digipeater and the best I've seen is 450 miles and that is listening through a digipeater on a 90 foot tower. Tracker did 1 watt out. Kurt

Click to expand...

A 800km radio horizon is not unrealistic, if we assume a receiver on a modest hill/mountain. A part of the farm of a guy I went to school with, is rented to an HAM operator for precisely this reason. It is located on the ridge of a mountain. Also, don't forget, this is a "best of" list, not a list of typical scenarios.

For comparison, the Meteosats in GEO send at single digit Watt power levels (IIRC 2W for the first generation) and can easily be received with a modest dish. In the other direction, they can receive the signals of distress beacons, that also send in the single digit Watt range. In this case there are no dishes at all involved, because the Meteosats rotate at 100rpm and therefore use lots of switched antennas. Compared to a few Watt at 36.000km, 10mW at 800km is not really impressive. Besides that, the Meteosats are still an example of a non-fancy everyday technology. The NASA Deep Space Network on the other hand, that would be an unfair comparison. ;-)

Reinhard

Howdy

I too am looking for a for a down link radio. All that I have seen so far just will not cut it. I am building a 3 stage bird that will go will over 80,000 feet. The available down link radios can not transmit that distance. I was think of using a WIFI modem, which will not work at Black Rock (no cell service).

If any one knows of a down link system I'm all ears.



Rocket Nut

FMarvinS please e-mail me at [email protected]

I am not sure when the HamShield for Arduino may eventually be available and what it's range will be, but there are already many Arduino Radio Shields on the market today in the 900MHz and 2.4GHz frequency bands that are relatively inexpensive and allow you to "roll-your-own" low-altitude telemetry systems for rockets. I have been experimenting with them for a while. Attached are some pictures and information. I have used these to radio barometric altim data as well as GPS data to my laptop during flights of my Big Daddy rocket. The radios I am using are fairly limited range. For example my 900MHz Xbee radio at 50mW with a simple wire-antenna has a range of less than 400 ft vertically in the field near my home. I recently switched to 2.4Ghz at 63mW and have received data at over 1400 ft. I plan to fly this system next month on a much larger rocket to see what the range limit actually is.


Kerry

I found some data radio transceiver on E-Bay [https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_od...=Wireless+data+RF+Transceiver+Module&_sacat=0]. There all small but only good to 300 Meters. Which is no good when our birds reach altitudes above 10,000 feet. May be some can boast the power to meet our requirements.

The Xbee Pro S3B is 250 mW and the stated range is 9 miles LOS with a 2.1 dBi dipole. I've flown one and tracked to over 7 miles with a rubber duck antenna on the ground and wire whip on the transmitter in the rocket., so the 9 mile claim is reasonable.

As an update to my earlier post, this past weekend I flew an Xbee S3B radio ( 900 MHz @ 50mW) on an arduino with a 4" wire antenna in the rocket and a 4" wire antenna on the same module on the ground. The flight went to 3500 feet and received a strong signal and telemetry data during the entire flight. The arduino onboard was able to detect the launch and apogee using a barometric altimeter and used servos during the flight to control a science experiment during flight. The telemetry data allowed me to monitor in realtime both the rocket flight and the experiment.

Kerry