Plan

The goal is to build a computer controlled tilt/pan head that can carry a combination of cameras and antennas. It will have nearly full circle coverage, and the ability to point from below the horizon to straight up. Both software and hardware limits must be provided.

There are two special events I hope to use this for. The first is high altitude balloon tracking. I hope to carry a 425MHz high gain antenna for ATV, and one or two cameras with my longest telephoto zoom lens. I'm going to take the easy way out and use APRS coordinates of the balloon and tracking station to locate the balloon, and point it based on GPS positions.

The other desired use is to mount the tilt pan head on an equitorial wedge, and use it as a clock drive for a high sensitivity camera for very wide field astronomical use. In both cases the hard work will be done with software. The tilt pan head itself is two motors and two position pots to return the direction it is pointing. It also has wiring in place to send power to the camera, control focus, zoom and iris settings on a power operated lens, and have a separate power supply for position pots for the focus and zoom settings on a remote control lens with suitable pots.

Status

The tilt pan head itself is pretty much complte and operational. I still need to find the right box for the bottom and mount the connectors properly. It is usable as is,but it is a bit delicate.

I have obtained an ISA A/D - D/A converter board for a PC. Currently this machine will need to run Windows XP and have ISA slots. I only have one machine that fits the bill, and it is currently in use as an iagte. Another machine will take over igate duties, and if this project works out, I want to get another machine I can use. (It will probably be cheaper than alternate A/D - D/A conversion options.)

I have several old 1/2" tape drives, and plan to use the reel motor drive amplifiers and power supplies to drive the tilt pan head. I have already pulled the servo amp board and am in the process of figuring out the circuit. All I need it to do is take a +/- 5 volt input and drive the motors with it. There should be a small dead zone around 0 volts which should stop the motors.