User:Fab4187/enes100/HamV2

Link to project HAM_V2 team page.

Give instructor top 3 project choice list

 * HAM
 * HAM
 * Door Access

Write problem statement
Design and build a field expedient dipole antenna from rudimentary parts, such as wire, string and ceramic insulators.

//This is a change originally we were planning on designing and building a low power 30 MHz transceiver matching dipole antenna.//

Assign Task1

 * Continue building relationship with the Columbia Amateur Radio Association (CARA).


 * Continue to push for a guest speaker for the engineering club. Would like to see Dave Prestel speak at the club this week.


 * Inventory and develop a strategy to best use the equipment donated by CARA. Our entire project may shift its focus depending on what we find.


 * Meet new team members. Learn their strengths and weaknesses.


 * Continue to develop presentation strategies for the team.


 * Present progress to class weekly.


 * Assist other team members with their tasks. I should be aware of their progress in case I am asked to assist in testing.


 * I am responsible for the design and setup of the dipole antenna that will be used to transmit our communications.


 * Begin radio wave theory research.

Compare actual work done to Task1

 * The first week of the project was a successful one. I was able to accomplish all tasks that I planned for week one.


 * The relationship with CARA is getting stronger. We should have a couple of guest speakers come speak to club within the next few weeks.  This is a major success.


 * The equipment donated from CARA contained several field expedient antennas. These antennas will be the core of my team's project.


 * There is an area of concern, mastering antenna theory and radio wave propagation. Given the complexity of these topics I plan on taking mostly a practical approach to the design of the antenna instead of a theoretical one.  To learn the theory behind antenna transmission and radio wave propagation would take longer than I have years left on this planet.


 * I recommended to team member JH that he take the lead on this project and move it in the direction he is comfortable with.

Week1 Narrative

 * The initial part of the week was spent inventorying and categorizing the equipment donated by the Columbia Amateur Radio Club (CARA).


 * I found a few antennas that will be at the core of our project development. I will use these antennas to learn how antennas transmit signals and how radio waves propagate throughout the environment.


 * Two of the antennas that were donated to us are dipole antennas. The dipole antenna is one of the easiest antennas to build and use.  It was one of the first antennas built and has been around for a long time.  The dipole antenna can easily be setup between two trees or buildings.  I haven't determined the wavelength of these antennas yet.  I will try to fit that in next week.


 * '''2011-10-23 13.43.19.jpg                           2011-10-23 13.48.18.jpg


 * We also received a slinky antenna. I am going to attempt to figure the basic theory of operation of this antenna.




 * There were other items donated to us that can be of use to the engineering club. Some of these items are: a high voltage probe, a temperature controlled solder gun, multiple routers/network tools, and antenna cable.


 * Also within the donated items were radio modification kits, and several circuit components, such as integrated circuit chips, LED displays, capacitors, resistors, transistors, and other miscellaneous items. These components can be used during the digital and analog circuit courses at Howard Community College.


 * I found the following websites helpful during my study of antenna theory and radio wave propagation:


 * Dipole Antenna
 * WikiPedia Antenna Theory
 * MIT Physics III Lectures
 * More Antenna Theory
 * Java Applet Antenna Theory
 * antenna-theory.com website
 * MIT Antenna Theory
 * DXZone
 * Colorado University Engineering Department
 * Radio Wave Propagation
 * WikiPage on Antenna Theory
 * Radio Wave Propagation Sunspot Cycle Information
 * Tactical Radio Communications Techniques


 * Additional documents that I will be using during my research:






 * I will be using all these sites and documents over the next few weeks to develop my project and design my antenna.


 * Many decisions were made that will impact the final outcome of this project. I added several key points to our decision tree.  These key points can be viewed from the team page by clicking below:


 * Decision tree

Week1 Peer Review
See each team member's individual page for comments. Comments can be seen by clicking on the team member's discuss tab.
 * Comments for JH

Assign Task2

 * Schedule a field trip to the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, MD and present to class.


 * Determine the wavelength of the antennas donated to by CARA.


 * Develop a plan to have the class interaction during presentation. I might have the class help me setup the antenna.


 * Continue learning about antenna theory and radio wave propagation.

Compare actual work done to Task2

 * The second week of the project was a successful one. I was able to accomplish all tasks that I planned for week this week.
 * In my opinion bringing Dr. Gold to speak to the engineering club was very successful.
 * The length of both the dipole antennas being used in the HAMV2 project were measured.
 * Team member JH and I agreed to visit the National Electronics Museum for the last week of our project.

Week2 Narrative

 * During week two I was able to put together a brief presentation on what we have accomplished.


 * With the help of a couple of volunteers I was able to measure the two dipole antennas that we have been using during our research. It turns out that only one of the antennas is a dipole antenna.  The other antenna is actually a long wire antenna of approximately 32 meters.


 * The dipole antenna measures approximately 20 meters. The antenna is probably a half wave antenna that will enable transmission in the 7.5 MHz range.


 * I plan on visiting the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, MD at the end of this week. At the museum they have exhibits of how things work. They have a magnetism exhibit and Doppler effect exhibit. There are many more exhibits in the museum, but these two have the most value towards the HAM project. The other exhibits provide a brief history of the development of electronics. I recommend the engineering club schedule a field trip to the museum and arrange for a guided tour. Visit the National Electronics Museum website for more information. To see pictures of some of the exhibits go to the museum's website.


 * The guest speaker coordinated through CARA was a huge success.


 * Many decisions were made that will impact the final outcome of this project. I added several key points to our decision tree.  These key points can be viewed from the team page or by clicking below:


 * Decision tree

Week2 Peer Review
See each team member's individual page for comments. Comments can be seen by clicking on the team member's discuss tab.
 * Comments for JH

Assign Task3

 * Visit the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, MD and present the results of our findings to the class.
 * Take pictures of our visit to the museum and create a mini-presentation. My goal is to inspire the computer and electrical engineering students to visit the museum.
 * Present the results of our field trip during week three.
 * Begin winding down project. Edit all remaining team page sections.

Compare actual work done to Task3

 * All tasks assigned during week 2 were completed succesfully.
 * I was able to go the National Electronics Museum take pictures and present the results of my field trip to the class.

Week3 Narrative

 * My visit to the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, MD was well worth the price admission.
 * I was able to take several pictures of our visit to the museum and create a mini-presentation. My goal was to inspire the computer and electrical engineering students to visit the museum.  I don't know if this goal was achieved, because our presentation was average at best.
 * This the presentation created by JH using the pictures taken at the museum:
 * I filled in several sections of the final team project page. There are only a few sections remaining.  I also provided input for the three remaining pages. JH will take my comments and expand them to ensure the team page is finalized.
 * I sat down with JH and explained how to make the tutorial for the dipole antenna.
 * I also provided resources to JH that will assist in the development of the tutorial.

Week3 Peer Review
See each team member's individual page for comments. Comments can be seen by clicking on the team member's discuss tab.
 * Comments for JH

Assign Task4

 * Assist JH with the tutorial section. Help him develop a tutorial that will show future students how to build a dipole antenna.
 * Proofread the final team project page.

Compare actual work done to Task4

 * All tasks assigned during week 2 were completed successfully.
 * Once final page is created I will proofread it.
 * I decided to build antenna that will transmit in the 10MHz range.

Week4 Narrative

 * AutoCad picture of half wavelength (1/2) horizontally polarized dipole (courtesy of JH).



Note on picture:
 * Replace receiver with transceiver.
 * The cable in our drawing is a 75ohm cable


 * Working with the Columbia Amateur Radio Club (CARA) was a great success. Not only did they provide the necessary resources to finish my project, they donated equipment that can be used by other ENES100 students.  Hopefully the relationship that we started can continue to grow.  I look forward to seeing were the engineering club takes this working relationship.


 * This week I prepared for the final presentation of our 1/2 wavelength dipole antenna.


 * The antenna I helped design and build will transmit in the 10Mhz range.


 * The length of the antenna is determined by using the relationship wavelength (λ) = speed of light (C)/ frequency (f). I used the following formula to determine the length of the antenna.
 * λ = c/f


 * speed of light = 3 x 10^8 m/s, frequency = 10Mhz = 10 x 10^6 s^-1


 * The wavelength (λ) is inversely proportional to the frequency (f).


 * The wavelength of my antenna is the result of λ = (3 x 10^8 m/s)/(10 x 10^6 s^-1) = 30 meters.


 * Since I am making a 1/2 wavelength antenna I must divide 30 meters by two (4).  The final value of each antenna element is 7.5 meters. Adding the two elements together will get me the half wavelength.


 * Each antenna element actually measured twenty meters. In order to electrically reduce the length of the antenna I folded the antenna on itself at the 7.5 meter mark.  I used alligator clips to hold the ends in place.  If I wanted to make this a permanent antenna I could have just cut wire and permanently attached the wire to the ceramic insulator.  By folding the antenna on itself I left the option open to increase the size of the antenna.


 * I used ceramic insulators to separate the antenna elements from the support wire that I used to tie the antenna to a tree. These insulators ensured that the antenna elements were isolated from the supporting structure and that the wave characteristics of the antenna were not accidentally changed.


 * The antenna is horizontally polarized with respect to the earth. For best reception it is best that the receiving antenna be polarized in the same manner.


 * I chose to make a half wave antenna instead of a full wave to save wire. I could have opted to use a full wave antenna, but working with a 1/2 wave antenna is easier and the results are effectively the same.


 * Each element of the dipole antenna is connected to a balun (balance/unbalance) located in the center of the antenna. At the bottom of the balun is a TNC connector (female).  The balun will take an unbalanced signal and a balanced signal and make them equivalent.  This will result in minimum signal loss and protect the radio from potential damage due to unwanted feedback (VSWR).


 * A 75ohm cable extends from the balun to the radio. The cable I used has TNC connectors (male) at both ends of the wire.  It is best to purchase or make the feed line's connectors the same type as the balun and radio connector.  If adapters are introduced to make a connection there will be signal loss.

Week4 Peer Review
See each team member's individual page for comments. Comments can be seen by clicking on the team member's discuss tab.
 * Comments for JH

Complete Project Page
I provided input to the the HAM project final report. Visit the BH^2V2 HAM Team Page to see the final results.

Start Next Project Week0 activities

 * This week I took the time to create the new team page and my individual page.


 * I also created a list of basic goals I have set for myself that hopefully will coincide with the overall goal of the Apps team. These goals can be seen by viewing my new individual page.


 * Links to next cycles week's zero and team page:


 * Apps team page


 * Apps Individual page