[Laser] Stepper motor control of laser communication unit

[Phil Lefever]

>Exactly what I have been trying to get off the ground. Manual positioning 
>has not been very successful, unless you have infinite patience.

I'm not clear as to how a stepper motor would be any better...

It the manual positioning system offers accurate and fine slow
motion control it should work just fine.

My personal experience as an astronomer is that I dislike electronic
positioning. The problem is that most systems don't offer a user
interface that rivals manual control. What I mean by this is that
one can't easily control the slewing speed like you can when twisting
a knob. If there was some form of a proportional joystick I might
change my mind ;) Fixed speeds are either too slow or too fast and
toggling between speeds can be a chore.

Still for what we are doing here I don't see the benefit of the
added complexity. My manual equatorial astronomy mount affords easy
and simple adjustment in the arc second range. Someone just needs to
design and build an altitude/azimuth mount that is as precise!

73

Phil


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Phil Lefever    KBØNES                          Twin Cities Repeater Club
kb0nes at tcrc.org                                 Burnsville,MN