[aprssig] APRN status?

[Scott Miller]

> I'll bite.... what camera and what processor makes sstv pics?  Surely 
> you aren't sending up the old kenwood digital sstv camera?

Nope, I built something a couple of years ago:

http://n1vg.blogspot.com/2008/03/slow-scan-tv-gadget.html

The code's really ugly, and it occurred to me that it's written for a 
different crystal reference and I might have trouble adapting it to the 
balloon tracker - it might be easier to switch crystals and change the 
APRS side.  Depends on whether or not I can find a common baud rate 
between the camera and MCU that's fast enough.

The camera is a Comedia C328 (~$30 in quantity) and the processor is a 
Freescale MC9S08AW32, which is what I use in the OpenTracker+ RT, 
ADS-SR1, and a couple of other projects.

I'd be using the same MX146LV transmitter for SSTV and APRS, which is 
why it's got to be on 2 meters.  Yeah, Robot 36 kind of sucks, and I've 
got Scottie 1 and 2 working already, but Robot 36 takes half as long, 
and the MX146LV is rated for 20% duty cycle and I don't want to take too 
much time away from APRS tracking.

I suppose I could set it up to alternate, and send an S2 frame every 10 
minutes or so, with R36 frames every 3 minutes or something like that.

I've got 2 MB available for data logging (expandable to at least 4 MB) 
and I think I might try grabbing JPEG data from the camera more often 
and saving it to flash.  With some silicone over the chip, the data 
ought to be salvageable even if it spends a little time floating in the 
Pacific.


Scott
N1VG