Success!

Great moment this afternoon when the Automatic Loop Controller fired up as it should. Happy days.

When I first fired it up, after loading up the Arduino program, all I could see was a dull green glow on the screen. It wasn’t until I remembered a comment from another builder about adjusting the potentiometer on the PCB that controls the LCD contrast.

It was a great relief that my slow and deliberate build – double checking all component values and joints – paid off. Next step is to build the SWR bridge and connect to the stepper motor on the loop.

Also finally managed to make a plate out of perspex to mount my stepper motor on to the supporting bracket on the magnetic loop after much mulling over how to achieve a suitable level of accuracy with my dremel drill press to get the stepper shaft as close to the centre as possible.

Not too bad for a cut with a straight baby hacksaw. The key tool turned out to be my old school compass which had scribing points fitted which were perfect for marking out the perspex. I figured that these ‘cross hairs’ would help orient and centre the piece and the shaft. After these shots I countersunk the holes. If it looks a little skewiff, that’s probably because it is!

Success – part 2

Also successful today getting this instance of the blog back online using AWS. Another steep but satisfying learning curve about the nitty gritty of DNS management! What’s in a CNAME? you might ask.