HAM/Howard Community College/Fall 2011/550 BH^2 V2/Weekly Reports

Link to 550 BH^2_V2 team page.

Week 1

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

• While inventorying the equipment donated by Dave we found a few antennas that will be at the core of our project development. We 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.

Picture of dipole antenna one

Picture of dipole antenna two

Slinky Antenna

Week 2

• During week two JH and I agreed to end the project as soon as we are able to accumulate the necessary points to complete the course with the letter grade of an A.

• During week two we measured the two antennas antennas used during our research. We discovered that one antenna that was believed to be a dipole antenna was actually a long wire antenna. The long wire antenna measured 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.

• JH an I agreed to 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. Our goal is to inspire the computer and electrical engineering students to visit the museum.

Week 3

• 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. Our goal is to inspire the computer and electrical engineering students to visit the museum.
• This the presentation created by JH using the pictures taken at the museum:

• Present the results of our field trip during week three.
• Begin winding down project. Edit all remaining team page sections.

Week 4

• Prepare for guest speaker Dave Prestel. We need to be prepared to introduce him to the club. Team member JH needs to get his biography.
• JH will present the theory behind this MIT Physics Demo -- Dipole Antenna conducted by students at MIT.
• We will present our final build of the antenna. The antenna is a horizontally polarized half wave dipole antenna that measures 15 meters. The transmitting frequency for this antenna is 10MHz.