[HATS] Rose Parade ATV

[TOMSMB@aol.com]

Live Rose Parade ATV from the Cal Tech float on the Internet

While there will be no ham radio as part of the Pasadena New Year's Day Rose 
Parade operations this year, there will be ATV from the Cal Tech float.   Jay 
Holliday, W6EJJ and members of the Jet Propulsion Lab Radio Club, W6VIO, will 
have ATV transmitting on 23 cm using the new P. C. Electronics RTX23-3 
transmitter from the float to a building top portable repeater site with an output on 
70 cm.   There will be a 70 cm receiver at Cal Tech which will put out 
streaming video on the Internet.   You can see the video by bringing up this URL:

http://www.floatcam.caltech.edu

You can check this URL now and see if you will be able to see the video.   
I'm not sure where in the parade the Cal Tech float will be, but we expect the 
video to be up as soon as it makes the big turn at Orange Grove Ave. and 
Colorado Blvd. in front of the broadcast TV cameras - parade starts at 8 AM pst.   
So if you know anyone who will be on the parade route, ask them to wave at the 
Cal Tech float just before it passes and say you will be watching for them via 
the internet.

It might be interesting for ATV hams to note that 23 cm instead of 70 cm had 
to be used on the float due to size restrictions.   In fact, special 
permission by the Tournament of Roses was given so as not to have to cover the antenna 
with flowers or seeds which could have greatly attenuated the signal.   Dave, 
W6OAL at The Olde Antenna Lab built a special Mini Wheel antenna with 
reflector and placed in a radome for the float.   Wheels are circular polarized 
perpendicular to the wheels plane.   With all the buildings on each side of Colorado 
Blvd. acting as a reflective canyon, it is thought that using circular 
polarization would cut the chance of multipath ghosting in half.

The portable repeater used is similar to the one you can download from the 
www.hamtv.com/info application note page by clicking on ATV for Public Service 
Events where the whole repeater is built into a milk crate or Pack-N-Roll for 
easy transport and set up.

Happy New Year, Tom O'Hara W6ORG - Tom6org@hamtv.com
P. C. Electronics
626-447-4565 m-th 8 AM to 5:30 PM Pacific time
WWW.HAMTV.COM
Check out the ATV application notes plus lots of information, catalogue, etc.


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