Pathfinder - my answer
to NASA's solution
I have to admit I was impressed how
many people were interessted in that little car that that driving around
on the Mars surface. There was a similar mission some years ago but it
was not such a cute little car. I figured that people like cute little
cars so I built one myself. It was thought to send its live video pictures
directly to the amateur television relais DB0SCS that I operate together
with 3 friends of mine. The relais is located on the top of School here
in Schwabach and we used the Pathfinder to catch peoples attention a the
schools summer party. We had set up a big TV near the entrance and let
the Pathfinder drive around in the school between all the people.
(Detailed technical datas are listed below
the pictures.)
Technical datas:
2.3 GHz-ATV-TX: free running VCO on 2.329 GHz with preamphasis,
output power 30mW, no audio subcarriers
430 MHz-RX: PLL synthesized superhet narrowband FM receiver
with Fujitsu MB15E07 PLL, MC3361 Motorola FM demodulator, 8870 DTMF decoder,
frequency 434.600 MHz
Digital part: MC68HC11 microcontroller in single-chip mode receives
the commands from the DTMF decoder and controls via 8 relais the 2 motors
(4-wheel drive, tank-like steering) and the switch for the TX and the Camera
Camera: Color PAL camera
If you came here directly, please also visit
my main page for more technical toys...
