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Finished Flight Capsule with APRS and Cross-Band Repeater Antennas Photo was taken while capsule hung in back yard and APRS tracker was operated continuously to determine hours of operation available from various battery packs prior to BEAR-1 flight. |
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Capsule with APRS system Close-up of antenna balun embedded in epoxy resin. |
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 Capsule Lower Dowel connection at Antenna Lower End |
 Capsule upper dowel antenna connection |
 Upper Dowel connection at Antenna Upper End |
| The antennas are held in place by elastic loops at each end of the antenna. The loops are made from small rubber strips which were cut from an old bicycle inner tube. The loop is part of the antenna at the lower end which is slipped over the lower round dowel until it contacts a fiber washer 'stop' which is epoxied on the dowel. A tight fitting fiber washer is then slipped on the dowel to prevent the antenna from slipping off. This second washer was locked in place with a small amount of epoxy, but not enough to prevent the washer from being snapped free if the antenna ever needs to be replaced. The capsule upper dowel antenna connection is simply a 'U' slot cut into a piece of phenolic board which is epoxied in a slot cut in the end of the dowel and the antenna simple rests in the slot. The rubber strip loop is part of the upper dowel at the upper end of the antenna that the antenna slips through. This is simply a friction fitting and no glue is required here as the capsule is supported by the nylon cords from the upper dowel and the dowel simply stabilizes and keeps the antennas properly spaced. | ||
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More capsule views with Bear & the APRS tracker installed. |
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| BEAR-1 package with it's identification label just before it was launched. | ||
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