Satnogs looks great and is probably more sturdy, but I can't just buy one (no kits afaik), and it is probably more complex to build one.
Also rather wish it didn't rely on wifi/android, but that's mostly because I don't use anything android based, and don't run any wifi on the home network anymore.
All in all though, it's still a pretty nice looking little az-el rotator. With different control software, it might also be a useful little addition to give your static security camera a bit of extra capability without breaking the bank.
"Unfortunately" the entire design is based around ESP8266 to make it cheap and easy for people to modify so wifi is the current option but if there's interest for other alternatives, anything is possible.
Since the rotator uses simple HTTP GET queries for the azimuth and elevation, it should be possible to make it compatible with other ethernet enabled positioning software.
My issue with wifi is really just a matter of too-many-networks and interference making it a bad solution for me.
But I understand the appeal of the ESP8266 (and the rest of that family of chips) and don't blame you one bit. IIRC it has a serial port on a couple of pins, so that's another comm option.
In any case, I look forward to seeing your progress. Good luck!
Especially if this is meant more for geostationary satellites and I'm guessing most satellites like NOAA aren't too bothered by the slightly rougher tracking. Plus I guess the passes are fairly short anyway...
Alt-Az requires a computer to tell the dials where to go at every step of the way and are very non-linear dependent on absolute position on the sky.
Also Alt-Az gives a much more compact design. So as long as you have the computer to control it, isn't Alt-Az preferable?
I’m not sure I would say that equatorial mounts are less compact though.
The positioning and calculating of TLEs happens in the android app. Hopefully I can also offer drivers for other software like Gpredict later on.
Do you know when the project files will be available to download? I’d love to try making one.
You can visit my website and leave your email at the very bottom, and you'll get a reminder when I release something or start selling the kits/electronics.