Apollo Comms Part 33: Is there something wrong with our NASA Up Data Link transmitter?

Рет қаралды 41,493

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 132

@Chernobyl250 5 ай бұрын

When asking the famous sci-fi question "have you tried reversing the polarity?" is actually the correct course of action!

@timwilliscroft9615 5 ай бұрын

It did make me wonder if they should have brought the bodge out to a very big red switch.

@gerryjamesedwards1227 5 ай бұрын

This series has been a combination of detective drama, history lesson, archaeological dig and a masterclass in early microwave communication. Every minute has been fascinating!

@mbirth 5 ай бұрын

17:15 .... meanwhile on the ISS, the astronauts are wondering why their lights are going on and off and the toilet flushed 3 times.

@Damien.D 5 ай бұрын

lol Backward compatibility.

@RicoD5 5 ай бұрын

Ah, a new CuriousMarc episode in the Apollo saga. Press start, hit Like, sit back and enjoy. Simply lovely!

@PortsmouthHarbourBoats 5 ай бұрын

Exactly the same here!

@justforfunvideohobby 5 ай бұрын

Hell yeah! Every video they drop is a banger!

@code123ns 5 ай бұрын

I waited for successful command receives to hit like, so that the algorithm knows what is fun part is.

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

@@code123ns Woohoo advanced YouTubing!

@jimdawdy6254 5 ай бұрын

These guys have to write a book about the Apollo communications systems to preserve it for history. The genius of the engineers who did this- back in the 1960s- is phenomenal. This was bleeding edge technology of the highest order.

@ml.2770 5 ай бұрын

Master Ken is worthy of his nickname.

@RicoD5 5 ай бұрын

Obi Wan KENobi was named after him 😉

@ml.2770 5 ай бұрын

@@RicoD5 Who is Anakin then?

@BlaMM74 5 ай бұрын

This is the finest channel on KZbin!

@gianharmandaroglu1116 5 ай бұрын

Its amazing to see this talented group of men. A privilege. Thank you. 🎉

@malcolmgibson6288 5 ай бұрын

All is well in my personal world when Marc gets curious. Thank you.

@TheFleetz 5 ай бұрын

Living in Australia new videos are what I wake up to. Let Mike know I watch them upside down 😂 What a great start to a day a new video is……well done guys! 👍

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

@@LostAgain1970 No I just cut out the hysterical laughter that followed...

@av_kovko 5 ай бұрын

Happy Anniversary to first landing Apollo 11!

@TheDj4088 5 ай бұрын

The Doctor would be so proud that reversing the polarity finally worked!

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

Who?

@TheDj4088 5 ай бұрын

@@CuriousMarc Yes 😂

@russellhltn1396 5 ай бұрын

@@TheDj4088 So, Doctor Yes?

@TheDj4088 5 ай бұрын

@@russellhltn1396 Yes, Doctor who?

@AttilaAsztalos 5 ай бұрын

That's all fine, but Who's on first...?

@harmlesscreationsofthegree1248 5 ай бұрын

I only understand a limited amount of what is going on but it is fascinating and I’m learning. I also find it heartwarming that a group of friends work together to unlock the secrets of the past the way you all do. Thanks for documenting this and sharing it, I genuinely enjoy what you are doing 🙂

@bfx8185 5 ай бұрын

Best "TV Show series" I ever seen 😀 Always looking forward to new episode 😎

@Oliver-kv2mm 5 ай бұрын

As a kid I was fascinated by Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. This series is very interesting, Keep up the good work.

@PaulLoveless-Cincinnati 5 ай бұрын

This is the most fascinating channel on YT.

@raymitchell9736 5 ай бұрын

I am loving this series. The funny thing is that I'm working on an electronics project with SMD parts under a microscope and I am looking at those large chunky turrets where you're making your modifications... of course they had an entire card cage and size wasn't as much as an issue... but I too like the HP equipment and have several older pieces of equipment in my rack: an 6-digit multimeter 34401A and an Arb. Waveform Gen. 33120A... they knew how to make rock-solid equipment. The funny thing about that is that when I worked at HP in their Test and Measurement Division in the 90's , I didn't take advantage of my employee discount... but I purchased these 2nd hand and it brings good back memories.

@steve_case 5 ай бұрын

Good job team! I love that you are sending the ABORT codes!

@kennybutcher6307 5 ай бұрын

I don't know about anyone else, but I think I probably feel as excited about watching this as I would if I were an actual astronaut. What an amazing feeling this brings me. Keep it up!

@tekvax01 5 ай бұрын

Bravo team! Another milestone reached with the apollo comms project! Excellent as always Marc!

@DavePKW 5 ай бұрын

I must say I continue to enjoy more on this Apollo Com series. Thanks guys.

@arieleisenstadt5932 5 ай бұрын

I know its very unlikely given that the AGC they restored got sold and the owner never reached out, but I selfishly really want to see the whole S-band comms stack working alongside the AGC. But I guess they will have to settle for Mikes gate exact FPGA replica for the foreseeable future

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

We'd really love having a real AGC attached to the system. We all miss "our" real AGC very much. And the AGC was very talkative in the other direction, sending tons of info over PCM telemetry on the way down, including every number that was shown on the DSKY.

@gcewing 5 ай бұрын

Maybe you could interest some other youtubers in helping you to build a replica AGC as close as you can to the original hardware.

@mikeedwards2621 5 ай бұрын

Not sure exactly what they’re doing, but it is absolutely super cool!

@justforfunvideohobby 5 ай бұрын

Curiousmarc, Mike, and Ken are my favorite recurring characters in this series. Another excellent video

@Dinnye01 5 ай бұрын

It's always love to hear your narration and see You and your Team, nay, Friends at Work!

@Dinnye01 5 ай бұрын

And I mean... you pour money and time into enabling this all... and your team genuinely enjoys the opportunity. This is just wonderful!

@nmccw3245 5 ай бұрын

This series just keeps delivering 👍🏻😁

@ronjohnson9690 5 ай бұрын

This was an excellent lead in video for the upcoming one. Spectacular results should be expected!

@jlwilliams 5 ай бұрын

Any Friday evening with a new CuriousMarc episode is a good Friday evening, but one with an Apollo coms episode is a GREAT Friday evening!

@richardhole8429 5 ай бұрын

Turning a relay on:ho hum. Turning a relay on that could just as well be circling the moon: more than fantastic!

@mpbgp 5 ай бұрын

Wicked! Can't wait for the ground side of the puzzle to be explained.

@jalesvevajayamare7198 5 ай бұрын

Apollo's design incorporates advanced safety features, such as the Launch Escape System, which provides astronauts with a reliable means of escaping in the event of a launch emergency. This system has been rigorously tested and has shown that it can effectively safeguard the crew in critical situations, making it a robust option for rescue missions 😘😘😵‍💫😵‍💫🧐🧐

@Damien.D 5 ай бұрын

The soviet N1 also had a rocket powered launch escape tower. It's the only thing that ever worked flawlessly, saving the dummy payloads from the inferno of the failed launches and obliterated launchpad raging under!

@nonaak 5 ай бұрын

Mind blowing. geweldig om te zien. dank u

@jfs43 5 ай бұрын

Hi Marc, I've followed this whole series for a long time now & really enjoyed it even though it's way above my understanding of electronics (kudos on your method of content delivery!) At some point would you make a video on your evaluation of the technology used? How leading-edge was their methods and implementations. Were the Nasa guys heroes of their day to achieve what they did? What I mean is, how was it viewed in eyes of those days compared to the massive advances since that we have today. Did they make the right choices and decisions in your view?

@alpcns 5 ай бұрын

This channel is such a gem. You guys are simply brilliant. It also shows the incredible complexity and brilliant engineering of the entire Apollo program. A real pleasure to watch!

@macro820 5 ай бұрын

So glad you guys do this work, thanks for sharing! Please consider running a low pass filter on your videos audio file

@lexatwo 5 ай бұрын

Ozzy joke is pure gold 😂

@julianossowski1435 5 ай бұрын

Great episode, but it leaves me wondering why the Nasa mod was done if it had no net change on the polarity. Something somewhere else must have flipped the polarity and the guys inverted it with a further mod rather than finding the real cause. Investigating this is to akin to selling beyond the close, but you know, we are all curious on this channel else we wouldn't be here

@A2CVMAN 4 ай бұрын

Most enjoyable, many thanks team.

@TomKappeln 5 ай бұрын

Apollo electronics give me a eyegasm every time ...❤

@TomKappeln 5 ай бұрын

Maybe this is why i have round about 100 audio amps from the 70's an 80's over here? These Pioneer amps are a dream.

@fredflintstone8048 5 ай бұрын

As we like to say in the world of doing machining work, 'Don't guess at what's going to happen, know what's going to happen...' Of course with any group of people working on something there are the hyper types that push push push to do something when it's better to stop and think things through. This is why I think that Ken is such a benefit to the team. There is another good saying, 'you have to go slow to go fast'..

@russellhltn1396 5 ай бұрын

Well done! But I can't help wondering what else was changed that prevented your un-change from working.

@roberternest7289 5 ай бұрын

Quick question: where do you get punch tape? I wanna get some because a friend of mine has read/punch machine, but no tape.

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

eBay, then pay :-(

@tonybell1597 5 ай бұрын

Absolutely wonderful!

@kevinmerrell9952 5 ай бұрын

Excellent progress! Waiting to see more.

@jxh02 5 ай бұрын

My law of inverters: it should be a 50% chance you get it right, but somehow it's a million-to-one shot you get it right the first time.

@MichaelOfRohan 5 ай бұрын

Flip a coin heads 10,000 times, the odds of it going tails the next toss is still 50 50!!

@KnowledgePerformance7 4 ай бұрын

The 50-50-90 rule: If there's something that should be a 50-50 shot, 90% of the time it's wrong the first time...

@alexanderross2786 5 ай бұрын

Question: Is this communication equipment "stack" similar but different (due to different requirements) from what NASA originally used to communicate with Voyager 1& 2? How & what does NASA use today to communicate with Voyager 1& 2 today?

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

This is all JPL stuff really, that JPL had developed for their satellites and got borrowed for Apollo. So I'd imagine Voyager had a very similar system for up and downlinks, but I have not researched it.

@alexanderross2786 5 ай бұрын

❤

@carpetbomberz 5 ай бұрын

Not first, but near the top! Glad to see that mystery solved. And hearing you remotely clear the error warning tone from the ground

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

Third, that counts! We have plenty of unusable inverted polarity bits left on the floor to award.

@pipsqueak2009 5 ай бұрын

Wonderful work guys!

@North49Radio 5 ай бұрын

Amazing, you guys are amazing. Thank you and take it easy.

@emingerink 5 ай бұрын

Congrats, you rebuilt a multi-million-dollar remote control!

@jtveg 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing. 😉👌🏻

@KeritechElectronics 5 ай бұрын

Again, a splendid video! All those confusing dodgy-bodgy mods, haha.

@Damien.D 5 ай бұрын

I've never been so excited about a basic remote controlled relay.

@Joseph-ut4ui 5 ай бұрын

You went to the inverted output of the 1st flip-flop; why not the 2nd flip-flop at pin 14, and leave the bodge wire at pin 15? Am I missing something?

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

You are not missing anything. That's what we wanted to do originally, but the way it's routed on the board is very different from the way it's routed on the schematic. There was no clean way to do just one cut to do the disconnect, and the original bodge would have had to be re-done from another place, and involve more cuts and more reconnects. However inverting the 2 kHz was very clean and minimally invasive, just one cut. So we went for that.

@bigsarge2085 5 ай бұрын

Awesome!

@NiceGeekCast 5 ай бұрын

Have been waiting for it! 🙌🙂

@mutzbunny 5 ай бұрын

could you possibly make a video about how exactly this binary phase shift keying works, and how to build a encoder and decoder. i want to build such a system and i keep struggeling on actually getting a working design. thanks a lot. Love your videos

@Hans-gb4mv 5 ай бұрын

These guys are gonna be ready for when NASA returns to the moon ;)

@tocsa120ls 5 ай бұрын

I keep imagining the ISS astronauts looking at their instruments going crazy every time they fly over California :D

@jeremiefaucher-goulet3365 5 ай бұрын

Curious about how much the UDL was used in practice during the missions. How much of the spacecraft could be controlled this way, and why wasn't it used when they hacked the AGC on Apollo 14 when they needed to ignore the abort signal during the descent. Then, on the fiction side... What if they had a rogue group of astronauts on board. Could they be able to strand them out? How much damage could you cause, or how much control would you be able to take out of their hands? Sounds like a cool plot device Chris Hadfield could have used in Apollo Murders.

@joeuser1858 3 ай бұрын

1940’s student asks, why do I need to learn about sine waves? Teacher replies, because one day you may be engineering a communications module required to send a man to the moon silly. Student says, you would need a computer to do that? Teachers replies, yes and you will soon build that too. Amazing!

@elen5871 5 ай бұрын

gosh, that box is doing so much, and it could probably be done these days by what, an rp2040? with a crystal oscillator maybe? also Ken's ability to look at circuits and just _understand_ them and make diagrams makes me so incredibly jealous.

@MarcoTedaldi 5 ай бұрын

If they could send commands to the AGC, why did they send changes by voice for the astronauts to write down and enter manually?

@T3sl4 5 ай бұрын

Congrats, you're talking 1960s proto-modbus now! Haha

@notmyname1094 5 ай бұрын

Nice work guys! But do you have an idea why the apparatus was inverted and you would have to do another bodge wire in a way it was never done on that particular one?

@Spookieham 5 ай бұрын

The equipment was reused for later non Apollo missions Marc mentioned in a previous video so frequencies etc were changed and modifications made

@notmyname1094 5 ай бұрын

@@Spookieham yes I know, but there would be signs of the change. In this case it wasn't changed at all but it was still inverted.

@rubenprovencio-b1u 5 ай бұрын

hola mark sabrias donde puedo encontrar los esquematicos de IBM SYSTEM/360 ME HACEN FALTA

@entcraft44 5 ай бұрын

I do wonder: This system seems to have very little authentication. Was there no concern that someone could interfere with the mission?

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

They probably were, but without LSI ICs there was no practical way to put encryption in this. This is all discrete transistors. So they just used two switches to disable the UDL in the spacecraft if needed. The computer also had to be manually switched to accept UDL commands. You can hear Houston requesting access to the computer verbally before they can do anything with it, then the astronauts switch it right back to block access.

@entcraft44 5 ай бұрын

@@CuriousMarc That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

@c1ph3rpunk 5 ай бұрын

I’m starting to wonder if you have a secret team off building a Saturn V so you can field test this in a real Apollo rig. “I wanted to prove it worked, the only real way to do that was to send it to the moon”.

@jonathansnow1886 5 ай бұрын

You have the ACG emulation you made, right? And a lot of other ancillary hardware, gyros, sensor interface, etc. Can you not still fly a lunar mission?

@DisinterestedObserver 5 ай бұрын

Wonder if any of the engineers that designed this equipment and associated protocols are watching and nodding their heads in approval. If they’re still alive, they’d be on their late 80s or older.

@Spookieham 5 ай бұрын

Some of the AGC programmers are still alive and in contact with Marc

@CuriousMarc 5 ай бұрын

Sadly the Raytheon and Collins folks are defense contractors and their engineers rarely talk. And their companies never answer our requests. Same for IBM and the LVDC computer in the Saturn V. The AGC is sort of a lucky exception because it was designed at MIT.

@milek7 5 ай бұрын

So it would also have worked identically with pin 14 output? What reason could be for that mod in the first place?

@SubTroppo 5 ай бұрын

Board mod; As Dave Tipton says, it's been got at!

@bambur1 5 ай бұрын

Wow youre sick. fun stuff :)

@aaronr.9644 5 ай бұрын

Really cool! :)

@dufflepod 5 ай бұрын

Brilliant.

@AL6S00740 5 ай бұрын

WOOOHOO

@oproep 5 ай бұрын

"Yes! We can fly to the moon!" 😄

@LThorsen78 5 ай бұрын

Who is Lars Nordenmark, and why is he using a teletype?

@dingolovethrob 5 ай бұрын

fabulous.

@criscubillos 5 ай бұрын

i love this

@TrboRadio-rc4ol 5 ай бұрын

Only a scada guy will scream success! when he hear the click of a relay 😂. It's late for this idea, but removing both modems and connect the ttl port directly from both control devices will test if the problem was in the modem or not.