I was very lucky not to have trouble with either of my rotators, but I'm not
sure about the one I have now. It's similar to the ones I've described, but
it's made by a different company, and the gears sound like they're pretty
close to self-destructing any minute.
I know about those Alliance rotators; I've never had one, but I thought they
would work quite well.
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Forst" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 22:25
Subject: Re: rotator?
> Steve,
>
> I had one of those many moons ago, but like all things it went south.
> It had a bunch of plastic gears inside the box and whatever type of
> white grease they used in there eventually dissolved them into a gooy
> mass.
>
> In my attic, I have a small 5 element Log Periodic from Elk antennas. I
> turn it with a little Alliance Tenna Rotor that was already decades old
> when someone gave it to me new in the box in 1990. The control box has
> detents in 5 degree steps and a indicator knob with a line you can feel.
>
> 73, Steve KW3A
>
> On 8/9/2012 10:09 PM, Steve Dresser wrote:
>> Wow! I remember when Channelmaster rotators had a very simple control
>> box
>> with a large round dial with a vertical line along one edge which served
>> as
>> a pointer. You could easily put braille labels around the face to
>> designate
>> compass directions (or anything else you wanted to use for marking).
>> Unfortunately, I don't remember the model number of the rotator.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Steve Forst" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 16:17
>> Subject: Re: rotator?
>>
>>
>>> Colin,
>>>
>>> I'm using a Channel Master 9521A. This has been up since 2004 and
>>> seems to still be around, although the price has gone up since that
>>> time. Looks like now over $100.
>>>
>>> It has a small control box with 3 digit red led display that someone
>>> with some usable vision may be able to see.
>>>
>>> On the box are cc and ccw buttons and a syncronize button. It has
>>> an IR remote control which has a keypad as well as cc and ccw buttons.
>>> You can enter a 3 digit number in the remote (from 000 to 360) and it
>>> will go there. There is no way to tell where you are pointed except by
>>> good memory or lucky guess. There is an ability to enter presets to
>>> go to often used headings, but I've never used that feature.
>>>
>>> It uses a very light 3 conductor wire, almost like a phone line. No
>>> brake in the unit I think it will auto sync after a particular number of
>>> uses, if you don't sync manually.
>>>
>>> I'm actually using this to turn a 2 element tribander. 2 elements of a
>>> Mosley TA-33 on a very short (4 ft) boom). All this on a 20 ft.
>>> telescoping mast. A pretty third rate HF antenna, but I work the world
>>> with it. This is really overdoing it for that rotor, but it's still up
>>> there and still turns the antenna until I can come up with something
>>> better. Actually have a Ham IV here, but not enough supporting
>>> structure at this time.
>>>
>>> 73, Steve KW3A
>>>
>>>
>>> On 8/9/2012 3:33 PM, colin McDonald wrote:
>>>> someone on list mentioned a rotator quite a while back that was fairly
>>>> accessible. I think it was a TV roter, but the control box had a key
>>>> pad
>>>> where you could enter headings in degrees, as well as memory storage
>>>> buttons
>>>> along with the regular left/right arrow function to move the antenna.
>>>> What was the brand and model of that roter or perhaps it's most recent
>>>> version?
>>>> A VI friend wants to put up an FM broadcast band beam for receiving,
>>>> and
>>>> would prefer to have a roter control box that has some basic
>>>> accessibility.
>>>> He is also looking for recommendations on places to buy FM broadcast
>>>> receiving directional antennas.
>>>> Rad shack is no longer in canada so that's not an option.
>>>>
>>>> 73
>>>> Colin, V A6BKX
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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