First, I want to thank all that offered tips on how to unstick a beam
stuck in the wrong direction. The short version of the long shaggy-dog
story is the beam now turns and works as good as it ever did!
I got up this morning and ran out of excuses for going up the tower to
ohm out the pins on the connector installed just below the Ham IV
rotator. The reason the beam would not turn was very obvious from
the ground tests outlined in the Ham IV users manual. The orange wire
(terminal #8) to the motor winding was open. The problem has been
finding out why and where it is open.
This morning I got out the climbing belt, arranged the tools need and got
my courage in sync to go up the tower again. Yes, I am too old for this
kind of fun. To get some slack in the bundle of coax and rotor cable I
pulled the excess out from under the deck (where the snakes and other
critters live) and guess what?
Some critter had been chewing on the rotor cable and there were gnaw
marks all around the outer casing. I peel it back and the he had chewed
the orange wire apart and almost got through the white (ground) wire. I
guess it did not taste as good as he expected because the other wires
were not damaged. I soldered in a orange jumper and sealed the whole
mess. Reconnected the Ham IV Control unit (with a new lamp) and it
lives. The indictor pointed due West (where it had been stuck) and ham
happiness was watching the pointer and beam move around to North
East!
End of shaggy-dog stuck beam story. It Lives!
73 Dick AA5VU
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