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[TowerTalk] Effective Moment/K Force & Yaesu rotators

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Effective Moment/K Force & Yaesu rotators
From: aa4lr@arrl.net (Bill Coleman)
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 09:32:10 -0400
On 7/11/01 5:04 PM, K7LXC@aol.com at K7LXC@aol.com wrote:

>    It's been my experience that the rotator is the weak link in the antenna 
>system. While towers and other hardware will last for 15 years and more, a 
>rotator has a practical service life of 6 or 7 years. 

Is it that the rotator's only function so long -- or do we hams grossly 
overload them?

I remember asking this question about Amplifiers on the CQ-Contest list 
some time ago. There seemed to be a big rash of amp failures, especially 
during contests. Why was that? Are they not built to function at their 
rated limits, or are we pushing them beyond their limits?

I rescued an AR22 rotator that had been outside for 15 years. I rebuilt 
it and deployed it for 8 more years. It was working great when I moved 
and subsequently sold it. But then, the largest thing it was asked to 
turn was an A3S and a 17ele 2M beam.

I recently acquired a Ham-M Series 5 that looks like it is from 1971. A 
bit of TLC, and I expect it to last another 10 years. But, I'm not going 
to ask it to turn a stack of 40m 4 ele beams, either. A single (small) 
tribander is enough.


Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901


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