FOLLOW-UP and AFTER-ACTION REPORT:
The intermittent rotation has continued to come and go, until mid-April,
when it again ceased working at 24 degrees. It seemed to always follow
either a rain and/or wind event; so I have been focusing on the motor,
ring-binding, and outdoor connections. On Saturday morning I was again
back up the tower. Continuity checks on all the wires OK. Unbolted the
motor; checked and ring turns easily without binding. Brought the motor
down & connected to controller. Works perfectly. I had a brand new
potentiate, so I replaced it. Guts of the motor were clean. Back up
the tower and reinstalled the motor. Still not working. I loosened the
motor, pointed the antenna toward Europe, and tightened the motor in
anticipation of IARU contest. Frustrated, came back to the ground and
began thinking about possible failure points.
With the continuity checks from the shack to the rotor all good, then it
would seem that either low motor voltage or a faulty or out of range pot
signal could be the cause.
Wiring is in 4 distinct sections:
Shack to Single Point Ground Plate
Single Point Ground Plate to terminal strip in Antenna Switch Shed
terminal strip in Antenna Switch Shed to Cabinet at Base of Tower
Cabinet at Base of Tower to Motor (this is the only connection that is
exposed directly to the weather)
Working from the tower back to the shack, I began breaking and remaking
all the connections in the control cable. After each set, I tested for
proper rotation. No change until I broke and remade the connections at
the terminal strip in Antenna Switch Shed. All I did was loosen the
screws and re-tighten. Conclusion was the CCW signal wire connection at
the terminal strip, in the Antenna Switch Shed. *** Problem solved***
Because this connection is not exposed to the weather, I'd assumed it
would not be the problem. With over 50 control wire connections here,
never before had there been a problem.
--Scott, W5WZ
On 1/12/2020 5:25 PM, w5wz@w5wz.com wrote:
My TIC RING 1022E recently began operating intermittently (the day
before CQ WW CW). Control box is TIC RING. I went up the tower
before the contest thinking it might have been a gear mesh issue, but
it was not. As it was pointing in a favorable direction, I left it.
A couple of days later, the thing worked, and worked throughout
Thanksgiving week and December.
On Friday Jan 10th, in preparation of an approaching storm system, it
worked fine to turn the antenna. The very next day (yesterday) for
NAQP CW, once again it would not rotate, stuck at 260 degrees (not
favorable for NAQP).
I've swapped control boxes, and the "non-working" issue stayed with
the on-tower ring.
I'm wondering if could be a water-ingress issue into the motor.
So, before the next trip up the tower, I'm open to any troubleshooting
/ repair suggestions from those of you with more TIC RING experience
than I have. If repairs are needed, I would want to have needed parts
on hand before going up to retrieve the motor.
--Scott, W5WZ
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