Hi Charlie,
The RCS-8V that I have requires a separate ground wire, in addition to the
5-wire control cable, in order to function. Each of the five wires between
the control box and the relay box (tower mount) goes to one "hot" side of
each relay (5 of them). There is no ground return in the 5-wire cable. The
ground return, which is common to all 5 relays, is provided by the coaxial
cable shield. Without it, nothing works.
WB2WIK/6
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." -
Mario Andretti
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charley Schwartz [SMTP:charley@net1plus.com]
> Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 9:08 AM
> To: 'Joe Barnes'
> Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Towertalk] ameritron rcs-8v
>
> The RCS-8V uses a control cable as the original poster stated. The RCS-4
> uses
> the coax between the control box and the remote box and superimposes a
> rectified
> AC signal on the center conductor of the coax.
>
> I believe you have the common misconnected to one of the relays. You
> should be
> able to verify this by connecting an ohm meter between the relay control
> lines
> to the remote box and the coax ground to the box. Verify on the
> instruction
> sheet that the common on the controls is also the common on the coax. (On
> a
> spare box I have the common control line is common to the metal panel/coax
> shields). The other lines are several tens of ohms. Note that between
> relay
> control lien to relay control line you will see two relay coils and the
> control
> cable resistance. The resistance will not just double between the relay
> control
> lines and the relay control line to ground.
>
> I have used at least a dozen of these RCS-8V boxes and several RCS-4 boxes
> without problem. I would assume it to be a wiring error.
>
> Charley W1TE
>
>
>
> Steve Katz wrote:
>
> > Joe, the RCS-8V gets its ground, normally, by the coaxial cable shield
> on
> > the main feedline between the shack (station) and the RCS-8V relay
> switch
> > box. You can add your own supplemental ground if you wish, but if you
> don't
> > have a grounded coaxial cable running from station to switch box, the
> box is
> > floating and the relays won't operate.
> >
> > WB2WIK/6
> >
> > "If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
> -
> > Mario Andretti
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Joe Barnes [SMTP:n4jbk@bellsouth.net]
> > > Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 7:46 AM
> > > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > > Subject: [Towertalk] ameritron rcs-8v
> > >
> > > This past saturday I put an ameritron rcs-8v up on the tower, I am
> using 5
> > > conductor #18 wire as the control wire. When I tried to use the
> antennas I
> > > found that the switch was not selecting any of the antennas connected
> to
> > > it. Checking the back of the control box I found that all of the
> terminals
> > > had about 15.8 volts on them. When I disconnected the control box from
> the
> > > wire there was voltage only on the terminal selected. I checked the
> > > resistance between the wires and found it to be 250 ohms. When I first
> > > hooked up the switch the tower was not grounded ( just put the tower
> up
> > > the day before) . Does anyone w\know if this switch gets ground via
> the
> > > tower? and does anyone have an idea of what is wrong with my brand new
> > > ameritron switch?
> > >
> > > Thank you , Joe N4JBK
> > >
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> _______________________________________________
> AN Wireless Self Supporting Towers at discounted prices,
> See http://www.mscomputer.com
>
> Wireless Weather Stations now $349.95. Call Toll Free,
> 888-333-9041 for additional information.
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