Here's one of those really radical ideas that strikes from time to time.
The biggest problem with beam slippage on the mast is you simply don't
know which way you are pointing.
What if you had a way to determine where the beam was pointed, regardless
of how the rotator was turned?
How about:
a) install a flux-gate compass at the end of a beam, run the wires
through the boom and down to the shack to an indicator.
b) mount a tiny b&w camera on the tower looking "up" at the beam. Run the
video to a screen in the shack. Calibrate the screen with points for N,
E, S, W.
Perhaps there's other methods to remotely sense the position of the beam.
Once the beam no longer needs to be tightly coupled to the mast for
positioning, maybe there's room for a fluid coupling between the rotating
motor and the mast, which would take care of some of the torque problems.
Just a brainstorm....
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@radio.org
Quote: "Not in a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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