Well, it's not any secret - I am one of the owners of Alfa Radio and we
market the AlfaSpid in North America. As Steve K7LXC mentioned here quite
some time ago, Alfa Radio is owned jointly by a group of amateurs who pooled
some $ and bought the local radio store when the owner retired.
Somehow, my station became the testing site for the rotors. I certainly am
not interested in promoting something I don't use and believe in myself.
Specs are one thing, but it has to work and stay working. As I've said
before many times, I'm not getting younger and my towers aren't getting
shorter so rotor maintenance is something I want to keep to a minimum.
Currently there are 9 AlfaSpids here, all turning 48 foot boom OWA yagis for
10/15/20 (40' on 40m). In a rotor, simple is good and the self braking worm
gear concept is just that. One of the very first batch of rotors produced
was put on my 3 el full size 40m yagi, that was nearly 2 years ago. It's
still there and working just fine. This rotor can generate the same
rotating torque numbers as the big Orion and Yaesu units, but at 1/2 to 1/3
the price.
Another test currently underway involves the mounting of the rotor outside
the tower where it supports a 6 el OWA 20m yagi on a 48 foot boom. This has
only been up for a month or so, but we already had one minor setback. Some
strong winds just after it went up buckled the boom of the yagi so I came
home to find aluminum hanging all over the tower. The rotor was undamaged.
I replaced the boom and it's back up now, so the test continues. Many people
are using crankups with pretty small top sections so mounting the rotor
outside is one alternative. BTW, yes it does fit inside Rohn 25 without any
surgery.
You can read some eham reviews at http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2277
There are more (growing every day) pictures of other installations at
http://alfaradio.ca/inuse.html Just click on the pictures and more will
open.
73 Don
VE6JY
http://alfaradio.ca/alfaspid.html
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim W7RY" <w7ry@centurytel.net>
To: "James P. Cassidy" <107770.3462@compuserve.com>
Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 04:32
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] AlfaSpid Was Ham IV rotator + control unit
> I think that Don VE6JY is the owner of AlfaSpid.
> I may be wrong... But that is what I can glean from a search at Google.
>
> 73
> Jim W7RY
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "James P. Cassidy" <107770.3462@compuserve.com>
> To: "Jim W7RY" <w7ry@centurytel.net>
> Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 9:07 PM
> Subject: [TowerTalk] AlfaSpid Was Ham IV rotator + control unit
>
>
> > I have heard from more than 1 source that the Alfa Spids have been
turning
> > very long boom 20m yagis at VE6JY for a couple of years. hard to
believe
> > as its pretty small and simply made but so far I am believing the story.
> > Also it has really good control features, resettable to 1 deg with
> presets.
> >
> > 73 Jim KI7Y
> >
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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