I have 8 rings and have experienced many many failures of various items
over the last 12 years. The potentiometers tend to last a few years
then start to have eratic feedback problems, in my experience. There is
not too much you can do with a component designed for indoor use placed
outside for long periods of time. I have never had a pot fail from RF
or lightning (as far as I recall), but I have heard of it too. A failed
or dirty pot could be particularly bothersome if you are using digital
controllers. I have analog controllers as backup in switchable parallel
with my digital controllers. So if the pot gets dirty and it is
daylight, I just keep my hands on the control and observe the antenna to
advance the ring while the pot jumps like crazy. I have heard of people
trying to replace the potentiometers on the tower after various
failures. Personally, I do not recommend that. Even getting a motor
off can be tedious by the time one plays with frozen bolts, wire
terminations, dropped tools, bad weather, bees and general bad luck.
Working with a small part like this is not what I like doing at 140' in
the air. Because of my share of bad luck with TIC products, I keep
four spare motors with electronics and two slaves at all times. If the
motor fails, or gives me trouble I plan to exchange it and look at
rebuilding it at a later time. I have lots of spare parts and Carl has
been particularly gracious and helpful sending me needed items for my
"stock". I have only experience with the first and third generation
motors. At this time, I am replacing my older series of motors with the
new generation in hopes they will be more reliable. Unfortunately, I
had two new motors fail two days before CQWW. They were brand new in
October. I also had to do a ring repair Saturday of CQWW. Damage was
left over when a cradle broke on my 40m yagi last winter. That was my
contest. I worked VU2WAP and the ring froze at 260 degrees due to a
slipped motor which did not give contact with the ring. I blame the
installer for not recognizing the problem. The ring was bent and
separating under the antenna. Seven hours at 140' in two trips while
the contest slipped by is not my idea of having fun. Barry, you were
not the only one with a rotor malfunction during CQWW. I still think
swapping out your motor is the best idea. Be sure you have someone on
the ground to match the antenna for calibration to the motor when the
new one goes in place. Don't assume the replacement and the old one
will match perfectly. I found out the hard way that "calibration" is
not always guaranteed and had to reclimb at least once or twice to fix
things well in the air. You might consider jumpering the ring to keep
it moving and visually stop it when necessary until you get it back to
normal. I don't think moving the pot will clean it up significantly.
Hopefully, you are a "daylight DXer" or the tower is close enough to
watch in the dark. I hope you have luck with this and parts are easy to
find and replace. Good luck.
_______________________________________________
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
|