I just got three Green Heron controllers for my TIC rings. The rings aren't
up yet, so I reconfigured one of the controllers to run one of my T2X
rotors.
The Green Heron design is terrific. It's a much better investment to buy a
rotor controller that will work with just about anything, instead of a
controller dedicated to a specific task. The Green Heron is extremely
flexible and easy to work with. It turns my T2X perfectly. However, there
are a couple of issues: 1) the manual says speed control for Hy-Gain T2X/Ham
type rotors isn't reliable, so you should configure the max speed. This
means no ramp-up/ramp-down; 2) The rotor pot accuracy and jitter are so bad
that the accuracy is 5-10 degrees (I knew that from previous experience with
these rotors.) That means the soft limits may have to be set much earlier
than indicated in the manual. GH is working on some firmware that runs the
Hy-Gain rotors somewhat better, and I plan to test it soon.
I've got both the stock analog Hy-Gain controller (now modified with the
Idiom Press package) and the DCU-1.
The stock analog controller certainly works, but has no features at all and
no presets. The Idiom Press package makes a dramatic improvement, adding
such things as brake delay, reverse delay, brief reverse on startup (to
combat the infamous "sticking" problem) presets, ramp-up/ramp-down (don't
know how well this actually works), soft limits (ditto), etc. The mod isn't
hard to do if you like working on electronic gear. Some drilling and
soldering are required. If you already have the analog controller, it's the
cheapest way to improve it. One limitation is that the center of rotation
must be either N or S.
The DCU-1 is a mixed bag. It has brake delay, reverse delay, brief reverse
on startup, and presets but I don't think it has speed control. Without
looking at the manual, I don't know if it has soft limits to prevent banging
into the mechanical stops. In any case, there's no way to program that. It
does have a very cool display, six pre-programmed presets, and the center of
rotation can be any direction. But it's only good for Hy-Gain rotors.
Sometimes mine forgets its calibration (probably across power failures) and
I have to redo it. In my opinion, not worth the money now that the Green
Heron is available.
Hope this helps.
73, Dick WC1M
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry stowell [mailto:lclarks@nc.rr.com]
> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 7:34 PM
> To: 'Tower Talk Reflector'
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Antenna Rotator Control Box comparisons
>
>
> Allen
> I've had one for a couple of months powering a Yaesu 2800 and
> its the best investment I've made. So much control over rotor
> speed and ramp up.
>
> Larry K1ZW
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Allen R. Brier
> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 4:51 PM
> To: 'Tower Talk Reflector'
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Antenna Rotator Control Box comparisons
>
> Anyone have any experience with the Green Heron RT-20 or the
> CATS DPU-1800-D digital rotator controllers? How do they
> compare to the HyGain unit?
>
>
>
> Allen Ross Brier, N5XZ SET
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
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> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
>
>
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