I had a similar requirement for a motor operated vacuum variable in
the auto-tuner at my remote station, although my motor only produces
just enough torque to turn the capacitor. After lots of thought I
could not think of an easy mechanical solution (eg limit switches).
What I did in the end was to notice that the motor current rose
sharply under stall conditions. I then put an over-current detector in
the power supply which tripped it if that happened - of course it
never should. I later found that it did happen when the tower was
struck by lightning (quite frequently, it's tall) as it would confuse
the auto-tuner and drive it to one end or the other. I cured that
by making the tuner only operative when the transmitter ptt is
activated. Seems OK.
A better solution might be to somehow gang a multi-turn pot to the
shaft of the capacitor and use electronic trip points.
73 Roger
VE3ZI
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