I have not been keeping track of this thread but do offer the following
solution to the problem.
Most antennas, even VHF and UHF beams have much more than 15 or 20
degree beam widths.
One degree resolution is not necessary. I also have a bad resistor in my
tailtwister and have
considered solutions to the problem.
This rotator has a pair of limit switches that have wires that come
down to the control box.
If you rotate the antenna and measure the time to go from one limit switch
to the other you can
easily estimate its position in between. The speed varies very little
during rotation. One could make
an easy substitute for the resistor using a microcontroller that would
simply measure the time the
motor is turned on and calculate the position. It would have to
self-calibrate from time to time
measuring the time from for one stop to the other but it would save
repairing or having to climb the
tower. Not perfect but on the other hand good enough in most cases.
73
Bill wa4lav
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