Jim
I am not very familiar with SteppIR or AlfaSpid products. I looked up the
AlfaSpid RAK-1 rotator, I see a lot of side bolts on the mast mount, I am not
sure how that grips the mast. You could draw a line with a paint marker on the
mast, rotator and antenna bracket to see which item is slipping. Perhaps
nothing is slipping - I see that RAK-1 uses a reed switch. I have a number of
rotators that use these pulse sensors with Green Heron controllers and they are
very sensitive to leakage. I have had direction control issues that were
caused by failed lightning protectors. Another thing that is possible with
pulse sensors is, if your controller is off and you have a strong enough wind
to turn the motor, the controller will not know that the beam turned and when
the controller is turned back on it will read the old beam heading.
GL,
John KK9A
From: Jim Miller <jim@jtmiller.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2024 12:37 PM
To: john@kk9a.com
Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Remote compass?
I have on occasion found my antenna pointing as much as 40 degrees off the
proper bearing. I recently had the antennas lowered to refurb my Steppir and
made sure that all was very secure. Mast is really tight to the rotor which is
effectively pinned to the tower. Antennas are tight to the mast. Something must
go wrong but I don't know what it is and figuring it out when it is dark is
very difficult. There is some backlash in my Alfaspid which if the wind was
really blowing could cause tripping of the magnetic sensor but I've not been
able to correlate it with a windy day.
Hence the desire for a compass like the 403A.
I'm considering it.
jim ab3cv
On Sat, Nov 9, 2024 at 10:01 PM <mailto:john@kk9a.com> wrote:
So you don't trust your rotator's potentiometer or counter indicator? 4O3A
sells a controller that uses a boom mounted compass for directional
indication and I am told this works well.
John KK9A
Jim Miller AB3CV wrote:
Anyone know of a remote compass I could buy and place on my mast to know
where my beam is pointed when I can't see it?
Would need to withstand RF fields from 160 thru 6m from my 1500w amp.
Thanks
Jim ab3cv
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