Yesterday afternoon, I replaced my old HAM-M with a HAM-IV recently returned
from getting serviced.
The M was showing some signs of age and it has been some years since it was
last overhauled.
On checking out the rotation of the new rotator on the tower, it swung from
North through East to South. When swinging back the other way, rotation
stopped at East. I was finally able 'ooch' the rotator through to about NNE
where it resumed normal rotation speed. (The rotator worked perfectly on
the test bench, by the way.)
I moved the rotator back to South through East then back up to East where it
stopped. I went up the tower (Rohn 25G, pointy top) to check things out.
It looked like the mast was against one side of the bottom of the pointy top
mast guide. When I had installed the rotator, I left the rotator base
mounting bolts loose. I then tightened them up AFTER tightening the mast
clamp--from something I read on the TT reflector.
With the rotator on East, the rotator portion of the mast clamp is on the
West side of the rotator where the mast seems to be tight against the pointy
top guide. Is shimming the mast in the clamp a workable solution for this?
If I shim it such that the mast now clears the bottom of the guide by a
little bit where it's now binding, will I just move the binding point or
will there likely be enough clearance between the mast and the guide to
rotate freely? I didn't measure it, but it looks like there's about a
3/16-1/4" of clearance on the other side of the mast from where it contacts
the guide.
Comments/Suggestions?
Of course, today's weather forecast is thunderstorms, high winds, cooling
temps.
73,
dale, kg5u
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