[CQ-Contest] TIC Ring Potentiometer Failure?

[Barry]

Jim,
Could be one of two things.  In the earlier rotors, there was a 
suspected problem of RF burns on the pot coil.  This seems to have 
been cured putting a few bypass caps on the pot.  This was added to 
their production models 3-4 years ago, if I recall correctly.

Another possibility, which has also happened to me, is water getting 
into the pot and rusting it inside.  I don't recall all the details, 
but Carl at TIC made some changes to help prevent this as well.  One 
thing I did in additionis drill a few small holes in the bottom of 
the motor box, for drainage.  If water gets in, there's no way for it 
to get out.  Now there is.

The only solution is replacing the pot.  There is (was?) an informal 
TIC reflector run by K4RO.  I don't know if any archives are 
available, but this problem was discussed in the past, so you may 
want to contact him.

My TIC rings worked fine this weekend.  However, my T2X froze up 
pointing west (40m Yagi and top TH7) on Saturday afternoon, when I 
was ready to move from working some JAs and Pac on 15m, back to 40m 
to work EU.  So much for this contest :.(

73, 
Barry W2UP



On 28 Nov 2004 Jim Idelson wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> Not far into the contest this weekend, we began to have trouble with
> the TIC 1022E [a 2003 unit]. It exhibits erratic readout and rotation
> behavior. The load is an Optibeam 4-el 40m yagi. I recently tightened
> the drive motor to eliminate slippage of the ring gear. I suspect
> something has happened to the potentiometer that feeds back rotor
> position back to the controller. A search of the towertalk archives
> shows that there have been problems like this in the past [1996/1997].
> I went up the tower to have a look this afternoon, but did not see
> enything suspicious. There were no bad external wiring connections,
> etc. I sprayed the drive shaft and what looks like the position pot
> shaft with contact cleaner from the outside. That did nothing, but I
> suspect I would have to disassemble the motor to get the spray into
> the right places.
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jim Idelson K1IR
> email    k1ir at designet.com
> web    http://www.designet.com/k1ir
> 
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
> 

--
Barry Kutner, W2UP              Internet: w2up at mindspring.com
Newtown, PA                     Frankford Radio Club