[CQ-Contest] Tic Ring - Controller

[Ralph]

The thing is about the Green Heron controller is that it's versatile and has 
excellent dependable performance.  No sticking meters or any of the 
aggravations mentioned here.  If you invested big $$ a stack you can't beat 
it.  Chain them together and turn one knob.  My opinion is you get what you 
pay for and it's great value for $559 (under $600).  Jeff is always very 
responsive and provides excellent support.
http://www.greenheronengineering.com/

73, Ralph K1ZZI


Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:57:04 -0400
From: David Pruett <k8cc at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Tic Ring
To: Rick Dougherty NQ4I <nq4i at contesting.com>

Rick,

There are at least two different variants of the digital TIC RingRotator
control.

I received one when I bought a brand new 1032 from TIC in the fall of
2003 if I remember right.  In that one, the main logic board appears to
be identical to the analog board - all that's different is that the
analog meter has been replaced with a LCD with a small daughter board on
the rear, carrying a PIC micorcontroller which reads the analog pot
voltage and drives the LCD display.

Several years ago, I bought seven used 1022 TIC RingRotators from AA8U
when health reasons forced Bruce to downsize his contest station.  A
couple of these had digital displays and RS-232 connectors on the back
panel.  This design is significantly more complicated than the one
described above - the logic has a PIC 16C57 CPU, an ADC 0809 A/D
converter (to read the direction and preset pots) and an 8251 UART (for
the RS-232).

My TIC owner's manual for the latter box contains a schematic of the
latter design, which I can scan and send to you in .PDF form.  I have no
schematic for the first design I described.

I've had so many problems with my TIC analog controllers (sticking
meters, inaccurate readings) that I'm about to launch into my own
digital retrofit for the TIC control boxes.  Yes, I know that the Green
Heron box works with TICs and while that looks like a solution offering
excellent performance, $600+ is way more than I'm willing to spend.

73,  Dave/K8CC

Rick Dougherty NQ4I wrote:
> Hi all..not having any success getting a diagram from Carl at TIC...I need 
> a
> diagram of the original Ring Rotor the 1032...it has a digital
> controller..we need a diagram so we can make a repair..anybody have one 
> they
> could share?? Thanks de Rick NQ4I