[CQ-Contest] Rotors and preset controller

[David Gilbert]

Seriously??  You probably have memorized the callsign prefixes of close 
to 300 different countries ... keeping track of six heading numbers 
should be trivial by comparison and takes no greater number of mental 
steps than pushing buttons.

Dave   AB7E



On 3/26/2014 8:49 AM, Charles Harpole wrote:
> I have use the HyGain DCU-1 rotor controller for twelve years of
> contesting.  The presets are the things making it a gem.
>
> There are six buttons and each can be programmed for a specific heading.
> Thus, when I want EU, I hit the "EU" button and don't think about my beam
> heading again......  until I want "NA" or whatever.
>
> I am surprised that there appears not to be another rotor controller with
> this obvious nice feature.  The Green Heron, for example, is a finely
> crafted unit, but to use it, one has to think of 1. where do I want to
> point, 2. what is that heading in degrees, and then 3. turn the knob to
> that heading.
>
> That is more thinking than one needs to do in a contest.  I guess some
> brave folks run their rotors from a computer command somehow, or even from
> the radio directly (Yaesu).  I have too many rotor failures/ant problems to
> trust that level of automation, but I can understand this one DCU-1 unit,
> standing alone and doing only one thing...  simple, simple, simple.
>
> 73