[CQ-Contest] Wireless Digital Compass

[john at kk9a.com]

>From your website it appears that you are using K7NV prop pitch rotators but
it is not clear what mast size. 3" masts clamp better and are much stronger
but for whatever reason 2" is the ham standard. Are you sure that the mast
is really slipping or is the motor being back driven in the wind while the
controller is off. Is this slippage occurring on all of your rotators or
just with the full size 40m beam. Mast slippage should be very fixable. I do
not want to start a bolt through mast debate however Yaesu does this and it
works with their rotators.

John KK9A


Ken Widelitz K6LA wrote:

Problem: My VY2TT antennas constantly get out of sync with my rotator
controllers due to high winds causing slippage, even with extra heavy duty
rotator mast clamps. I am remoting my station, so when operating remotely I
won't be able to go out with a compass and sync the rotator controllers.
Anyone else run into this problem, especially remote stations?

Solution: A wireless digital compass on each yagi. At my home station I have
the 4O3A Rotator Genius that uses a wired digital compass. The problem with
the wired devices is in PEI there are very long runs to the yagis from the
shack and the Rotator Genius is expensive (about $660 per device for 2
rotators.) Also, at home a problem I have had is the outside Cat5 cable
connectors go bad, even with weatherproofing. 
I have researched wireless digital compasses and I have found nothing
satisfactory available. There is one product focused on cell sites that is
subscription based, but I can't get them to respond to my inquiries. After
consultation with a microcontroller developer, it appears that a solution
can be configured that will allow 4 compass sensors/transmitters to send
data to one microcontroller receiver via 433mhz rf with a range of 200
yards. The receiver will upload the data via wifi to a web app. To save
battery life, the data is transmitted once a day or after the direction
changes by more than some threshold, perhaps 10 degrees. If the battery life
is still not long enough, a solar panel can be added to each
sensor/transmitter. 
I'm wondering if there is any interest in this as a "product." My estimate
is each set of 4 TX/1RX would run about $200. Feedback is welcome, even if
it is to tell me this is a terrible idea (but I would like to know why you
think so.)
73, Ken, K6LA / VY2TT