[Towertalk] ameritron rcs-8v
Steve Katz
stevek@jmr.com
Mon, 14 Oct 2002 13:14:18 -0700
I personally do not rely on the coax shield ground, myself -- simply because
everything in the station is tied to a common earth ground, and so is my
tower (grounded). However, if you disconnect the station coaxial line to
the RCS-8V, it really wouldn't matter if any of the relays closed or not,
since you'd have no way to transmit a signal into them.
WB2WIK/6
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." -
Mario Andretti
> -----Original Message-----
> From: k4oj [SMTP:k4oj@tampabay.rr.com]
> Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 1:13 PM
> To: Steve Katz
> Cc: 'Charley Schwartz'; 'Joe Barnes'; towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Towertalk] ameritron rcs-8v
>
> I would not depend on the coax as your return for ground - what if you
> accidentally disconnect it from the rig (which has a common ground with
> the rest of the station....right?)
>
> You would never get a closure then!
>
> Run 6 and be sure - two runs of house wire makes a good choice for
> "fuhgetaboutit" care free usage of an RCS8V.
>
> k4oj
>
>
> Steve Katz wrote:
>
>
> Hi Charlie,
>
> The RCS-8V that I have requires a separate ground wire, in addition
> to the
> 5-wire control cable, in order to function. Each of the five wires
> between
> the control box and the relay box (tower mount) goes to one "hot"
> side of
> each relay (5 of them). There is no ground return in the 5-wire
> cable. The
> ground return, which is common to all 5 relays, is provided by the
> coaxial
> cable shield. Without it, nothing works.
>
> WB2WIK/6
>
> "If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast
> enough." -
> Mario Andretti
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charley Schwartz [ SMTP:charley@net1plus.com
> <mailto:SMTP:charley@net1plus.com>]
> Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 9:08 AM
> To: 'Joe Barnes'
> Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
> <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [Towertalk] ameritron rcs-8v
>
> The RCS-8V uses a control cable as the original poster
> stated. The RCS-4
> uses
> the coax between the control box and the remote box and
> superimposes a
> rectified
> AC signal on the center conductor of the coax.
>
> I believe you have the common misconnected to one of the
> relays. You
> should be
> able to verify this by connecting an ohm meter between the
> relay control
> lines
> to the remote box and the coax ground to the box. Verify on
> the
> instruction
> sheet that the common on the controls is also the common on
> the coax. (On
> a
> spare box I have the common control line is common to the
> metal panel/coax
> shields). The other lines are several tens of ohms. Note
> that between
> relay
> control lien to relay control line you will see two relay
> coils and the
> control
> cable resistance. The resistance will not just double
> between the relay
> control
> lines and the relay control line to ground.
>
> I have used at least a dozen of these RCS-8V boxes and
> several RCS-4 boxes
> without problem. I would assume it to be a wiring error.
>
> Charley W1TE
>
>
>
> Steve Katz wrote:
>
>
>
> Joe, the RCS-8V gets its ground, normally, by the
> coaxial cable shield
>
>
> on
>
>
> the main feedline between the shack (station) and
> the RCS-8V relay
>
>
> switch
>
>
> box. You can add your own supplemental ground if
> you wish, but if you
>
>
> don't
>
>
> have a grounded coaxial cable running from station
> to switch box, the
>
>
> box is
>
>
> floating and the relays won't operate.
>
> WB2WIK/6
>
> "If everything seems under control, you're just not
> going fast enough."
>
>
> -
>
>
> Mario Andretti
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Barnes [ SMTP:n4jbk@bellsouth.net
> <mailto:SMTP:n4jbk@bellsouth.net>]
> Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 7:46 AM
> To: towertalk@contesting.com
> <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
> Subject: [Towertalk] ameritron rcs-8v
>
> This past saturday I put an ameritron rcs-8v up on
> the tower, I am
>
>
> using 5
>
>
> conductor #18 wire as the control wire. When I tried
> to use the
>
>
> antennas I
>
>
> found that the switch was not selecting any of the
> antennas connected
>
>
> to
>
>
> it. Checking the back of the control box I found
> that all of the
>
>
> terminals
>
>
> had about 15.8 volts on them. When I disconnected
> the control box from
>
>
> the
>
>
> wire there was voltage only on the terminal
> selected. I checked the
> resistance between the wires and found it to be 250
> ohms. When I first
> hooked up the switch the tower was not grounded (
> just put the tower
>
>
> up
>
>
> the day before) . Does anyone w\know if this switch
> gets ground via
>
>
> the
>
>
> tower? and does anyone have an idea of what is wrong
> with my brand new
> ameritron switch?
>
> Thank you , Joe N4JBK
>
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> AN Wireless Self Supporting Towers at discounted prices,
> See <http://www.mscomputer.com>
>
> Wireless Weather Stations now $349.95. Call Toll Free,
> 888-333-9041 for additional information.
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> _______________________________________________
> AN Wireless Self Supporting Towers at discounted prices,
> See <http://www.mscomputer.com>
>
> Wireless Weather Stations now $349.95. Call Toll Free,
> 888-333-9041 for additional information.
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