[TowerTalk] Alfa Spid rotator

Bill Turner dezrat at copper.net
Sun Sep 24 22:16:52 EDT 2006


ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 11:48:04 -0700, "Richard (Rick) Karlquist"
 <richard at karlquist.com> wrote:

>The one major
>shortcoming is that the controller box does not support
>north centered antennas, and it does not support DCU-1 protocol.
>If you read the manual, you might think that it supports north
>centering and DCU-1, but it does not actually support them.
>The prognosis for getting the control box firmware fixed is
>not good.

------------ REPLY FOLLOWS ------------

I'm not concerned about the DCU-1 protocol (yet) but the lack of
North-centering does concern me. From reading the manual, quoted
below, it seems that after doing the reset procedure, one can indeed
go both sides of North, with the ccw direction being in "over-travel"
mode but perfectly usable. Are you saying your rotator can not do
this?


Here is the quote from the manual:

"Since there are no mechanical limits in the rotator, it may be
installed with the antenna pointing in any direction. There is no
reason to locate “TRUE NORTH” until you are ready to calibrate the
control box. Use the controller to position the antenna to physically
point north, then reset the controller as follows:
Turn the unit OFF.
While holding the button depressed turn control unit back on. This
will now show on the display. The controller is now set for
North. The display may also show – press the button to cycle
thru to the normal (i.e. blank) setting.
This feature can be used if, for any reason, the direction of the
antenna becomes incorrect. This may be caused by antenna to mast
slippage or incorrect initial alignment.
IMPORTANT:
The AlfaSpid rotator is now set at the counter-clockwise end of its
normal rotation range. Normal rotation range is in a clockwise
direction for 360 degrees.
From the reset position, you can rotate counter-clockwise an
additional 180 degrees in over-travel, as well 360 degrees clockwise,
plus an additional 180 degrees into clockwise over-travel.
Counter-clockwise over-travel is indicated by a steady dot above the
over-travel icon. Rotation past 359 degrees into the clockwise
over-travel is indicated by a blinking dot above the over-travel
icon."


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