[TowerTalk] [PVRC] Mounting a Remote Antenna Switch?

[Gene Smar]

Eric:

      My comments embedded within your e-mail, below.


73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F


From: Eric Rosenberg <w3dq at arrl.net>
Date: 2007/12/06 Thu PM 02:11:51 CST
To: towertalk at contesting.com, PVRC Reflector <pvrc at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [PVRC] Mounting a Remote Antenna Switch?

I have an Ameritron RCS-8V I'd like to mount, along with lightning arrestors, inside a weatherproof box that will go on the exterior wall of my house (I don't have a tower, but do have a number of wire antennas). 

My questions: 

1.  Can I mount the RCS-8V with the relays facing out and not down, as one would if it was mounted on a tower or mast?

[AD3F]  Yes, I did that with my own COMTEK RCB-5 switch inside a Hoffman enclosure at the base of my tower in 2001 and I can still select whichever antenna I need.  No misoperation of the relays.


2.  Can I use CAT5 cable for the control line? It is 4 pairs of small gauge cable, and the switch wants 5 conductors. 

[AD3F]  Again yes.  I use Cat 5 wire for my switch box which is fifty feet from my shack.  If you had a much longer run (say, several hundred feet) Cat 5 might drop too much voltage to pull in the relays, depending on the source DC voltage inside your shack.  

Thanks, 

Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC 
_______________________________________________
PVRC mailing list
PVRC at mailman.qth.net
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/pvrc