[TowerTalk] Circuit for SteppIR controller?

[Jim Lux]

At 07:08 AM 6/11/2007, James C. Garland wrote:
>Is the schematic for the steppIR controller circuit available anywhere?  I'd
><snip>
>
>I also understand that it's good not to put a lot of electronics out on the
>tower, but it's also asking for trouble to run a sixteen conductor cable out
>to a tower. Some sort of serial interface with a decoder at the antenna
>might eliminate a lot of these kinds of problems. How about an optical fiber
>for the control cable? Then all one would need is a 24V power source at the
>tower and there would be no worry about lightning problems.


I fully agree.. but look at all the "oh my gosh, it's got too much 
complexity on the tower" kinds of comments they have now, with ONLY a 
stepper...

yes, one could build a very robust, lightning proof, drive 
electronics fairly easily.

heck, why not use an RF link, instead of running an optical cable. An 
optical cable is a very nice solution, but a tad pricey for the 
endpoints.. cable's cheap, transmitter/receiver are not)

I've been fooling around a bit with some 2.4GHz hardware to see how 
"HF RF immune" it is, for just this sort of thing. Haven't got any 
definitive answers yet, though.