[TowerTalk] Ameritron and Array Solutions antenna switches - question

[Jim Lux]

At 08:30 PM 5/13/2007, Peter Dougherty wrote:
>All this talk about Ameritron and A/S antenna relays has just hit my
>radar screen and I have a question. First off, I know and respect Jay
>tremendously, have bought from him in the past, will do so again (and
>again and again), but on this issue, I'm curious. What does Jay's RAT
>Pack or SIX PACK do than the Ameritron RCS- series boxes don't do?

The relay switching matrix is arranged differently, so one or the 
other might be more convenient for how you want to wire things 
up.  For instance, the RCS-8V is basically configured at 5 relays in 
a star around a common point.  You can set the relays in the RCS-8V 
up so that they are either open or grounded when the coil isn't energized.

The RCS8V uses rivets to connect the SO-239 connector grounds, and on 
my switches, some of the rivets aren't all that well installed 
(partially off the hole, for instance).  Probably good enough, but if 
you're a perfectionist, you'll be unhappy.


>I was thinking of buying the RCS-12 automatic remote switch at Dayton
>but now I'm thinking a little and would really like to understand
>what the primary differences are. I run single-op pretty well
>exclusively. I'm planning on converting 4 runs of RG-213 going up the
>tower now to just one run of 1/2" Heliax (with one of the 213 lines
>available as backup), then a remote switch at the top with 3 yagis
>and an inverted vee.

Look at the relay configurations and decide if it does what you want 
(in terms of isolation between ports and grounding of unused ports).