[TowerTalk] Rotor control

[Jim Hargrave]

Lee,

My tower is not 750ft away, however, 750 ft. should not be a problem for the
position indicator. The problem would be the loss of power to the rotor
motor. I would suggest he install a power supply and relays for the
motor/brake at the base of the tower and operate the relays with the
existing controller.

I have a Prop Pitch drive motor on my tower and have this arraignment. My
controller activates the relays at the tower. I am using the conventional
azimuth feedback from the position pot. This position pot current is very
low, so the 750 ft. should not present a big loss. The controller
calibration should have enough range to compensate for the small loss. The
relays can be operated by the same motor power supply and activated by using
a TIP-120 Darlington power transistor. This would virtually eliminate any
high current requirements from the controller. A Darlington transistor could
also be incorporated into the position feedback if necessary.

All lines should be bypassed at each end to avoid RFI/static interference.

   * 73's Jim W5IFP *


   >-----Original Message-----
   >From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
   >[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Its from Onion
   >Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 5:26 AM
   >To: A TOWER TALK GROUP
   >Subject: [TowerTalk] Rotor control
   >
   >
   >I have a question that was asked of me and I thought I would
   >put it to the group.
   >
   >A friend needs to control his rotor from a rather long distance
   >of 750 feet away.
   >My first thought was ditch the 'traditional' rotor box and just
   >run power to a step-down transformer
   >of the correct value and use wireless video for a 'spotter' to
   >check direction.
   >Then I thought, is there a company that builds a digital
   >encoder/decoder for this exact application?
   >Of course, lighting protection is always a issue.
   >
   >BTW, thanks everyone on the dipole help.  The wire went up
   >Sunday, but Monday I gave birth
   >to a 1.2mm bouncing baby kidney stone!  It was my first and,
   >WOW!  Anyway, the dipole is delayed
   >a bit while I recoup.
   >Also to answer another question about that antenna, it is for
   >mulit-band use and I live on a hillside
   >so an inverted 'L' was a no go first off.
   >
   >Thanks all and
   >
   >73,
   >Lee
   >KE4VYN
   >HTTP://WWW.QRZ.COM/CALLSIGN/KE4VYN<http://www.qrz.com/CALLSIGN/KE4VYN>
   >
   >
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