[TowerTalk] Green Heron + Alpa Spid, suddenly 30 degrees off

[Andreas Hofmann]

John,

The alpha spid rotator uses a magnetic reed switch and is advertised with a 1 degree precision (http://alfaradio.ca/alfaspid-1.html). Also, I can still turn the antenna and the controller advances the reading, it is just off by the fixed offset.

Will see if I can just reapply the offset.

Thanks
Andreas


-----Original Message-----
From: john at kk9a.com [mailto:john at kk9a.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 4:19 AM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Cc: Andreas Hofmann
Subject: re: [TowerTalk] Green Heron + Alpa Spid, suddenly 30 degrees off

I am not sure what type of sensor the Alpa Spid uses. I recently had a potentiometer in a TIC ring get very tight and all of a sudden that antenna was not pointing where the controller said it was. If the Alpa Spid uses a pot, do you have another controller that you can try? With the Green Heron controller, it is possible to accidentally change the offset or direction reading (if using a reed switch). If this is a common problem for you, I believe that you can lock the menu.

John KK9A



To:	 "towertalk at contesting.com" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject:[TowerTalk] Green Heron + Alpa Spid, suddenly 30 degrees off
From:	 Andreas Hofmann <Andreas.Hofmann at microsoft.com>
Date:	 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 04:26:49 +0000

Hi,

I noticed that my beam heading is off about 30 degrees suddenly. It does not appear that the mast has come loose. I am guessing the offset setting just somehow got lost.  Before I go in the settings and fix the value, I wanted to ask here.

Does anyone had this happen to them and/or does anyone have an idea what could be wrong?  Could a power outage cause this?

Thanks
Andy,
KU7T