[TowerTalk] Max antenna weight

[john at kk9a.com]

I think that most ham rotators are toys. 25 years ago I had two towers
with Hy-Gain HDR300 rotators. I agree that they were easy to repair.  I
too had a spare but these rotators required frequent repairs. I switched
to an old Telrex unit which never failed and now I am using prop pitch
rotators.

John KK9A


To:	"'Roger \(K8RI\) on TT'"
<K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net>,	<towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject:	Re: [TowerTalk] Max antenna weight
From:	"John Langdon" <jlangdon1 at austin.rr.com>
Date:	Tue, 10 Nov 2015 05:11:03 -0600


I used HDR300s for years, setup with a 2:1 gears to turn rotating towers,
including the add on limit switches.  In this application antenna weight and
balance did not matter.  Inertia and holding torque did.

The bad news was they broke often, so I ended up keeping a complete spare
unit that could be swapped out while I fixed the broken one. Luckily the
rotors were mounted at ground level.

The good news was they were fairly easy to work on, and parts and support
were readily available from HyGain.  When the company was sold, the status
and support for that particular rotor became pretty uncertain, and I
hopefully switched to something else.

I have since tried several 'husky' rotors with impressive torque specs, and
had lots of problems.  Like the HDR300, I spent more time on repairs than I
did actually operating the station.

In retrospect, given the many hours of troubleshooting and repair, and even
at my low hourly labor rate, it would have been cheaper in the long run to
just bite the bullet and get a prop pitch. I am a lot happier now, and I get
on the air a lot more.

73 John N5CQ