[TowerTalk] Remote compass?

[john at kk9a.com]

Jim

I am not very familiar with SteppIR or AlfaSpid products.  I looked up the AlfaSpid RAK-1 rotator, I see a lot of side bolts on the mast mount, I am not sure how that grips the mast.  You could draw a line with a paint marker on the mast, rotator and antenna bracket to see which item is slipping.  Perhaps nothing is slipping -  I see that RAK-1 uses a reed switch.  I have a number of rotators that use these pulse sensors with Green Heron controllers and they are very sensitive to leakage.  I have had direction control issues that were caused by failed lightning protectors.  Another thing that is possible with pulse sensors is, if your controller is off and you have a strong enough wind to turn the motor, the controller will not know that the beam turned and when the controller is turned back on it will read the old beam heading. 

GL,
John  KK9A

From: Jim Miller <jim at jtmiller.com> 
Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2024 12:37 PM
To: john at kk9a.com
Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Remote compass?

I have on occasion found my antenna pointing as much as 40 degrees off the proper bearing. I recently had the antennas lowered to refurb my Steppir and made sure that all was very secure. Mast is really tight to the rotor which is effectively pinned to the tower. Antennas are tight to the mast. Something must go wrong but I don't know what it is and figuring it out when it is dark is very difficult. There is some backlash in my Alfaspid which if the wind was really blowing could cause tripping of the magnetic sensor but I've not been able to correlate it with a windy day. 

Hence the desire for a compass like the 403A.

I'm considering it.

jim ab3cv

On Sat, Nov 9, 2024 at 10:01 PM <mailto:john at kk9a.com> wrote:
So you don't trust your rotator's potentiometer or counter indicator?  4O3A
sells a controller that uses a boom mounted compass for directional
indication and I am told this works well.

John KK9A


Jim Miller AB3CV wrote:

Anyone know of a remote compass I could buy and place on my mast to know
where my beam is pointed when I can't see it?

Would need to withstand RF fields from 160 thru 6m from my 1500w amp.

Thanks

Jim ab3cv


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