[TowerTalk] Looking for Remote Rotator Control Methods

[Leeson]

I have the same issue, some 400' to towers sited for ground slope 
advantage. I use a pair of remote 24VDC relays for each rotator, with 
power supplied by Romex from the house and the relay coils and direction 
indicators run through CAT 5 cables.

The power from the house is off unless I'm rotating, turned on by a 
relay that goes on when I press the rotator control switch. For prop 
pitches without brakes, I use an extra large gauge cable for the power, 
and short it with the relay to provide some motor braking when off. The 
Green Heron unit might do this without a lot of home construction.

Future projects include non-potentiometer direction indicators for all 
rotators (compass units like 4O3A, or clickers?), and separate limit 
switches to prevent the too-often coax destruction that comes from 
direction indicator failure (ring rotors, I'm talking about you). Grant 
KZ1W, who has a bunch of rings on a tower, sent me photos of his limit 
switch setup that works right at the rotator. I'm not happy relying only 
on the unreliable direction indicator for over-rotation protection, and 
hope to work out something similar.

73 de Dave, W6NL/HC8L

On 2/17/26 1:32 PM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> I have used heavy gauge THHN for 400-500 ft rotator lines.  It is a easy
> solution that works perfectly (albeit somewhat expensive these days).  I am
> not aware of any rotator manufacture that specifies the allowable wire
> resistance or voltage drop so it's tough to choose the best wire size.
> 
> Another option is Green Heron Engineering makes a remote power unit for prop
> pitch rotators which runs on 120/240v A/C and it allows smaller gauge wire
> from the shack controller to the RPU.
> 
> John KK9A
> 
> 
> George Collins george.kc1v wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Have put up a second tower that will be used just for HF antennas.  It's in
> a nice location except for one problem: it's 500 feet away from my shack.
> I'm looking for suggestions on how to deal with a very long rotator cable
> run.  There is a barn with electricity a 100 feet from the tower where a
> controller could be located.  I'm thinking that I could run light-gauge
> control wires from the shack to a controller in the barn, thus avoiding the
> large IR drop in the motor wires.  The difficulty I see with this
> approach is the long run for the position indicator wires.  I think they
> will likely pick up RF or other electrical noise.  Perhaps some type of
> buffer or line driver could be used.
> 
> I would also consider just running heavy-conductor cable directly from the
> shack to the tower, if affordable cable was available.  I think I would
> still have to deal with long position-indicator lines.
> 
>   Perhaps a wireless solution may be the best method, but I would probably
> need to copy someone else's design.  I am familiar with various
> microcontrollers and SBCs, but I haven't done anything programming of WiFi
> networks, etc.  I would like to use the typical Hy-Gain/CDR type controller
> and I will probably use a HAM-IV rotator, although a Yaesu rotator is a
> possibibly.  Making electrical modifications to the rotator or controller
> is not a problem.
> 
> Any suggestions (other than moving the shack to the barn hi hi) will be
> very much appreciated.
> 
> 73,
> 
> George, KC1V
> 
> 
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