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[VHFcontesting] Small Pistol Needs a Faster Gun (er..rotor)

To: "vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu" <vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu>, VHF Contesting Reflector <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Small Pistol Needs a Faster Gun (er..rotor)
From: Les Rayburn <les@highnoonfilm.com>
Reply-to: les@highnoonfilm.com
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:07:39 -0600
List-post: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com">mailto:vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
When you have a weak signal, you have to resort to some techniques to help you work new stations during a contest or band opening.

One technique that has worked for me is to "piggy back" the contacts of bigger stations. This past weekend, I made several contacts by listening to Neil Taylor N4ION works stations. I'd hear Neil give their call sign, quickly enter it into QRZ.com or check it against my cheat-sheet of frequent VHF operators, and then spin the beam in their direction.

If I'm quick enough, I can usually call them at the end of Neil's contact, and snag a new one. But this is dependent on being able to get the beam around fast enough. I'm using a Channel Master TV rotor to spin the beams in my attic. It's reasonably accurate in it's pointing but slow....

A few months ago, I swapped it out for for a used Ham VI rotor, but didn't find it to be much faster, and disliked the analog controller.

So, I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of a faster rotor. Do they publish specs on the rotational speed of these things? Any help at all appreciated.
--
73,

*Les Rayburn, N1LF*
EM63nf
121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114
6M VUCC #1712
Grid Pirates #222
Life Member Central States VHF

WPC4LF Popular Communications Monitor ID

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