Hi Rick,
I'm in the same boat as you and have been considering alternatives. Since
only three of the wires need to be substantial size you might install a
breakout box on the tower and split the cable in two with one being a heavy
duty, outdoor, 3-wire extension cord and the other being any suitable, light
2-conductor cable to carry the position signal.
There are actually a few "real" rotor cables that will work (assuming your
run isn't over 300'). You need a minimum of three #14s and two #22s. The
best deal I found last summer was from Array Solutions, their #R4, at
$.45.ft. It's two #14s and six #18s so you just parallel three (or four if
you want) of the #18s to give you the third #14. (Paralleling two wires
drops the equivalent wire size by three wire gauges.) The price has
probably increased since then. RF Connection had the same stuff and the
same price as long as you bought in 100' increments. If your run is over
300' they (RFC) also have a heavier cable with two #12s and six #16s.
Hope that helps.
73 - JC, K0HPS
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Rick Karlquist
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 1:44 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Long rotor cable runs w/legacy Orion
I have an Alfa Spid rotator and an legacy M2/Orion rotator with AC motor.
The Alfa Spid guys say that you can use long runs of skinny
wire to operate the rotator, and make up for the voltage
drop by boosting the voltage at the controller end.
The Alfa uses a DC motor. Can I do the same thing with the Orion:
start out with more than 24VAC to make up for voltage drop?
I can see why this might not work with a HyGain rotator
because the capacitor is not located at the motor, and the
brake release solenoid is another complication. However,
the legact Orion has no brake and the cap is in the rotator case.
Rick N6RK
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