I was thinking that a power window motor off of most any car would make a
great driver for the rotor. I would just need to find or make the matching
gear for the mast.
I could also use small SPST momentary contact switches on a the outside of
a cog, wired to leds to indicate direction ( I have hundreds of leds and
about 30 of so small SPST's on hand.)
I would just have to make me a ring of led's in the shack and wire them to
the proper LED in the compass ring.
I also have some multi lead cable (there has to be 50 wires in this cable
that I picked up at an auction, it was in a crate I bought for $5)
To tell the truth, it sounds like a fun project.
The only hard part that I can think of is the gear for the mast pole.
Ideas?
Joe
KI4ILB
> Joe .. that is part of the fun of Amateur Radio, `spearmintin' and like
> that! In the days of yore, many a ham shack had directional antennas
turned
> by hand .. called the "ARMSTRONG METHOD" .. I have had some like that, a
> couple as simple as a nylon line looped around the front of a yagi
antenna,
> with appropriate tie-off points in the wanted directions ... with a
> tri-bander or like that, you don't need any north-pointing hoot owls or
like
> that .. find Polaris, stick a stake that-a-way, and go for it. Look for
> ancient publications with Armstrong Rotator install hints .. not too hard
to
> find .. lots of hams had steering wheels with compass points to spin that
> thar aerial! AND .. you can find bargains on rotators from time to time,
> especially if you are willing to take them apart and get them functioning
> ... not brain surgery, and lots of help available here, and at the rotator
> (or, rotor .. like you had in your `57 Chevvy distributor) repair places,
> they are really swell at providing info, and have parts galore... quite
> reasonable to redo as new!
> 73 Mark Nelson - AA6DX
>
> mailto: AA6DX@ARRL.NET
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Merlin-7 KI4ILB" <merlin-7@sc.rr.com>
> To: "Mike Rhodes" <weightdn@adelphia.net>; <TOWERTALK@contesting.com>
> Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 3:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower mast..
>
>
> OK I'm busted...
> My budget is going to be very tight for a while after I move to the new
> qth. I kinda put my foot down with the wife so that I can get the funds
for
> the tower but there is not much left over after that (unless the home I am
> in now sells for a bit more than I think it will)
> Most of you might know where I am going with this by now...
>
> For a while I can see me turning the beams by hand. That should not be a
> problem (just a pain in !$$) as the tower will be right next to my shack.
> I could keep that set up and build a chain or gear driven rotor myself
and
> add it later. I know its better just to buy one but like most hams, I like
> building stuff.
> Joe
> KI4ILB
>
>
> > Maybe I"m overlooking something but, where does the rotor go once you
> > have the mast sitting on a steel ball in the base of the tower?
> >
> > Mike / W8DN
> >
>
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>
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