Bill, et. al.,
I agree that the Ham series rotors will have problems with big antennas,
however, if you are on a budget and you know about the modes of failure,
you can make them work. Two of the rules I now go by are:
1) Never let the antenna coast to a stop anywhere near the rotation
ends (usually south). In fact, don't turn it close to due south. If
your beam is large, it has a big moment of inertia, and it will damage
the stop mechanism.
2) I don't pin the rotor either, but I do clamp the mast pretty tight.
3) There are some other things to be aware of, like loose bolts, etc.
I have a web page detailing some of my bad experiences where I learned
these tips at:
http://people.wallawalla.edu/~Rob.Frohne/Rotor/rotor.html
The best thing about the CDE series or rotors is that they can often be
found for $100 used, and they are fairly easy to repair if necessary,
because parts can still be purchased. They can also be upgraded to the
Ham IV relatively inexpensively if you have a Ham-M, Ham II, or III. I
also recommend the superwedge from C.A.T.S.
73,
Rob, KL7NA
On Mon, 2008-06-02 at 17:33 -0400, Cqtestk4xs@aol.com wrote:
> Although the "Ham" series may be rated at 12.5 and 15 for the Ham 3 and Ham
> 4, in the real world it ain't so. Having used the 4 series and the
> Tailtwister for years, experience prevents me from putting anything bigger
> than a big
> triabander of around 9-10 on a 4 and nothing much more than around 12 or 13
> on the Tailtwister..unless of course you want to do gear work on it every
> couple of years.
>
> Cheaping out on the rotor is only for those who like to climb and do rotor
> replacement.
>
> YMMV.
>
> Bill KH7XS/K4XS
>
>
>
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