Jim,
I'm no expert but I do have a 3 el SteppIR and a cable run of 350 ft.
Perhaps my experiences will be helpful.
For the SteppIR control I use their 33 Volt power supply with the
control cable I bought from SteppIR.
My rotor is a Yaesu G-1000DXA (same 350' length cable run). I used
Yaesu Rotor control cable, item number 311 from the Wireman. That's 6
conductor, 18 gauge.
The SteppIR operation is flawless. The rotator runs smoothly. I keep
the speed a bit lower that the mid point on the speed dial.
So far, the worse winds we've had were 60 mph gusts. Rotator turned
with no problem. Don't know what will happen with a real wind.
This is a new installation and I haven't done any big contests yet so I
can't comment on that aspect.
Hope this helps.
73... Bill ND9E
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 3:03 PM
To: Tower Talk List
Subject: [TowerTalk] Rotor for Long Cable Run
I'm planning the install for a 3-el SteppIR (w/6M element) that requires a
cable run of about 400 ft. (no 30M/40M elements -- I've already got dipoles
at 100 ft).
I'll be doing a lot of contesting, so I don't want it to be TOO slow.
Considering the cost of copper, I can spend a few more bucks on the rotor if
it's more tolerant of copper loss. I would prefer not to go to the trouble
of remote relays if I can avoid it.
Other considerations: This is going to be on a tall tower and I'm well past
my climbing days, so paying more for reliability is a no- brainer. The tower
and the antenna will be sheltered from the wind in a dense grove of
redwoods, and top winds outside the grove are about
85 mph. Computer control is not important for me.
The cost of copper is going to be quite significant. The questions are,
1) how much (that is, how big) copper do I really heed, and
2) Which rotor should I use?
Thoughts?
73,
Jim K9YC
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