I was wondering if I could replace the control box for a radio shack style rotor with a weeder product relay board to turn the power on or off and control a rotor by computer software control as with Perl in mister house rather than using the supplied controller.

The weeder has a relay that could theoretically be attached directly to the 3 wires from the rotor , with one wire as main power from a transformer.

The other relays could close or open the other wires to move the rotor . I think I'm vauge on how the three wires are used to control the rotor and how the weeder relay board could be used to do this ..... thoughts?

See Post #330 - you should be able to build a manual test rig with a switch that is open at the centre, closed negative in one direction and closed positive in the other. From there you can come up with a switching system to automate it. :)

Since we do not want to be going up on the roof after it is installed, we think it is worth getting a better rotator. The Yaeus is less money but does anyone have experience with it to know if it is as good as the Ar-40?

With two antennas what do I buy so the rotator can work for both?

The Yaesu will work fine. I've had my G450 on the tower for over 7 trouble-free years turning an amateur radio yagi which is much, MUCH bigger and heavier than any tv antenna.

I am leaning towards the Yaesu G450 but what about the AR38 with a remote? Will I regret not having a remote?

A remote control is definitely a nice feature to have. It saves you from having to get up off the couch to re-point the antenna.

I have no personal experience with Hy-Gain rotors but I have heard/read they are very reliable.

And with a universal remote like a Harmony you can program it to not only change the channel on your HDTV, PVR, etc. but also on the rotor controller too, all with one button or sequence. You'd just have to keep in mind the rotation time for the antenna to move to different station bearings.

I took down a DMX 48' yesterday, and the rotor on the tower has a sticker that says "Model 9503". It has a 4 conductor control cable.

Anyone know the make of this one? I suspect that it's Channel Master (it resembles the current CM rotor). The unit looks to be about 40 years old.

9503 ,That was a very good rotor in it's time,the control box had a meter to indicate direction,and worked by pressing down on a bar type switch,one side for clockwise rotation,the other side for counterclockwise.that drive motor was built to a better quality then today's channel master rotors are!there are like the old 9512,9513,9515. I have a few of these old units in my garage to replace the new failing drive motors,they all work great with the new remote control box,even that 4 wire unit you have,on that unit you connect terminal 1 to 1, 2 to 4, and 3 to 3.

I have an old CM rotor that seems to be indestructible. It's been up there for at least 20 years, probably longer (long enough to forget how old it is) and may even have been used when I got it. i also have a spare so I'm not too worried.
The problem is the control. The original finally stripped its gear a few months ago. The garage-sale replacement only lasted a few months. Another stripped gear. Actually, it still works, but without any direction indicator. The consensus in this thread seems to be that the new Chinese rotors are junk, so it looks like I should try to keep my old one and just replace the control box.
It looks like my options are:
Keep looking for garage sale control boxes. Will any 3-wire CM control work? The 2 that I have used looked different, probably not the same model, but they both seemed to work the same.
or
Buy a new control box. I haven't tried to buy one separately, but someone in this thread said they do come that way. I assume the new ones are solid-state, no moving parts, so they should overcome the problem of plastic gears wearing out or becoming brittle with age. My significant other does a lot of scanning, hoping to make the reception just a little better, so wear is an issue.
or
I have a couple of spare 4-wire controls. Is there a way to connect them so they'll work?

btw, I'm not concerned about whether the control has a remote. I just used a longer control cable so the control could sit on the table beside the couch. There's nothing that says the rotor control has to be by the TV and this way there's one less remote to keep track of.

uglydukwing,yes any 3-wire channel master,crown, archerotor and even radioshack and antennacraft control box will work with your channel master drive motor. the new remote control boxes are a good idea no moving parts to go bad,but i would stick with your old drive motor and just replace your control box the older motors are built sturdier,i have quite a few of them!

Eagle Aspen ROTR100 rotors have started to arrive at US distributors..

This one is unique since it's a single-wire version and doesn't require a multi-conductor rotor cable for installation.

Hi,
That's is nice to hear. Will it come up to Canada also? I would perfer one that works on a F.M. transmition that you have no cables to rotate the Rotor.
Ted+:o

http://www.eagleaspen.com/admin/product/fujian/file_251.pdf

I like the concept: It uses your coax for power--no need for a separate control cable. And it will also work with a pre-amp. Though I couldn't determine if you must use their proprietary amp, or if any pre-amp will work with this setup. My guess is that you'll need to use their preamp.

Any preamp that can run on 17-18 volts DC and pulls less than 75-80 mA of current will be compatible with it

I inquired about this rotor about 18 months ago. The distributor I communicated with was advised by the manufacturer that they weren't available in Canada and units destined for the US had been re-engineered for some undisclosed problem. The lack of presence in Canada could be some CSA thing.

I like the concept. I'm used to Diseqc through my FTA experience.

The lack of presence in Canada could be some CSA thing.No CSA certification usually means some home insurance implications if they have to pay out in the case of a fire, but thankfully a rotor is a relatively low power device.

This has got me thinking about the single coax cable idea: as we know, traditional rotors use separate wires for control and not the coax that carries the TV/FM signal. With a single cable carrying signal and rotor control, I wonder if there would be a risk that a rotor seizure or other malfunction would cause electronic damage to other OTA gear, such as an HDTV's ATSC tuner... just a thought.

The Eagle Aspen is a poor performer and was not as they claimed and in the end I was told that production stopped long before they got in too deep.

KInd of like the Toyota gas pedal incident is going to be in the future.

They would have been better off if they would have not used the faulty unit or not made the car at all, or sold the car at a higher price with a better design then to make a million of them and risk having 100,000 law suits.

Hmmm. If that's the case, too bad.

Though I like the idea that older rotor technology can be updated with newer tech. For example, using PLC (power line communications) via unused spectrum over coax with powering. Or even perhaps wireless control of the rotor?

Diseqc motor control has been used for a number of years on motorized FTA dishes. Works fine for that purpose. Don't know why someone couldn't make a decent antenna rotor using the technology.