magnum,

You may not need the rotor, given the right antenna, depending on your location.

Do you have a pic of the full antenna?

If it's a VHF only antenna, then your results are not surprising. All the channels you're getting are low 20's, while your problem channel (CTV on 40) is probably only coming in due to proximity.

Hello everyone
I am relatively new to OTA and thus the forum as well so as usual with newbie questions, please forgive my ignorance. I have searched for my answers and am not sure that my questions are advanced enough to have received a response in the past.
You see, for a living I am an Audio Visual Design Engineer for an Audio Visual Integration firm in Markham ON. So my knowledge of A/V in general is very strong, HOWEVER, my knowledge of RF, antenna's, and the related equipment is limited due to my age :rolleyes:
I can't say that I've used OTA for anything more that coat-hanger reception at the cottage when I was a kid on my parents 13" B+W tube.

So, here goes.

I have reinstated my neighbours UHF/VHF antenna to see what I could get out of it. My reception results are posted in the Barrie ON section of the reception results thread.
It is an older combo antenna and has rotor on the top (I'm positive that's what it is) and all cables up the mast have been cut and forgotten about. I have since placed a coupler on the antenna cable and run it into the house and achieved some reception results with the antenna facing due South. My question comes from no knowledge of antenna's whatsoever (never having had to use them before).
And finally the question:
Leading down the mast is a cable that I'm assuming is coming from the rotor. It seems to be a 3-con unshielded cable. I'm assuming that these are control wires for direction. Are these cables supposed to be powered lines that are activated by a controller? Looking at them I would assume that the cables are as follows:
1 + Rotate left (Or vice versa)
2 + Rotate right (Or vice versa)
3 - Shared common

Am I correct or are these just low-voltage contacts leading to the rotor to give it commands (If this was the case, their would need to be a separate power wire to the rotor, so I assume that this is not the case)?

So assuming that I am correct, what kind of power are we talking about? They looked fairly small so are we talking roughly 12V DC or something like that? I'm not asking you to pin it down exactly, I would just like to know roughly what I'm looking for.

I've got lots more questions to go but I'll leave it at that for now.

Thanks

Schwartz

Looking at them I would assume that the cables are as follows:
1 + Rotate left (Or vice versa)
2 + Rotate right (Or vice versa)
3 - Shared commonThe controller box would supply the 3-wire cable with about 18 to 20V (some rarer ones go up into the 30s) and either the Left or Right wire would temporarily receive the opposite charge in order to make the rotor turn in that direction. You can read some great earlier posts in this thread that describe it in more detail.

If I inhereted a cut-down set of rotor gear like yours my first task would be to either take the rotor down for testing or try to test it from below with a controller box or even by touching the leads to a suitable power supply to see if it still works.

That's what I was thinking. If it's just 18-20VDC, I could test it with a generic Power Supply. How do you take a rotor down for testing? Is the mast not attached to it? Or is the mast attached to the main tower and the rotor just butts it's drive gear up against it?

So far, the DC power supply sounds much simpler.

As has been mentioned before in this forum, rotors generally use 2 phase AC motors, NOT DC motors. They can be tested on a bench, but it's a little bit more complex.

magnum,

You may not need the rotor, given the right antenna, depending on your location.

Do you have a pic of the full antenna?

If it's a VHF only antenna, then your results are not surprising. All the channels you're getting are low 20's, while your problem channel (CTV on 40) is probably only coming in due to proximity.
I believe you are absolutely correct. I believe my antenna is a VHF/FM antenna. I will try to post a complete picture later.

I apologize for my lack of knowledge but I have begun reading through the different threads and trying to gain as much information as possible.

I am sure I will have more questions but I will ask them in the appropriate threads.

I apologize iblackford, but as stated earlier, I did a search for rotor and came up with 40 threads worth of receptions results. I see in this particualr thread that they have addressed that.
I found a rotor controller in the classifieds for $20.

no apology necessary, just wanted to make sure we have the correct information in this forum.

Good luck with your controller, let us know how it works for you.

If you have no luck with a controller, feel technically competant, and want to build a circuit to drive the rotor, I can draw up a circuit to do so and post it here.

Hi All:

Thanks for the comments thus far in response to my previous post about rotor support/thrust bearings. I've found two different styles of bearings, one that literally supports the mast from below and another that supports the mast laterally only. Since my rotor (Alliance T-45) has the tab that requires it to be mounted atop the support mast (so that the support mast cannot pass above the rotor) and I'd prefer to not break off that tab (as I understand is sometimes suggested as a mounting option), I would only use a support bearing below the rotor, perhaps a foot or so below.

With this in mind, I was wondering if anyone had a strong preference for either style of support bearing among the two shown below, both of which appear to be currently available. Thanks again for your comments.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=146&pictureid=3735
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=146&pictureid=3734
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=146&pictureid=3737

Well, a bit ago, I received a call while at work that half the power in the house was off. Not much I could do 'till I got home. I found that my antenna controller had 'blown a gasket' and tripped the breaker for that circuit. My problem has been finding another.

It's an old 'Venture' 30 volt 3 wire job. It looks just like an old Channel Master. I've found a couple on Ebay but no one will send to Canada. So..

Will a Channel Master 9537 drive the old 30 volt rotator? If so, I would go that way. Alternatively, if anyone within a reasonable distance from London has an old controller that would work and that they'd be willing to part with, or if anyone can point me to one...

Thanks in advance.

your control box is a channel master 9512 control box sold by HOME HARDWARE STORES , i have 10 of these controls,they where made in canada in st thomas. i have a couple on kijji oshawa.

I pulled an old rotor off a dismantled tower and I would like to know the manufacturer as it is not labeled clearly. The rotor has the marking Y 16 and 13081 stamped on it and a small circle with a number inside it I think. There do not seem to be any other identifying marks inside or out. It is a 3 wire rotor

Hmmm. Can you post a pic of it?

Sounds like a Channel Master rotor. All Channel Master antenna rotors use 3 conductor rotor wire. Is it like this one ?

http://www.starkelectronic.com/cmig10.htm

Radio Shack also sold rebranded Channel Master rotors (or their clones, who knows, heh)

Here are a few photos. It lookshttp://photobucket.com/tv-09 like a CM

http://photobucket.com/tv-09

Doesnt look to be in bad shape, once you clean it up and get the rust off the threads.
You could get a remote control box for it.

Their newer units look to have a cheaper plastic case:

You could get a remote control box for it.
Besides the standard remote control box, you could also get a infrared remote controlled remote box with memory for it. :p

so i need about 175 feet or so of rotor wire, what gauge do you think would be the best to use. Currently i have some solid wire CAT5 network cable braided in two and it works some times most of the time though it doesn't seem to be delievering the power it needs to spin the rotor any suggestions would be great! The only rotor wire i can seem to find around here is the CM 22 gauge wire, will that work good for sure? Thanks

well i went to home depot today and asked if they had any 18 gauge 3 wire, they said yup using it for your central vac.... um no, my rotor? guy kind of looked at me funny... anyways it's 18 gauge 3 wire solid copper, hooked it up in the rain today and i'm happy to say that my rotor has never been more reliable, works great! can actually tune in all my channels now.

I'm contemplating installing an attached antenna tower to my house in Toronto.

I'm trying to price everything out to do the cost-benefit analysis.

I'm stuck on rotors.

The most ubiquitous rotor seems to be the Channel Master 9521A. But there is much discussion here about how they are unreliable in cold weather.

I'm considering a 15-17lb Winegard HD7697P on a mast, with a thirty foot tower. I had been thinking 30 ft tower with 10 foot mast. After reading about rotors, now I'm thinking about a shorter mast and possibly ten extra feet of tower.

Is there a consensus go-to rotor that is dependable all year round?