I use Cat5. I stripped the ends of the wires and twisted pairs of them together to get a thicker gauge. Works fine for me.

does anyone know what country the tdp2 antennacraft rotator is manufactured in?

Nevermind, it is made in china.

My wife went over to Ogdensburg and picked it up for me. No duty or taxes at the border...yeah!

I've been trying to research rotors, as I originally purchased a channel master and then after reading all the problems with them in the winter-quickly returned it. has anyone heard/used the Hy-Gain AR500 model? apparently its new and meant for antennas.

I am in the same boat as you as I was just considering that model yesterday. I am also looking at the hy gain ar 40 which is a a bit pricey but you get what you pay for. Another alternative of course is to try and find a good used one somewhere.

I emailed asking if this was good enough for a cm 4228 and was told that the AR 500 would be perfect, and that the AR 40 was not necessary. trying to find out who makes the RCA one, but can only find that it is made in Taiwan. I dont think Hy-Gain is made there, so it may actually be a different one-and cheaper quality?

I also was stung when I bought the popular rotor. I am looking a a Phillips and it looks alot like the RCA at WM. U gotta spend 400 to get a good one.

I am thinking about taking the plunge and buying the ar 40 if only for peace of mind.I dont want to have to climb my tower in the winter and mess about with a troublesome rotor.Its around 400 with taxes and shipping the only thing holding me back is possibility that I can score a good used one on the used/resale market.

I used to have one of these on a large VHF array. Worked flawlessly for several years and took it down when the positioner rheostat wore out... Was an easy fix but I found a TX2 locally and replaced the AR-40. I gave it to a friend who still uses it for their TV antenna system.

This rotor would be overkill for the average television antenna but if you want reliability you would have it. You might want to replace the rheostat and clean up/lube the gears if it is well used, before you install it. Also it bolts right onto the lower plate on Delhi tower's top section. Very simple easy to use control unit. Requires 5 wire cable. Parts still readily available as with most Hy-Gain products.

-C.

Hi All,

I am planning on mounting a 10' mast off my chimney maybe a 15' mast I.m not sure at the moment. I want to use the cm 9521a rotor. Now my question is what is the maximum lenght of pipe that can be used with the rotor to turn the antenna. I would appreciate any input. I will be using the cm4228hd antenna

Thanks

Mesels

The only restriction for the 9521a is the length of mast the antenna itself is mounted to. The manual says not to exceed three feet if the rotor alone is supporting the antenna.

The length of mast on which the rotor sits is pretty much irrelevant provided it's no wider than 1.5" OD.

Mesels, I currently have a DB8 chimney mounted on a 10' mast. As Mr Weather stated, according to the channel master literature, the antenna should be no more than 3' above the rotor. My chimney mounts are as wide as I can get them to try and ensure as much support as possible. Initially, I had just standard mounts that you can buy at various places. Eventually, these started to twist and bend from the wind load generated by the setup. I ended up fabricating similar looking mounts from flat bar purchased from the local TSC store and changed the U bolts to muffler clamps from the Canadian Tire. It gives much better support and strength now. In My opinion, if you want to be going more than 10', you might want to consider guy wires and or maybe even a support bearing. I know that 10' doesn't sound like much, but when you get the rotor at the end of the mast plus the antenna weight, I would guess you are probably looking at about 15 lbs up there getting blown around. Wait till you try and put it up and then you'll know what I mean. lol

I need an inexpensive rotor that can have a 10 foot pole above it to accommodate two antennas with good separation.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Don't know of any inexpensive rotors that could handle that kind of load. There are towers out there with rotor plates that allow for an external thrust bearing to be installed, supporting the weight of the antenna mast and antennas. All the rotor has to do is turn the mast.

Keep in mind the 9521a is pretty lightweight and has no formal brake mechanism (unlike amateur radio rotors like the Ham IV). What ends up happening is the torque induced by the mast of a larger antenna array ultimately strips the gears inside the rotor.

Place the motor in the tower... this will allow you to have more mast height ...

See this setup,

http://akn-systems.com/0000/channel-master.jpg

There are towers out there with rotor plates that allow for an external thrust bearing to be installed, supporting the weight of the antenna mast and antennas. All the rotor has to do is turn the mast.


The rotor still supports the weight of the mast and antennae. The thrust bearings' task is to handle lateral force on the mast (from wind). It keeps everything balanced and reduces forces on the rotator.

Hi!

I have two antennas on top of an old aging (and no longer working) Channel Master rotor.

IIRC the top one used to be moved by the rotor while the other always point to the same place...

How did they do that? I assume they put a smaller pole inside a bigger one and the antenna that moves is attached to the smaller pole while the one that doesn't is attached to the bigger pole.

I want to replace these two antennas by, preferably, only one antenna and, while I don't intend to use it normally, install a new rotor.

From what I gathered the CM rotors are no longer as good as they used to be but just how bad are they, can I expect them to work for at least 5 years for example? If not I could probably get a higher quality rotor but I would prefer to avoid this since in theory I would normally not change the antenna position.

The reason why I don't intend to use the rotor normally is that I will connect my HTPC to my antenna so I don't want to have to move the antenna position to get some channels. I want a rotor just in case I might have to make a small correction to the antenna position because of weather, etc...

Thank you!

Nick

Knight,
Have you considered taking the CM rotor down to see what's wrong with it?
Might just need to be freed up. There's not much to them. I was able to fix the hand me down that I have here. Was frozen when I got it, and has been working fine since freeing it up and lubricating, for about a year and a half now.

Alternatively, does anyone have any experience with the Eagle Aspen ROTR100?
Especially in terms of performance in cold winters???
It sounds like it's using Diseqc to send the power and control signals up the coax, so no
rotor control cable required. And it uses hall effect sensors for control feedback. Very rare feature for a consumer grade antenna rotor.
Although it sounds llke the diseqc interface introduces some extra losses, one can get around that by sending a separate feed for it's power.
The diseqc interface is what intrigues me.

The rotor still supports the weight of the mast and antennae. The thrust bearings' task is to handle lateral force on the mast (from wind). It keeps everything balanced and reduces forces on the rotator.
Maybe I'm thinking of something else. On my amateur radio tower I have a thrust bearing that is clamped to the antenna mast and carries all the weight. The rotor (Yaesu G450) is mounted below on a plate and simply turns the antenna. It isn't supporting any weight.

Hi majortom!

Knight,
Have you considered taking the CM rotor down to see what's wrong with it?

That would end up costing way too much as I am afraid of heights so I have to have this done by somebody else and the person I found to do this will both repaint the tower on which it is installed and replacing the antenna but only if I rent some sort of platform so that he can do it safely.

Might just need to be freed up. There's not much to them. I was able to fix the hand me down that I have here.

And it might even end up being more reliable than a new model, I know...

(From what I gathered the quality of cm rotors was better back then...)

Thank you!

Nick

PS: I am still trying to get more info for your S/N problem, sorry it is taking so much time, things have just been very crazy both at home and at work...