[Boatanchors] Rotor problem

[K0DAN]

Glen:

This could be a sign of the rheostat ring on the rotor going bad (not a good 
thing). But could also be a symptom of its mate inside the control box also 
having ailments (corrosion, dirt, etc.). I'm not an expert on the Yaesu 
rotors but have had my share of problems.

The good news is they are fairly easy to ohm out and isolate if problem is 
rotor or controller. I'm go\\doing this by memory, but I believe if you ohm 
out the line going to the rotor, you want to have a total of 500 ohms (or 
600 ohms?) between the two outside leads, or sum the outsides + wiper.

Another good thing, you can put nominal 12V up the leads to the tower and 
turn the rotor...no indication but useful in an emergency and for 
troubleshooting.

Finally, one other bit of good news, I had a similar problem a few months 
ago, I did some random trial and error, and the problem went away. I know it 
could come back but I assume it was just corrosion on the pot inside the 
rotor....it's rare that I make it circle a full 360 degrees, but a few 
rotations and it seems to have cleaned itself up.

Good luck es 73

Dan
K0DAN (former MOT)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Glen Zook" <gzook at yahoo.com>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 7:42 PM
Subject: [Boatanchors] Rotor problem


> The rotor is used to turn the yagis on my main tower
> which are connected to boat anchors.  Therefore, there
> is a connection!
>
> My Yaesu G-1000SDX rotor just acquired the following
> problem:
>
> When the rotor is turned (either direction) the
> indicator in the control box starts turning fast.
> When the rotation switch is released the indicator
> drops back to where the antenna is pointed.  The
> "resting" point is accurate.  However, I cannot just
> rotate the yagis to a specific direction without
> starting and stopping the rotor several times.
>
> It started doing this a couple of hours ago.  I
> checked the 6-pin connector on the back of the control
> box (this is a problem area with the Yaesu rotors)
> including removing the cover on the plug that goes to
> the rotor cable and making sure there were no problems
> with the connections.  Also, I "bent" the pins on the
> 6-pin "Jones" connector so that they make a firm
> connection ("olde tyme" trick to "fix" connector
> problems on Motorola two-way equipment).  I checked
> the rotor cable from the shack to the tower (I haven't
> climbed the tower as yet).  Thought that there may be
> someting in the starting capacitor but the Yaesu
> doesn't use a starting capacitor (like the CDE rotors
> use).
>
> The rotor was functioning properly earlier today but
> when I started turning the antenna array towards the
> BS7H station it suddenly started malfunctioning.  I am
> hoping that someone else has run into this problem and
> has some "tips".  I acquired rheumatoid arthritis
> several years ago and I am able to climb only on "good
> days".  Therefore, I am "keeping my fingers crossed"
> that the problem is "on the ground"!
>
> Glen, K9STH
>
> Website:  http://k9sth.com
>
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