Saturday, June 7, 2014

MOXON Antenna Project -- Need Rotator Advice

 
 
I've been put together a fishing pole MOXON antenna for 17 meters.  It will be used with my 5 Watt BITX rig.  I need something to spin it around.   I know that many of the cheap TV rotators don't hold up very well.  I had one die quickly out in the Azores.  There seems to be several brands out there, but the rotators and the control boxes look suspiciously similar. 
 
Is there any brand out there that is more robust and reliable than rest? 


I came up with a pretty cool way of affixing the corners of the antenna elements to the fishing poles.  That coil-like thing is the wire part of a bungee cord.  It fits nicely into the end of the fiberglass pole. You have to be sure to get the pole length and the element dimensions properly proportioned, with a sufficient amount of bend in the poles.

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6 comments:

  1. KimJune 7, 2014 at 10:28 PM

    Hi Bill,

    Are the fishing pole telescoping?

    Whats the wall thickness of the ends of the poles there with the bungee strap hooks?

    73, Kim VK5FJ

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff ko7mJune 8, 2014 at 3:09 PM

    Hi Bill,

    The cheap TV rotors are mostly junque with cast gears, etc. But they are cheap and will probably give you service for a while (or until the first big wind). Walmart for example has them at around $70.

    http://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-Antenna-Rotator-w-IR-Remote-Control/14554636

    Good luck!

    73's de Jeff - ko7m

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 8, 2014 at 11:41 PM

    Pole mount the antenna against the roof eave and rotate the pole through the window with elbow grease.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJune 9, 2014 at 9:17 PM

    Moxon, moxoff!

    I say spring for a Yaesu and ditch the cheap TV rotors. We bought a Yaesu for the UVa club and it worked great.

    - Bert WF7I

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bill MearaJune 13, 2014 at 9:28 PM

    The poles are telescoping. I'm not using the last (very thin) segment. They appear 2-3 mills thick where I'm inserting the bungee hook. I've reinforced it by inserting pieces of scrap fishing pole, effectively doubling the thickness. I'll also wrap with Gorilla tape.
    Hy-Gain AR-303 rotor arrives tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bill MearaJune 13, 2014 at 9:28 PM

    The poles are telescoping. I'm not using the last (very thin) segment. They appear 2-3 mills thick where I'm inserting the bungee hook. I've reinforced it by inserting pieces of scrap fishing pole, effectively doubling the thickness. I'll also wrap with Gorilla tape.
    Hy-Gain AR-303 rotor arrives tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete