Base Follow-up to Beam Thread

[Greg T]

I appreciate the discussion and shared info on my thread looking for a beam. Great bunch of guys here! The next question is obvious. What would be the best rotor for the money to use on this antenna. I have absolutely no aspirations of upgrading, because I absolutely do not have room. I'm going to be using the Mako V quad which weighs in at about 8 or 9 lb, and has very very small wind load. The rotor will be mounted inside the tower with the thrust bearing on top supporting the weight. I'm not familiar with rotors, but I know I don't need I am five, Etc to run this. Any thoughts?

 

[Crawdad]

My only rotator experience is with a Yaesu G-450. Works well for my HexBeam that weighs about 25lbs. Might be overkill (and over$) for your situation. You could possibly get by with a smaller TV model.

7 3

 

[Greg T]

My only rotator experience is with a Yaesu G-450. Works well for my HexBeam that weighs about 25lbs. Might be overkill (and over$) for your situation. You could possibly get by with a smaller TV model.

7 3

That's what I was thinking but want to make sure. The wind load spec is only 3.3 Sq/Ft so I'm hoping a small, light rotator will do.

 

[unit_399]

GregT. -
I have a tv antenna rotor with a new controller that I will give you. Worked good the last time I checked it. If you can cover the shipping from Colombia to Michigan it's yours. Give me a couple of days to pull it off the shelf and check it out. I'll pm photos to you with the particulars if you are interested.

J.J. 399

 

[fourstringburn]

I agree with The Yaesu 450, it is a good rotor for small to medium size antennas. It is pricey and you'll need to purchase the lower mast clamps to attach to a pole. Also with a heavier rotor I would strongly suggest using a thrust bearing and use the supplied guy wire tabs to guy it more securely. (see pic below) This of course will add to the costs but it will allow a little more height with the upper mast. Thrust bearing is $80 and the lower mast clamps are $50.00 Rotor and controller $320 and rotor control cable $120 for 75 ft.




Lower mast clamps.



You could go with the Channel Master TV rotor which is for light weight TV antennas. I see people use them for 3 element beams but I question the wind loading over time especially if your area is prone to high winds.

The only way I would trust one with a beam antenna is with the thrust bearing plate they used to sell but it's long been discontinued. If you are good at fabricating stuff, it can be made with some metal plates and a bearing.

You can see in the pics below how the upper bearing creates a lot of support for the antenna mast and takes a lot of the support load off the rotor and main mast.

 

[Crawdad]

 

[Greg T]

GregT. -
I have a tv antenna rotor with a new controller that I will give you. Worked good the last time I checked it. If you can cover the shipping from Colombia to Michigan it's yours. Give me a couple of days to pull it off the shelf and check it out. I'll pm photos to you with the particulars if you are interested.

J.J. 399

That sounds like an excellent deal, depending on the cost of shipping. I am absolutely interested as I am going to mount the rotator inside the tower with a thrust bearing on top anyway. The only load it will carry is the wind load area of 3.3 Sq/Ft. Let me know what you find out and if you have a rough idea of shipping cost. Thank you!