DELARANEWS
Bob
Bob Dixon, W8ERDAnother Tower Saga
It seems that whenever repair to my tower is involved, things never go as planned, and this is a classic example of that. Nevertheless some different things were learned and repaired. THE PLAN: 1. Find out why the rotator does not work, and repair as possible. 2. Install a new mesh node to replace the defective one. 3. Turn the TV antenna on my house. THE PARTICIPANTS: 1.Craig W8CR the wonder worker 2. Joe K8MP 3. Steve K8SWH 4. Larry AC8YE 5. Judy, my wife 6. Kip, my son 7. Jeffrey, my grandson WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED: I loaded all the necessary stuff into my car, and drove to the base of the tower. Jeffrey helped unload the car and attach the rotator controller to the control box. He refused to plug it in, because wasps had built a nest inside the AC outlet box, and one of them was guarding it menacingly. He fetched wasp killer spray and blasted the nest away and dispatched the menacer. The ham crew soon arrived, and Craig set up the man lift that he had rented. Steve and I traced some cables at the base of the tower, and verified what I had feared. There are TWO cables with RJ45 connectors running up the tower, and I know of only ONE such device up there. This has yet to be resolved at some future date. Craig needed the tower to be raised so he could avoid the telescoped outer sections to reach the rotator. BIG PROBLEM. The tower could not be raised. So now the rotator repair problem had converted to a tower repair problem. The up/down motor hummed when power was applied, but it did not turn. Craig removed the end cover so we could get to the internal flywheel/fan. It turned slightly when power was applied, and it could be turned by hand. Craig removed the wiring cover and checked all the connections and voltages. All OK. Craig removed the starting capacitor and tested it. OK. In desperation, wild man Joe flipped an unknown switch just to see what would happen. Amazingly nothing blew up and the tower started working! Later study of the tower manual revealed that the switch bypasses the motion limit switches on the tower, enabling it to operate. This means of course that now we have another problem to fix at a later date – the malfunctioning limit switch. NOW BACK TO THE ROTATOR PROBLEM. With the controller connected at the base of the tower, the antenna would turn, but often stop with the error message: Error – No Motion. With the controller in the house, it would never turn, always giving that message. This leads one to suspect there is too much resistance in the long cable from the house to tower. But I have discussed this with the engineers at M Squared, and they say that is not true, and that the rotator has too much friction somewhere. This is exactly what Craig was going to test in the first place. Perhaps the thrust bearing is seizing up. Another problem for next time. ATTACK OF THE CRITTERS Craig found a critter nest by the rotator, and the wires had been badly chewed upon (see the pictures). He also found that the junction box at the top the tower was full of water and badly corroded. So he bypassed it with wire nuts, and covered it with a garden hose segment provided by Judy. Hopefully that will keep them at bay for a while. ON TO THE MESH NODE REPLACEMENT From a distance, Craig could see that the mesh node was surrounded by a cloud of wasps, so he could not get to it. Our can of wasp spray was now empty, and did not have enough range anyway. I have now purchased the longest-range spray available (27 feet), which we will use next time. So Larry took the replacement mesh node home to install the latest firmware, for our next tower saga. THE GREAT GARAGE PICNIC It was too late to worry about the TV antenna, and well past lunch time. So wonder woman Judy went out and bought a big supply of sub sandwiches and pop, and Kip set up a table and chairs in the garage. We had a great lunch and sat around telling old ham stories.
DELARANews
Bob
Bob Dixon, W8ERDAnother Tower Saga
It seems that whenever repair to my tower is involved, things never go as planned, and this is a classic example of that. Nevertheless some different things were learned and repaired. THE PLAN: 1. Find out why the rotator does not work, and repair as possible. 2. Install a new mesh node to replace the defective one. 3. Turn the TV antenna on my house. THE PARTICIPANTS: 1.Craig W8CR the wonder worker 2. Joe K8MP 3. Steve K8SWH 4. Larry AC8YE 5. Judy, my wife 6. Kip, my son 7. Jeffrey, my grandson WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED: I loaded all the necessary stuff into my car, and drove to the base of the tower. Jeffrey helped unload the car and attach the rotator controller to the control box. He refused to plug it in, because wasps had built a nest inside the AC outlet box, and one of them was guarding it menacingly. He fetched wasp killer spray and blasted the nest away and dispatched the menacer. The ham crew soon arrived, and Craig set up the man lift that he had rented. Steve and I traced some cables at the base of the tower, and verified what I had feared. There are TWO cables with RJ45 connectors running up the tower, and I know of only ONE such device up there. This has yet to be resolved at some future date. Craig needed the tower to be raised so he could avoid the telescoped outer sections to reach the rotator. BIG PROBLEM. The tower could not be raised. So now the rotator repair problem had converted to a tower repair problem. The up/down motor hummed when power was applied, but it did not turn. Craig removed the end cover so we could get to the internal flywheel/fan. It turned slightly when power was applied, and it could be turned by hand. Craig removed the wiring cover and checked all the connections and voltages. All OK. Craig removed the starting capacitor and tested it. OK. In desperation, wild man Joe flipped an unknown switch just to see what would happen. Amazingly nothing blew up and the tower started working! Later study of the tower manual revealed that the switch bypasses the motion limit switches on the tower, enabling it to operate. This means of course that now we have another problem to fix at a later date – the malfunctioning limit switch. NOW BACK TO THE ROTATOR PROBLEM. With the controller connected at the base of the tower, the antenna would turn, but often stop with the error message: Error – No Motion. With the controller in the house, it would never turn, always giving that message. This leads one to suspect there is too much resistance in the long cable from the house to tower. But I have discussed this with the engineers at M Squared, and they say that is not true, and that the rotator has too much friction somewhere. This is exactly what Craig was going to test in the first place. Perhaps the thrust bearing is seizing up. Another problem for next time. ATTACK OF THE CRITTERS Craig found a critter nest by the rotator, and the wires had been badly chewed upon (see the pictures). He also found that the junction box at the top the tower was full of water and badly corroded. So he bypassed it with wire nuts, and covered it with a garden hose segment provided by Judy. Hopefully that will keep them at bay for a while. ON TO THE MESH NODE REPLACEMENT From a distance, Craig could see that the mesh node was surrounded by a cloud of wasps, so he could not get to it. Our can of wasp spray was now empty, and did not have enough range anyway. I have now purchased the longest-range spray available (27 feet), which we will use next time. So Larry took the replacement mesh node home to install the latest firmware, for our next tower saga. THE GREAT GARAGE PICNIC It was too late to worry about the TV antenna, and well past lunch time. So wonder woman Judy went out and bought a big supply of sub sandwiches and pop, and Kip set up a table and chairs in the garage. We had a great lunch and sat around telling old ham stories.
