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| Reviews Summary for BIG BOY ROTORS |
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Reviews: 30
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Average rating: 4.6/5
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MSRP: $995.95
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Description: Sold in the USA by www.arraysolutions.com --
Vine Antennas (www.vinecom.co.uk) are the UK / Ireland authorised retailer
for these rotators
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More info: http://www.bigboyrotators.com
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You can
write your own review of the BIG BOY ROTORS.
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AH6FC
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 21, 2008 15:03
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Remarkably Robust
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I've had this rotator in place for about 8 months, first with a 4 element SteppIR, 6 element 6 meter, and 15 element 2 meter yagi and now I've replaced the Steppir with an Optibeam 18-6...which is huge and heavy. This rotator turns all of this metal without pause, even in moderate winds (50 - 60 mph). I'm using the heavy duty version of the 61D. I had a couple of questions and Jay at Array Solution was right there to help. Good service. The rotator is about 500 feet from the shack and I have no problem controlling it with a medium grade rotator cable. The controller box is well built and rugged, just like the rotator. The instructions are well written and quite clear...which is not always the case with amateur products, particularly those from non-English speaking countries. Perhaps this is more rotator than one may need, but I don't think I'll be purchasing future rotators, regardless of the antenna system I may be using. Prior to purchasing this I explored the Orion and some others. I'm sure they are good products, but for big antennas Pro.sis.tel is the way to go. It is an expensive unit but seems to be money well spent.
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LX2A
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 1, 2007 04:00
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3 prosistel rotators @ LX7i
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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At the conteststation LX7I we are using 3 rotators from Prosistel 2 times the PST2051D and one time the havy duty PST61 DHP.
The location of the contest-station is on a hilltop and it is always very windy. We had some rotators from other companies like Yaesu and Hy-Gain but they never survived a long time.
Just before the CQWWSSB contest I had a little trouble with my PST61 due to some litning and the motor and Control unit needed to be replaced very fastly.
The support was realy great from Gianni IK7MWR and within 2 days I had a new control unit just in time for the contest.
I can only say that the rotator is great and even if you have a problem the support is also great.
cu on the bands
73s de Philippe LX2A / LX7I / LX9DX
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SM4OTI
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 2, 2007 22:45
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PST61D - problems
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This is my experience about the Prosistel PST61D rotator that I bought a few monts ago and now have installed in the tower and been in use for 4 weeks. A very good friend of mine recently bought this model too and has the same problem with it.
The problem is that when I turn the rotator with the PRESET button, when it reaches its destination it sometimes exceed the preset value with one or two degrees and it stops and than immediately reverse the direction of the rotation a couple of degrees and then comes to a complete stop. This happens about 1 time out of 20. The bad thing is that it does this reversation with full power and without ramping start.
I have contacted the manufacturer and they told me use the 15V tapping of the transformer instead of the original 18V tapping to slow down the rotation speed. They also told me to change some of the PWM-settings (via the supplied software), which I did, but still the same problem in 1 try out of 20.
It all ended up with that the manufacturer did not have any solution to this behaviour, so I simply have to live with it. My concern is that in the long run this might stress the design. My feeling is that the firmware in the control box has this little bug, which need to be addressed, but seems like the manufacturer disagree.
A couple of more things that could be improved is that the ramping start and stop feature does only work with the preset button, if I turn the rotator with the CW/CCW buttons the rotator is started with full power and no ramping, it also stops without any ramping. This is no big deal, as the heavy design probably cope with this anyway.
Another thing that happens when the rotator turn itself a few degrees from the force of the wind, is that the controller box trying to compensate for this all the time, so in heavy winds, I simply have to turn of the power switch of the controller box in order to stop this behaviour.
The controller box does not contain any grounding terminal, and in my case I could not transmit and turn the rotator at the same time as RF found its way into the controller box which made it crazy. This happened with as low power as 50W. After I installed a grounding terminal at the back of the controller box and connected it to my grounding system where I have the rest of my radios/PAs etc. connected to this problem vanished. I can now transmit with full legal power without any RF interference problem. This happened even though the tower has a severe grounding system and the antenna has almost perfect SWR (Optibeam OB17-4, 40, 20, 15, 10 meter bands). So, a good common ground solved this problem and also show the importance of a good common ground.
Anyway, it's a great rotator with a great price for what you get, so I would still recommend it, but improvments could be made by the manufacturer, that's my opinion.
See you down the log!
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N3JPU
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 5, 2007 16:33
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Super rotor
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought my PST2051D from Array Solutions.
Built in RS-232 port that works with all the logging programs, nothing extra to add. 500 deg of rotation. Been working great.
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M1WML
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 3, 2007 05:30
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excelent and the best...
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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i use the pro.sis.tel 2051 This rotator is the best i have ever used..it turns a 3 element steppIR no trouble.. it,s a quaility piece of kit.. and yes i could of brought a yaesu for less money but i would rather go for quaility rarther than save a few pounds...
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VK4TZL
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 11, 2007 02:03
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Excellent Support
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned the smallest Bigboy for some years now, and it has performed very well, turning my small Mast. Recently, I have had some problems with the readout system. I contacted Gianni at Prosistel and explained my problem, and he was very helpful, and to cut a long story short, gave full product support, well outside of the warranty period. I am very happy with the support I have received, and the product in general...well above the norm, and an excellent piece of equipment !
73
Glenn
VK4TZL
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GM6TVR
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 14, 2006 10:10
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Bad News
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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PST 2051 finally gave up the ghost during the early December 2006 gale force winds. Awarded 4 out of 5 because it was handling a 4ele SteppIR when disaster stuck. Back to the drawing board, Cheers, John
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GM6TVR
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 19, 2006 06:31
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Still going strong
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I was probably amongst the first to purchase the PST 2051 from Vine Antennas some years ago.
This rotator has withstood some very severe storms here on the South West Coast of Scotland, used over the last few years to grapple with my 4ele SteppIR, it just keeps on doing what it is supposed to do, be it locking the antenna in a fixed position, or turning it in high winds.
There was a very large KLM 2mtr beam aloft the SteppIR for a couple of years, no problems coping with this extra hardware either.
This rotator cannot be faulted, but the control cable connector into the earlier controllers are a bit of a pain in the arse.
I recommend this rotator, there is a model for every application too!!!!!!!
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W5UDX
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 3, 2006 15:22
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King of rotors
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had my PST61c for 4 years and its the best rotor out there. I have a LPDA on it and they like to rock back & forth in the wind, but this rotor keeps it just where I leave it. Been thru 1 hurricane (Rita) and the beam twisted at the boom/mast clamp but the rotor didn't move what so ever.
I wish they still had the C model controller. I don't really know why they changed it (sure like the direct entry keypad) but, I'll buy another one for the other tower going up this summer.
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G0TKJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 3, 2006 12:55
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Update to first review in 2002
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Pro Sis Tel or BIG BOY ROTATORS.
I have had a PST2051 since August 2000 and its STILL GOING STRONG.
I have had a Cushcraft A4s, 2 x 12 ELE M2 2m yagi antennas, AND a 28 ele M2 70cms antenna ALL on the tower, now a P60HD Versatower. And the rotator has never had a problem. In the 6 years that I have had the unit the only problem that I have had was the fuse holder on the control unit went bust on me the contact in the holder broke off. This took me all of 10 mins to replace. Apart from that little hick-up its performed flawlessly in all the 6 years.
All together a superb rotator AND HAVE recommended to anyone that is looking for a BUILT LIKE A TANK rotator. Forget these Yaesu Rotators they just cant cut it like these monsters.
Thanks,
73's
Terry G0TKJ
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