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Reviews For: Hygain HDR300

Category: Antenna Rotators & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Hygain HDR300
Reviews: 6MSRP:
Description:
25 sq. ft. wind load rotator
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hy-gain.com/products.php?prodid=HDR-300
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0063.2
N1FRX Rating: 2013-01-01
Don't waste your money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Gears stripped in high wind, sent for expensive repair to the factory. Then, the cheap cast pot metal housing broke around the bolts. It is now on my junkpile.
Not rugged at all.
NJ3A Rating: 2008-09-26
HDR-300 WINDOW TO THE WORLD Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I must first say that I obtained this rotator as part of a tower, antenna and rotor package that had been stored for some years and used for many more before that. Before my tower project was finished, I did replace the poor plastic lower rotor cover with a new one from HyGain. I also installed a quick disconnect on the rotor wire at the tower base (just in case I needed to troubleshoot)... This rotor will turn big antennas in the wind with little issue. My KT36XA, 6 ele TriBander with 30' boom at the top of a windy hill in Eastern PA is how I know this. It's survived a couple of winters with no issue. It does however have some sloppiness in the gearing...allowing about 60 degrees of swing...not really a problem unless you're trying to work the other side of the globe and a half a degree can make a difference. I say it's a WINDOW TO THE WORLD...because you need one to tell what direction the antenna is pointing...since the direction pot failed... It still does turn the antenna however...a lot easier than doing it my hand.
VE2DC Rating: 2007-07-22
Not so reliable... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Wy experience with 2 HDR300s was almost identical to K1FO... surprised he still gave it a 4. I'm now on my 3rd which is an -A- model with some mechanical improvements. The direction pot failed in short order so I ordered 2 replacements from MFJ for abt $30 each. One was obviously defective... the thread was missing so it couldn'd be mounted... so I used the other one. After a couple of months it developed dead spots! 2 for 2 MFJ! And not easy to replace on a 150ft tower...
N8QZ Rating: 2007-01-30
25 Years & still Turning Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Purchased this as a part of a Tower-Beam package when I moved to a new QTH.

I just replaced the coax to the TH7DXX but left the rotor cable be. If it ain't broke, don't mess with it.

Twenty five years and still turning!!!

Had to replace the roof though --$10,000!
K1FO Rating: 2001-05-02
Good, but keyway issues Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've used the orignial HDR-300's for over 20 years on large VHF & UHF arrays. Yes HF guys they can be large when you have a 24 Yagi array. The good points on the HDR-300 are that it has many times the turning torque of the old CDE style rotors (Ham IV, T^X etc) so it doesn't stall in the wind. It also has a rugged gear train many times the size of a T^X that almost never breaks (Except as described below). The brake is on the Motor so you have almost infinate braking positions. The azimuth readout is also much more accurate than CDE rotors although it's analog circut does drift a little over time. Also I really like the 380 degree rotation range that it has. Now the not so good. Problem #1, Early HDR-300's used a spoked cast iron gear that would shatter in high winds with a big array. Hy-Gain used to replace the cast iron gears with the solid steel gear for free. I don't know what MFJ is doing. I had to send one HDR-300 back for them to fix and try to sell me other service work while on the second I talked Hy-Gain into just sending me the gear. Problem #2 water will get in the rotors after several years. Both the top "V" seal and the internal "O" ring need to be replaced after 5 or so years. Problem #3 The keyways will get egged out over years of beating in the wind giving you lots of slop in the direction. With my 24 Yagi array the keyway on the big gear actually shatterd two times. I first tried machining for and using a bigger keyway. This helped but I still got too much slop in the keyways. Finally I solved the problem by making a new shaft from 4130 steel and welding the big gear to the shaft. I made the shaft about 6" longer and use a big machined alumimum clamp for the pedistal that uses only friction and not a keyway. Problem #4 is that the pedistal can rust to the output shaft making it impossible to take out of your tower without removing it with the rotor plate. I solved this with the auminum petistal / clamp. I haven't used a HDR-300A with the larger diameter stainless shaft but in general I am leary of using stainless in a high stress point as stainless is stickey, "rubbery" and not very high strength as compared to alloys such as 4130, 4360 etc.
W4AN Rating: 1999-08-27
It's solid now. Time Owned: unknown months.
After many go arounds with this rotator in the past, I think Hygain has finally figured out all of the bugs. I'm turning a 48' boom 20 meter yagi now for 3 years with mine with only a lost pot to show for it. In the past there were problems with the key-way getting rusted, but with the stainless steel they are using now, there is no problem. I actually would recommend this rotator now.