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Reviews For: MICROHAM ARCO ANTENNA CONTROLLER

Category: Antenna Rotators & Accessories

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Review Summary For : MICROHAM ARCO ANTENNA CONTROLLER
Reviews: 16MSRP: $800/$900
Description:
The ARCO is a modern rotator controller designed for reliable operation with virtually any rotator ever made, commercial or home brew. ARCO provides a lot of unique present day functions, not yet available in any other controller. Rotator motion is carefully controlled using auto-adapting, smoothly graduating/decaying speeds, reducing inertial stress, and prolonging lifetime of the rotator, antennas and tower. Built to last, built for security, built for total satisfaction! Have pleasure with new features, bringing your gear extra protection and longer life!

Available with either 200W or 400W power supply

Product is in production
More Info: https://www.microham.com/contents/en-us/d50_ARCO.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15165
DK6WK Rating: 2024-11-30
Arco Junior with MacLogger DX (MacOS) Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Arco Junior is a „classical“ Arco without screen in a much smaller enclosure but with the identical feature set. The front panel of the Arco Junior has a heading knob, buttons for cw / ccw and a display which shows the azimuth value. But for using the full features of the Arco Junior you have to use a VNC Viewer on your computer.

To control my Yaesu G-1000 DXC I use the Real VNC Viewer on my Mac. As mentioned in other reports the installation / calibration is very easy. Also with a Mac. Just follow the the very detailed manual.

The big question for me was whether the Arco works together with MacLogger DX so that the heading (qrz-) data of a station are automatically transfered to the Arco:
no problem, automatic installation of the Arco - serial port (built in in MacOS), MacLogger DX recognizes the Arco immediately and transfers the necessary data and the rotor turns in the right direction.
KC9RNK Rating: 2024-03-12
Five Star Plus! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I was not happy with rotor box that came with rotor. Always out of calibration. That problem no longer exists. Team Arco with PSTRotator and its pure joy! microHam equipment is the best you can buy. I've had Arco in the shack a few months after it was available. Updating was easy to do if you read instructions.
K4TOR Rating: 2024-03-12
Excellent Controller, excellent service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have had the Arco for a little over a year, and what can I say. A well thought out rotator controller with more features that you would ever need. Fabulous display, great looking enclosure. Absolutely love the fully adjustable ramp up / down feature.

The service is absolutely fantastic. Jozef will answer your email question in short order.
You won't be dissapointed in this piece of equipment. Yes, it is a little expensive, but for what you get, features (a lot of them) and incredible service, I'd say its priced appropriately.
K5PZN Rating: 2024-03-12
Excellent Rotator Controller Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The ARCO rotator controller has to be one of the best ham radio accessory I have ever purchased. I can echo everything everyone else has said about this device. It does what it claims, it is well built, is easy to setup and operation does not require you read a 100 page manual. Simply, I am very happy with the ARCO controller. Expensive, but quality is never cheap.
K5PZN
HB9AOO Rating: 2023-08-22
ARCO and Hy-Gain HAM IV. This is not dream team. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
All the already mentioned positive reviews I fully confirm. This controller is a game changer in the world of rotator controllers . At least 5 Stars.....if it's compatible with your rotor. In my case, I have a 11 years old HAM IV from Hy Gain, this is unfortunately only partially the case. ARCO is not always able, to release the brakes from the HAM IV -> "BREAK ERROR" appears in large letters on the ARCO screen. A second or third try mostly helps, but not always. Every few weeks it happens, that I have to reconnect the original Hy Gain control unit, the DCU-3, which has never this problem. With this Break-problem, remote control of a HAM IV (and apparently also the T2X) would hardly be possible.

Edit August 2023
I was able to solve the problem described above: My cable that connects the rotor to the controller is 35m long 8x1mm2 (8x AWG17). I doubled the cross section of the wires for the brakecurrent (pin 1 and pin 2) to 2mm2 each (AWG 14). The voltage drop has thus become smaller. Since then, the brake has always released reliably. At least in the last 3 months the error hasn't happened anymore.

N3CAL Rating: 2023-02-15
Superb Rotator Controller! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Simply the best rotator controller on the market! It's one of the best additions to my shack so far! It's simply fun to use with so many well thought out features. I have it controlling my YAESU G-450A Rotor paired with my K4KIO 5 band Hex Beam. I simply replaced the YAESU controller with the ARCO, setup the Lan, updated the firmware, calibrated, and was up and running easily! I have it connected to my home network via Ethernet and access it on my shack computer through a VNC Viewer. Color touch screen is great and can be tailored to your liking. Easy to set up and calibrate. Simply a pleasure to use. I love the screen saver feature as well as the standby mode you can tailor to your liking. The DXCC feature is great and getting you pointed to the DX is easy and quick.
Hats off to Josef on such a great product and service!
73 de N3CAL
N4ABQ Rating: 2023-02-09
Awesome device Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This controller is awesome!! Yes, it's expensive but what isn't in ham radio. Set up is simple and as long as you follow the instructions, it works flawlessly. Interface with the PC took a minute for me but using HRD software with the rotator control is spot on. I'm running a hex beam with a Yaesu FTDX3000
LZ3CB Rating: 2023-01-02
ARCO is simply the best rotator controller on the market! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
In recent years, I am able to use my radio shack only remotely. So I need a fail-safe method of controlling my antenna rotator. After experimenting with several of the other popular antenna rotator controllers on the market, I decided to buy the ARCO.
I want to share my experience from the moment of purchase to the actual installation of the product. I have already purchased products from Micorham several times. Everything always happened very quickly and smoothly.
Well, this time there were no surprises either :)
Two days after ordering, the package was delivered to my QTH by DHL in perfect condition. I can't hide my admiration after opening the box and seeing the device. It is made with absolute precision and with great professionalism. From every detail comes a sense of uncompromising quality.
So far so good, I have started the ARCO installation. Easy, easy, easy is all I can say. All I did was to disconnect the rotator cable from the original Yaesu controller (equipped with external LAN remote controller box) and plug it to the ARCO's port for Yaesu rotators. Yeah, the Microham's product come with several different ports allowing the user to connect immediately any type of Antenna rotator on the market.
In less than 4-5 minutes, my SteppIR rotated by Yaesu 2800 was already in position towards North America. Connecting the ARCO to the LAN is very intuitive, the direction calibration is also very easy and happens in a few steps.
I want to express my admiration for the beauty of the user interface and how easy it is to use.
Even a non-professional can see how much expertise, experience and love has gone into the design and creation of this product.
With an absolutely clear conscience, I recommend ARCO to anyone who needs a reliable, modern and easy-to-use antenna rotator controller.

Josef, thank you for a great product and wonderful service!

73 de LZ3CB
EI8JB Rating: 2022-12-26
Excellent future proof antenna controller Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my ARCO pre production from microHAM once I had looked at the promotional video.I have an integrated station and although I am using a Yaesu G-1000 Rotator. I felt this was an upgrade to my present controller with its visual great circle map for chasing gray line and dx.

The additional preset buttons assist with my dx hunting also and on the occasions where I have to slightly adjust the ARCO with a new heading after a storm that moved my antennas off course its so easy to go into the menu and adjust the ARCO to what I need to to have everything back on track.

Setup was easy although initially I had to complete a firmware upgrade to have the ARCO fully integrate with my G-1000 as I have ARCO #00002 from the production line but Jozef was very helpful and I had it up and running in no time at all.

Firmware upgrade is so easy and makes this product future proof and a key piece of equipment in my shack.
KP4AA Rating: 2022-11-28
Best controller available! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I’ve now owned my first ARCO controller for about one year. My radio interests are contesting and chasing DX. The ability to touch the screen at the desired location and get back to logging contacts in a contest instead of holding the button and engaging the brake is tremendously appreciated. I have a two position Multioperator set-up with radio positions spread apart in the radio room and now have the 20m antenna ARCO controller screen in full display at station two using VNC Viewer. So far not a single problem with the ARCO. The software upgrade process is also a snap. I’m now saving up to buy a second ARCO controller for the 10/15 meter antennas. We’ve come a long way with ham radio technology!