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Reviews For: Green Heron Engineering RT-20

Category: Antenna Rotators & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Green Heron Engineering RT-20
Reviews: 35MSRP: 569
Description:
Rotator controller
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.greenheronengineering.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00355
W5JON Rating: 2008-12-18
Priceless Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After more then a year using the Green Heron RT21, the only problems have been either operator "cockpit" or external to the Green Heron. The Green Heron operation has been flawless.
Jeff's knowledge of his product, the Green Heron, and the rotors that connect to it is priceless.
Today within moments, Jeff was able to give me all the voltage and resistance values to determine there was water in one of the outside cable connectors going to my Prosistel.
Jeff's technical support, and patience are second to none.
GREAT PRODUCT and SUPPORT.
73,
John W5JON


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Earlier 5-star review posted by W5JON on 2007-12-27

Purchased a Prosistel Rotor with optional Green Heron RT21 Control from Array Solutions. Jeff at Green Heron went through the RT21 calibration with me over the phone, it took about 5 minutes, and it has not missed a beat. Point and shoot and within one (1) Degree EVERY time. Easy to use and excellent clear Display.

Thanks Jeff, great product.

73,
John W5JON
K6CF Rating: 2008-06-08
Very Impressive! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased an RT-20 to control my K7NV prop-pitch rotator. Contruction of the unit is first rate and the controls are easy to use. It combines a relatively compact size with a nice, easy to read display. I connected up the wires and the rotator worked perfectly, right out of the box. The point and shoot feature is great.

Jeff is very helpful and commited to providing excellent customer service. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to use most of the popular controller and rotator combinations on the market. The Green Heron RT-20 coupled to a K7NV prop-pitch has been the easiest and most trouble free system that I have owned.
KB9WL Rating: 2008-04-28
great product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
installed the RT-21 two days ago along with a new M2 Orion - the product works very well, is easy to setup once you get by self-generated fog, and Jeff is friendly and quick to assist.
"Point and Shoot" is one of those features like having a spectrum scope on your rig -- once you start to enjoy it, you don't want to operate without the feature. Jeff's setup software is a delight to use and most helpful. The unit is well made, looks good, and delivers on the promises of gentle array motion. Swinging three big ole antennas is a challenge. a tip of the cap to Green Heron and M2 -- KB9WL
KM4BS Rating: 2008-04-27
Great Product Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Purchased the RT21 for use with my Hygain HDR300 rotor. Hygain controller bit the dust and the price of a new one was in the same area as the GH. The RT21 only takes up a third of the space the original did plus it has the point a shoot which is great. It has so many features the original did not and is a very nice addition to the desk. Jeff responds very quickly if you have a question. I would recommend this controller to anyone. Especially the Yaesu rotors you can't get controllers for without the purchase of a complete rotor system. If you need a controller you will not be disappointed with the Green Heron. Thanks Jeff for a fine product.
WA2ODO Rating: 2008-04-16
Superb!!!! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought 2 of the RT-21 in Black w/ green Flourescent screen. Works even better than it looks. Jeff at GH is helpful and courtious and very quick to answer all questions and emails. Thanks for a great product.
K6TA Rating: 2007-12-28
Outstanding Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Received a Green Heron RT-21 for Christmas to replace the M2 Orion controller. Installation took 15 minutes as Jeff of Green Heron Engineering had provided the unit pre-programmed. I love the M2 Orion rotator and the RT-21 adds "point-and-shoot", excellent ramp-up/ramp-down control, accurate direction tracking, and easy programming. The instruction manual is excellent and provides information for interface to all the popular ham radio rotators.

Jeff provides excellent and friendly customer service. He responded to all my e-mail queries prior to my request to Santa. I highly recommend Green Heron Engineering.
K6RIM Rating: 2007-11-02
Superior! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Replaced the M2 Orion controller with the Green Heron RT-21. The M2 Orion rotor is terrific, but the control box is extremely difficult to program, and occasionally loses its memory and needs to be reset. Green Heron will likely find a pretty large market of Orion users who dislike the Orion control box.

Jeff treats customers well and provides excellent customer support, if needed. I highly recommend Green Heron Engineering.

K3GM Rating: 2007-09-21
One Controller, Multiple Solutions Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
With minor internal jumper selections, this controller will do everything from a prop pitch to a TV type rotator. The user has the ability to easily adapt this controller to practically anything and if it isn't in the well written manual, a custom solution will be found for you.

Some of the features include start and stop ramping, center north, center south, brake delay, over-travel control, restricted travel, reverse delay so you don't end up twisting a large yagi on its mast, and many other setup options.

The analog knob gives the user a feel for the old style controller, while the bright, digital readout provides pinpoint accuracy for narrow aperture, high gain antennas. The unit features "set and forget" style pointing where the user merely twists the knob to the heading, and goes back to work. The RT-20 does the rest. It will also interface with many logging programs.

Customer service is top notch, and the unit itself is quality built with glass epoxy PC board, and good components.
ZS6YI Rating: 2007-05-26
Brilliant Solution !!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Recently one of my Yaesu G-2800DXA controllers was damaged by lightning. I contacted Yaesu to purchase a new controller as the rotator was working perfectly. Yaesu refused to sell the controller as a standalone unit without the rotator as they were only prepared to sell a complete system.
In any event it turned out cheaper to purchase two Green Heron Engineering RT-20 controllers with the added benefit of having far better antenna positioning accuracy and much more flexibility.
Linking the two controllers, making one a slave to the other or visa-versa makes it possible to keep both antennae, each on different towers about 50 feet apart, perfectly pointed in the same direction. Not only is this useful in comparing different antennae but it now opens up the possibility to broadside-phase the two antennae.
I contacted Jeff at Green Heron Engineering and within a week after dispatch two RT-20 Digital Rotor Controllers (black face units with Vacuum Fluorescent Displays) beautifully packaged arrived at my QTH in South Africa.
Jeff set up both controllers as per the Yaesu rotator configurations, added my call sign to both controllers and followed up on an email with further advice on the set-up and calibration procedures to get me up and running as fast as possible. All this while he was preparing for Dayton 2007!
With Jeff’s dedicated assistance both controllers were calibrated and up and running perfectly within an hour!
I have to salute Jeff for producing a really fantastic product. His dedicated service and patient advice is inspirational!
73
De Gary ZS6YI
WB6RSE Rating: 2007-02-26
ONLY CONTROLLER YOU WILL EVER NEED Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After 25+ years of numerous brand H rotator swap outs and rebuilds, I decided to go to an Orion OR2800. But the controller from M2 was not the easy to use Rotor EZ I had come to rely on. The RT-20 is that and more. Turn the knob to the desired heading and you're done. Your hands are free to do more important things. And it can be configured for virtually any rotator you will ever use. Position repeatability has been without error. No re-calibration has been necessary.

Great support from Jeff. The controller comes pre-configured to the rotator you specify but it can easily be reconfigured, and the the controller even flashes your call at power up. Nice touch!

The black face unit with Vacuum Fluorescent Display is a nice compliment to the equipment in the shack. Well worth the premiuim price for a premium product.