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Reviews For: Idiom Press/Ham Supply Rotor-EZ - Hy-Gain Controllers

Category: Antenna Rotators & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Idiom Press/Ham Supply Rotor-EZ - Hy-Gain Controllers
	Reviews: 105	MSRP: 99.95 - 149.95
	Description: Point and Shoot” Rotor-EZ (with or without computer control RS-232) for ALL 3 paddle Hy- Gain Controllers by Idiom Press/Ham Supply
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hamsupply.com/rotor-ez-hy-gain-rotor-control/
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	105	4.9

WA2DGD	Rating:	2000-10-30
Rotor-EZ does everything as advertised and does it very well.			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
There is not much to add to Rogers', K9RB review. The kit went together easily, good quality parts and plated through circuit board. Take your time and use a good quality magnifying lens (especially for eyes over 40 years old) and check for solder bridges and cold joints. A drill press is great for adding holes to the control box wihout having to totally disassemble the unit. It worked perfect the first time I powered up. The automatic mode is really nice, just turn the knob to the desired beam heading, hit the brake release and sit back. But, the fun really started when I used the RS-232 interface. I use DX4WIN and it worked flawlessly. I set up for a Hygain DCU-1 rotator on COM 3, plugged in the Rotor-EZ, typed a call into the log, hit F11 and the antenna swung to the new beam heading, that was really NICE! I have nothing but the utmost praise for this kit. A sincere Thank You to Bob at Idiom Press for this great, reasonable and affordable accessory for the shack. Larry WA2DGD

KL7RA	Rating:	2000-09-19
Great op aid for contesting.			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
It will be hard to add much to Roger’s, K9RB, post. I will stress however that this “kit” does require some pretty close care soldering. It would also be helpful to read schematics and identify parts. I had two problems during assemble. My “pretest” failed and I found that a washer had slipped down from a meter lug and shorted against some mounted parts. This was original hardware which was a little too big for the meter post. I also couldn’t calibrate the meter and found a missing voltage going to the processor. I needed to rock the chip in its socket to correct this. The modification works as others describe, that is to say “great”. I used a new tailtwister control box that already had three of the LEDs (CW, CCW, BRAKE) mounted. The status LED was installed above the meter instead of the suggested location above the brake. I own/operate a contest station in the Multi-Multi class and anything that will help keep errors or rotator abuse down is helpful. This looks like the ticket. I have fussed with presets trying different designs in the past. The problem is rotator pots are noisy and op amps, etc don’t work. The secret here is a microprocessor. Many years ago I had a “super, do everything,” homebrewed CW keyer with 84 IC’s. Then along came Idiom Press with a one IC programmed microprocessor that did more, a lot more. Who are those people, anyway? Rich KL7RA

K0BX	Rating:	2000-08-29
Free Software for Rotor-EZ			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I built the Rotor-EZ and found it to be an excellent update to my old HAM III rotor. The document does need some work, but it had all the necessary information. It works very very well. I only had one software package that supported the Hygain DCU-1 commands which Rotor-EZ uses, and the was DXBase2000. It worked, but it was too big of a package to leave open just to computer control the rotor. So I wrote a Visual Basic program that is very small, no features except to send the beamheading to the controlbox. It works very well on my machine. Will work with any Windows9XX or WindowsNT/2000 machine that has a valid comport 1- 8. You can download it at http://www.qsl.net/k0bx and then go to rotorcontrol. Its free! But would like anyone that uses it to let me know if it works. I only can test on my PC as you need the Rotor-EZ on the other end. Hi HI K0BX Joe

K2VCO	Rating:	2000-06-04
A big improvement for my stone-age rotor!			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Rotor-EZ automates the control box of the 'Ham-' series and T2x rotors. You just turn the original 'Calibrate' knob to the desired bearing and hit the brake release; the rotor turns to that point and stops. The PIC in the unit automatically holds the brake open for a few seconds after stopping the motor. It also compensates for coasting after the motor goes off, and even knows how to unstick a T2x. The kit was relatively easy to put together, although the instructions are not quite at the same level of detail as those of the Elecraft K2 (but then, what kit instructions are?) Parts were high quality and nothing was missing. You will have to drill some holes in your rotor's front panel for the indicator LED's -- I used an automatic center punch and didn't have to take the control box apart. The unit works as advertised, and reduces the level of stress in DXing -- just turn the knob, press the button and forget it. No more fingers slipping off the brake switch, etc. I'm very happy with this unit. It's on the Idiom Press website at http:\\www.idiompress.com.

K9RB	Rating:	2000-05-25
Great, well designed Kit.			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I thought I'd pass along some information about a new kit called Rotor-EZ, which I recently built and installed in a Ham IV control box for a friend. This kit provides for RS-232 control of the standard and Tailtwister CDE/Hygain/ (now MFJ) rotator control boxes, utilizing identical programming code as the Hygain DCU-1. It is an ideal solution for those wishing to incorporate computer control of their "HAM" type or Tailtwister rotators. The circuit board is of high quality as are all components and everything is well layed out. I found this kit a real pleasure to build, although I might caution it is definitely not for novice builders. There are approximately 75 component parts including five IC chips and attention to detail and good soldering techniques are definitely required. It also requires some precise drilling of the front panel for the addition of four LED's.It took me approximately six hours to build, install, calibrate and check out this project. I have enjoyed building various kits over the past 40 years, my first being a Knightkit T-60 Transmitter in 1960 at age 11. It worked too! Back to this Rotor-EZ kit now! Once completed, the Rotor-EZ allows you to operate the control box manually as before, use the old calibrate pot to "preset" the desired position you want and then hit the brake lever to start movement to the preset setting, or use your computer (through an available COM port) to position your antenna via the RS-232 port, using identical commands as the Hygain DCU-1. Some additional features are also added with Rotor-EZ, such as a 5 second brake delay, which is standard. Also standard is the ability to stop the rotation at any time just by touching the brake lever. Optionally, there are three user selectable features, each one enabled by default and overridden by the addition of jumpers on the circuit board. First there is the "Unstick Routine" where upon starting a rotation, the rotator first pulses in the opposite direction for 1 second, then turns in the desired direction. Any experienced owner of a Tailtwister knows what this is about! My own DCU-1 does this and it is a real nice feature. The second user selectable feature is what is called "Electronic End Point" where the rotor power cuts out 5 degrees from either end of the meter scale, limiting the possibility of the rotor jamming on an end stop. The rotor still can be manually turned to the end stops if desired. Though not an extremely common problem, some rotors, especially Tailtwisters, have been known to jam themselves at an end stop, stopping in a position where the limit switch is open, making it impossible to turn the rotor back. One must keep the brake release on and wait for the right wind to move the array to a point where the limit switch closes and normal operation is restored. It is also possible for users of "Swinging Gate" side mounted antennaes to order a replacement custom CPU (which mounts in a socket) for their Rotor-EZ that sets the endpoints at custom bearings to avoid bumping into the tower. The third user selectable feature is called the "Overshoot Option" which turns off the rotor motor 3 degrees before the setpoint is reached, allowing the array to coast into the desired setting. This is pretty self explanatory and is useful for all but the smallest of antennaes. I found all of these features desirable and did not install any jumpers to defeat any of them. If you felt that you would like to have the ability to switch any/all of these features on and off, I would suggest wiring in small switches during initial construction to the assigned jumper points on the circuit board and mounting them on the rear panel. Once the board is mounted in its final position to the back of the meter and completely wired in, it would take considerable efforts to add the jumpers on the Rotor-EZ circuit board later. Upon calibrating according to the instructions with a spare rotator connected that I have on my workbench, I was extremely pleased with the "New" rotor control box. It does everything indicated above in my review extremely well, just as the advertisement claims. A real nice feature is the addition of CW/CCW/Brake Release LED's to the front panel to give a visual indication of operation. In addition there is a multi-colored "Status" LED that glows green in the steady state condition. Turning the preset knob (old calibrate pot) changes the color to red. Press the brake lever to start rotation and the LED changes to orange, then as the rotator moves to the new bearing, this LED changes slowly from orange to yellow to green, giving you an indication of how close the antennae is to the desired final position. Really Neat! This is a brand new product with little current advertising that, I feel, will be a real asset to many. The kit is also available without the RS-232 control, which can be added later for those who wish the preset automation and other features but are not interested in computer control. I found it at; www.idiompress.com and thought I'd tell the world that it is all that it is advertised to be. I have no ties with this manufacturer but was overly impressed with this product. If you feel that it is something you would like to have, but lack the time or talents to do, contact me at; K9RB@arrl.net and maybe we can work something out as I truly enjoyed the wiring and installation I did and would consider working a deal for doing more of the same. 73, Roger-K9RB

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Category:

Antenna Rotators & Accessories

Product:

Idiom Press/Ham Supply Rotor-EZ - Hy-Gain Controllers

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

Remarks:

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