A posting in a recent thread (the "overrated McIntosh tuners?" thread, see post #93) alerted me to a small FM Yagi antenna for an unbelievably good price. I've been meaning to deploy a decent antenna and this seemed like the appropriate impetus. Besides, when I get my McIntosh MR-74 back from the PunkerX clinic, it would be nice to be able to take full advantage if its prowess. 
The antenna arrived on Monday. I got a 3' tripod at Radio Shack and a rotator at Lowe's (see below). The mast pipes, feedline, and rotor control cable I had on hand from previous projects.
After a few hours of not-too-difficult work:
RCA VH126N rotator/controller:
This system is branded under several names (Philips, RCA, etc.) and gets really bad reviews all over the web. But there are practically zero alternatives for inexpensive antenna rotators and I figured there had to be some redeeming value. I also read enough of the reviews to be able to come to the conclusion that the unit itself may not be terrible, but that the manual lists the initialization and calibration steps in the wrong order which results in a bound-up rotator that won't turn for most users. I considered ordering one from Amazon (best price was about $76 and a user-friendly return policy if it turned out to be a real turd) but it just so happened that I was in Lowe's today for something else and noticed one on clearance sale for $61 - too good not to take a chance! :thmbsp:
I hooked it up in the workshop and discovered immediately that most of the complaints were completely true. However, I was able to convince it to turn and was able to manually re-calibrate it. Provided that you don't press the "initialize" button, which engages the idiotic calibration procedure that doesn't work and tends to render the rotator inoperable, all should be good. I hope.
Now, as a different thread suggests, I hope my tuner doesn't soon befall the fate of the typewriter ...
The antenna arrived on Monday. I got a 3' tripod at Radio Shack and a rotator at Lowe's (see below). The mast pipes, feedline, and rotor control cable I had on hand from previous projects.
After a few hours of not-too-difficult work:
RCA VH126N rotator/controller:
This system is branded under several names (Philips, RCA, etc.) and gets really bad reviews all over the web. But there are practically zero alternatives for inexpensive antenna rotators and I figured there had to be some redeeming value. I also read enough of the reviews to be able to come to the conclusion that the unit itself may not be terrible, but that the manual lists the initialization and calibration steps in the wrong order which results in a bound-up rotator that won't turn for most users. I considered ordering one from Amazon (best price was about $76 and a user-friendly return policy if it turned out to be a real turd) but it just so happened that I was in Lowe's today for something else and noticed one on clearance sale for $61 - too good not to take a chance! :thmbsp:
I hooked it up in the workshop and discovered immediately that most of the complaints were completely true. However, I was able to convince it to turn and was able to manually re-calibrate it. Provided that you don't press the "initialize" button, which engages the idiotic calibration procedure that doesn't work and tends to render the rotator inoperable, all should be good. I hope.
Now, as a different thread suggests, I hope my tuner doesn't soon befall the fate of the typewriter ...
