Rotator on a budget

Has anyone used one of these Hy-Gain-AR500X rotator.

Hi Michael,

I'd not looked at the price of rotators in recent years and nearly choked on my gnashers when I saw the price of them!

I've no personal experience of the rotator you mention but it is a little thin on specifications. For me personally I'd rather save me pennies up for something like the Yaesu G-450 which comes with some fairly decent specs for the money. Better the extra dosh on something that can cope than money wasted on something that might break first go or screw up with a heavy wind!

It also looks a little thin on the ground for second hand rotators which is a pity. I suppose people hang onto them or they're less commonly used than in the past?

I've seen some 'homebrew' rotator affairs where people take the load off the rotator through a cage and even some ingenious contraptions, (bearings, car wheels, bicycle chains etc.), with a geared drive from a small rotator. A lot of faff unless you're tooled up for that sort of thing.

I presume you got that Yagi from that mate you mentioned in another post?
In which case as it's a lighter weight three element it might be worth looking at solutions Ham radio operators use for "HF Tribanders" as they are of a similar weight/size, (the Tribanders may be just a little bigger).


Another option available to you is maybe use the beam in a fixed position. If you are ultimately using it for DX then just mount/point it in the direction you're interested in? Just remember to point it in the right direction than at first seems.....

I wrote an article a while back concerning azimuthal projection maps :-

Azimuthal Projection Map

So for example, you'd point your beam to the North West to aim for the USA.

With that example you'd hear stateside DX, (as propogation conditions allow), without hearing all the continental nonsense going on the other side, (we're on the same 'path' as all that "Hola-Hola-Coca-Cola" European rubbish!) Unfortunately you'd also not know if those big Italian stations are transmitting all over you(!) but it's always worth a DX call away from the 'triple-5' anyway.


Not a perfect answer for your question, but maybe food for thought

I'm sure some other members here maybe have better experience with rotators than I.


All the best,
Victor

Just my 2pence worth , if you going to use a beam it's best to have it on a rotor because it dont matter what you do you wont get it work by just sticking up on a pole and getting someone to manually turn it by hand ,that is why you have all the degree mark's on the on the rotor switch dial in the shack they are so precise especially when trying for quite station your trying to copy,
myself and a couple of mates did a little expedition on here in the early CT days and the antennas we used was a A99 vertical which was on top of a four element beam without a rotor trying to do it manually and the beam was as about as useful as a wet bit of string for picking out stations we got most of our contacts via the A99 ,the next one we did we borrowed a rotor and did the same set including the rotor this time and the beam was a lot better at getting far off stations precisely, these photos are without rotor.

Just to add further, (and not to disagree with what has already been said), there are many DXer's who happily utilise a fixed beam. It might be unusual in the CB world but Radio Amateurs use it all the time.

Luckily the three element Yagi you have has a wide enough beam and somewhere like the USA is far enough away for a fixed beam to be useful. (See link below)

3 - Elelemt Yagi

However a four element Yagi does have a much narrower beam width. (Again, link below)

4 - Element Yagi

So would therefore require more accurate alignment than the three element especially with nearer stations.


If you take a look at the following link it exemplifies such usage especially with DX competitions.
(See the second section that notes, "To rotate or not to rotate")

HF Contesting on a budget

This is just one of the many examples out there.

So as you can see it is perfectly possible and utilised all the time. (Some American Radio Amateurs have homebase beams permanently pointing towards the UK/Europe for such reasons.)


This is still going to rely on decent propagation conditions to achieve States side contacts, but equally you can point your three element Yagi South East towards Europe and ride the local 'skip' we tend to see at the equinoxes, (especially the summer).


For many years Radio Amateurs have often utilised the "Armstrong" method. This has nothing to do with Edwin Howard Armstrong's fame, (the guy that developed FM or Frequency Modulation and the modern Superheterodyne receiver amongst other things), but that this method requires 'Strong Arms'!

As already mentioned it is where you rotate the antenna by hand. With a magnetic compass and a copy of an azimuthal map it is relatively easy to point the antenna to your area of interest. (Such as rotating away from central Europe and towards the Scandinavian countries.)

It is however, (again as mentioned), much harder to utilise this method to 'pinpoint' a particular received station, especially if it is nearer.


So anyway, it goes to show you can use a Yagi antenna without a rotator or simply rotating by hand.

As for your original rotator question, I would still be of the opinion of saving more money for a much better rotator that has a proven track record. Then your beam will become much more useful and you can point it anywhere that takes your fancy.


Never let a 'budget' diminish the fun you can have with radio.


All the best,
Victor

A very interesting thread and apologise for going slightly off topic, I could talk all day about the pros and cons of using a beam but below is a very short video I shot this afternoon around 5:30 pm, 20m was just about closed but came across this signal coming from Canada , the clip starts when the beam is absolutely spot on for Canada  , he is clearly 5/5 as I move the beam round away from him you can see and hear the signal drop 

My yogi has a front to back of around 20db  some yogis have nearer 30db 

Hope you can see the effect of pointing a yogi beam in the correct direction 



Craig

Great video showing the effect of a beam antenna Craig. Very demonstrative.
(Nice contact BTW!)

Would you also say that it's worth getting the best rotator you can afford? I know some run to over a £1000 but thought the Yaesu G450 was pretty good value for money considering today's costs. (Plus talk of beams has pricked my interests again )

You'll have to babble about the pros & cons of beams one day, I for one would be interested!


All the best,
Victor

Nice one Victor and Oh yes better get back on topic everything in radio involves some sort of compromise but I can say the Yaesu 450g is a excellent entry level rotator and performs well with my Mosley  mp 33 n tri bander which weighs around 13kg and has a 5.4m boom, I’ve also had a vortex 4 element 6m boom yogi up there and again the 450g performed faultlessly 

As Victor says I would defo  save up the extra Wonga and get the better more robust rotator 

I know for sure the rotator mention in the OP wouldn’t last long here @ my QTH it may be ok for a lightweight 2 ele yogi ( 11m) weighing in at 5 or 6 kg 


Craig

Great stuff Craig.
(We never go far off topic and it's nearly always radio related )

Hearing your own experience with the Yaesu unit has given me the confidence anyway.