Handbook. Antenna Rotator Controller

Transcription

1 Handbook Controller 3S design GmbH 2. Südwieke Rhauderfehn Germany Tel

2 Contents I Table of content Part I 1 1 Operating Installation... 2

3 Operating To change the antenna direction do one of the following Click within the compass on the wanted position Click and drag the yellow pointer to the wanted position Click the left- or right-rotate button, click on Stop! when reaching the wanted position Antenna position and display may get out of sync after some time. Click on more / Re-Adjust (Ctrl-A) to rotate the antenna to the nearest mechanical stop at 0 or 360 and stop there. You will then see the message: Motor blocked Antenna and display are now in sync again. Defining the Offset In case the antenna is not exactly aligned with the rotator direction you can correct that difference on the compass display Example A tx is located at 90, but you find the maximum signal strength at 60 Turn the antenna to get maximum signal strength Ctrl-Click the compass and keep the mouse button pressed: A green pointer now appears Drag the green pointer to the real azimuth, (90 in our example) Now release the mouse button, the red handle now moves to that position, the motor will not rotate Tip: It is more precise to use the antenna Null at 90 than the antenna Maximum to find the exact azimuth, because the Null is much sharper Header Double-Click the Compass-Header to change its text

4 2 1.2 Installation Connecting the motor Connect the motor to the blue plug as shown. The numbering scheme is the same as printed on motor and original controller-box. If the motor turns in the opposite direction then exchange wire 1 and 2 The controller supports only 18V rotators, like this one from Conrad Plug the USB cable into the PC. The driver will automatically be loaded by Windows, make sure it is connected to the internet. Wait until it finished. Then go into device manager to the COM & LPT tree and double click the new created USB-Serial-Port. Then click on Erweitert ( when using German PC)

5 3 Here you can alter the COM-Port number. This number you later on enter in AntRotor.exe Make sure to disable the 2 options on the right side.

6 4 First steps Now Start AntRotor.exe You will first be asked to enter the COM-Port number. The first step is to check if the current-level for the Motor-is-blocked is properly set. The red handle in the compass will point to 0 Click on the compass at around 20, the motor should now run and stop there. Click on + to see the detailed messages. Now press Ctrl-A or click more / Re-Adjust the motor will now run backwards until it hits the mechanical stop. When reaching the stop you will see a higher current level in the list-box. If the motor still runs then do this: click on Stop! Take the value, subtract 10 from it, and enter that into more / Define Motor-blocked Level. Ensure that the motor now stops when hitting the stop Calibrating Before first use you need to calibrate the controller. This only needs to be done once. Click more / Calibrate both direction The antenna now: 1. moves to the nearest mechanical stop 2. moves to the other mechanical stop 3. moves back to the mechanical stop in step #1 After calibration is done, the rotator is ready for use.