VE6AB Mobile Ops
Portable Antenna Mast Rotator
What your seeing here is my recently completed 12 VDC antenna mast rotator mounted in the hitch receiver of my mobile.
As you know if you follow what I'm up to, this hitch-insert assembly was initially built to mount my Mag-Gain Systems push-up mast assembly on, and I have used it that way for several years.
As I built and added more antennas to the mast, I was spending much of my time manually turning the mast to re-direct the various antennas mounted on the mast.
I started thinking about how I could design and build a lightweight 12 VDC rotator, and with time spent in my shop working up a design, and with parts ordered from around the globe (the gear-motor was ordered from the far-east), it all came together as you see here.
I am pleased with how it turned out, and after powering it up for the first time, I was pleased to confirm my calculations when designing the rotator, as it does a full rotation of the mast in just under a minute as designed to.
With this 12 VDC rotator installed in the receiver on my mobile and with the power cable from the 12 VDC reverse-polarity controller mounted in the cargo bay of my mobile connected up to the powepole on the rotator as the wiring diagram in the insert photo shows, it as simple as pressing the up and down buttons on the wireless keyfob transmitter to control the rotation of the antenna array from the front seat of my mobile, or while operating from outside of my mobile.
Click on the photo for a closer look.....
