Using
the Rotator Control Interface
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The IRT control ONLY supports
native control of the HyGain DCU / Idiom Press interface as well as the
Antenna Rotator System of EA4TX. Selection of the rotator control interface should
be made at the HOST toolkit using the SETUP menu illustrated below. NOTE: Currently there is still an
IRT software problem when using the ARS support in reading the current
azimuth of the rotator. IF ROTATOR TYPES
OTHER THAN THE IDIOM PRESS / HYGAIN or ARS ARE DESIRED, THEN OTHER SOFTWARE
INTERFACING DIRECTLY TO THE ROTATOR VIA SERIAL COM SHOULD BE USED WITH THE
IRT, e.g. TRX-MANAGER, N8LP CONTROL, etc. The rotator control is
intended to provide a simple interface for the rotator. Currently some of its functionality
is still not implemented (This will be discussed below). The control is
designed to both query a rotator for its current azimuth position and to
allow the user to set the azimuth position.
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The azimuth heading may be
set using a variety of methods. 1.
Directly entered into
the box in the lower left 2.
Selected using the scroll
bar next to t he box 3.
Entering the prefix
(or callsign) in the upper right box will calculate the heading assuming the
station latitude and longitude have been entered correctly in the HOST SETUP
menu. They can be also entered in the CLIENT SETUP, if needed. 4.
Entering the desired
GRID SQUARE in the lower right box [ NOTE THIS IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE] Clicking the GO or LONG
PATH buttons will start the rotator. |
Antenna
Offsets: This was designed to address the situation at W7KW, where
multiple beams are stacked on a single rotator. Two beams are offset -90degrees from the main heading. This
is reflected in the SETUP menu illustrated above. The rotator logic will account for these offsets as long as
it is aware of the frequency band being used. For a Kenwood radio, this can be
determined from the radio telemetry. For a non-Kenwood radio, software such as
TRX Manager must be used to automatically provide the radio frequency to the
rotator control.
QRZ PAGE: Currently NOT supported
GRID TO
AZ: Currently NOT supported