Is there a such thing an a Manual Antenna Rotor?

[ModulationMaster]

Is there a such thing as a Manual Antenna Rotor?
That you change the direction of your antenna
By the way of a crank or gears???
Looking to get more exercise here...LOL...

 

[dave457]

Its called a arm-strong rotor

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[Captain Kilowatt]

Is there a such thing as a Manual Antenna Rotor?
That you change the direction of your antenna
By the way of a crank or gears???
Looking to get more exercise here...LOL...

Your picture is of what is commonly called a boat winch. It turns nothing. A manual antenna rotator is whatever YOU want to make up. No such thing exists on tbe market.

 

[RatsoW8]

I had one of the winches mounted on my tower to raise and lower my hazer. I suppose there is a some gear drive set up that would manually turn a mast inside of a tower but why bother when rotors are so cheap and convenient?

 

[BJ radionut]

This is just for a Single antenna will not work for

DUALANTENNAS

All the Best
Gary

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Human powered antenna rotator - YouTube

 

[vkrules]

Necessity is the mother of invention.Years ago I had a friend who's shack was set up in the garage. his 34 ft mast came through the roof peak about 2 feet from the wall , it was bolted to the rafters and sat on the garage floor next to his bench.He turned the mast with a wrench which was permanently fitted about 2 feet off the floor and he had compass points marked on the floor and a chain fitted so he could lock it off during storms.It was set so you could sit at the bench watch the radio and still reach the wrench.Despite spending thousands on radio Wally never did buy a rotor .

 

[Mudfoot]

Yes, its called teenage kids.

 

[KC9Q]

Attached is a pdf scan from the 1964 ARRL Antenna Book showing a suggested manual antenna rotor system. Page 274 shows a right angled pulley (probably using right-angle gearing) to turn the antenna (Fig 12-12(c), and the next page shows a Mechanical Direction-Indicator System (Figure 12-38). This is for real. Hams were very resourceful back then.

 

[jessejamesdallas]

Hand crank antenna rotor...

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

There was one old timer that had a set of bicycle chains and gears set up along with reduction gears so he could turn his antennas. This was back in the day before antenna rotators were in regular use.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Hand crank antenna rotor...

Wrong type of egg beater antenna.

 

[Rebel Son]

Down here in the swamps of Florida I would put my telescoping pole with my MACO 3's close to the window. If I needed to turn it I would just reach out the window and turn it to the desired direction. True Story, LOL.

 

[ModulationMaster]

Attached is a pdf scan from the 1964 ARRL Antenna Book showing a suggested manual antenna rotor system. Page 274 shows a right angled pulley (probably using right-angle gearing) to turn the antenna (Fig 12-12(c), and the next page shows a Mechanical Direction-Indicator System (Figure 12-38). This is for real. Hams were very resourceful back then.

Thanks very much KC9Q for the pdf link in post #9

 

[HomerBB]

I have tied a rope to the beam and walked it around to where I needed it to point.
As for rotators being inexpensive, I suppose that is a relative thing; the more you've got in the wallet, the less expensive things are, but I have found them to be excessively expensive even when they are used. I build antennas from $4 walkers, so I'm not about to overthrow the house payment for a rotor . . . Only TV rotors are affordable anymore for a guy like me.
A lot of fun is being had at the expense of this thread, but it's a decent question that a resourceful person could engineer an answer for. When and if my shack ever moves beneath my mast I will likely rig something up. Until then, run a small enough beam for a TV rotor to handle, or just tie a rope to a bigger one.