It’s hard to think that after the issues with the satellite rotator system last year (http://dx.camb-hams.com/2010/05/07/gs3pyep-increase-satellite-operations/) I’ve only just got round to firing up the rotator system to investigate the issue and fix it!

Last year we found that the azimuth was going crazy between about 100 degrees and 170 degrees which would put the LVB tracking interface into a spin! I recently bought a new, but not an exact replacement, feedback pot which I had planned to swap with the current one. However after opening and removing the current pot it was found the shaft on it was 6mm and the new one was 6.25mm so it wouldn’t fit into the cog connected to the gears! So with not many other options I opened the casing of the current pot and noticed it was quite dirty inside. The pot is a 500ohm wire-wound type so a quick clean and rub down with fine sandpaper brought it all back to being shiny! It was then reassembled and on test it is working a treat!

The 2m and 70cm satellite antennas should arrive from Wimo this week coming so should be able to test everything by next weekend.