A neighbor gave me his rotating TV antenna, probably 20 years old.
Unfortunately, he threw out the controller that is used to rotate the
antenna. The wire coming out of the rotator motor unit that the antenna
is mounted on has a 3-conductor flat cable that has been cut a couple of
feet from the rotator motor. The wire is pretty heavy, something like is
used for AC lamp wiring, maybe 16 ga. I can't make out a brand name or
model number.

I'm wondering what I need to replace the missing controller, and how to
wire it. I'm sure it's bidirectional, so the controller must feed the
motor from one of the 3 wires into either of the other wires, depending
on which direction the motor is to turn. Can anyone explain how these
things are usually wired? Do they run off 110 AC, or is there a
transformer that reduces the voltage? Or is it a DC motor? And will I
likely need resistors or a potentiometer in the control unit to limit
the current or adjust speed? ANy guesses on where generic schematics
could be found?

Thanks.

Bill Christens-Barry

If I recall correctly, they are 110 Volt. Three wires are the motor --
in order to reverse direction. The other two are an internal
potentionmeter that ran a meter to indicate the direction. It has been
a LONG time since I've worked with one. You might be better off
checking on one of the ham radio groups. This is my recollection from
20+ years ago.

"Bill Christens-Barry" wrote in message
...
A neighbor gave me his rotating TV antenna, probably 20 years old.
Unfortunately, he threw out the controller that is used to rotate the
antenna. The wire coming out of the rotator motor unit that the antenna
is mounted on has a 3-conductor flat cable that has been cut a couple of
feet from the rotator motor. The wire is pretty heavy, something like is
used for AC lamp wiring, maybe 16 ga. I can't make out a brand name or
model number.

I'm wondering what I need to replace the missing controller, and how to
wire it. I'm sure it's bidirectional, so the controller must feed the
motor from one of the 3 wires into either of the other wires, depending
on which direction the motor is to turn. Can anyone explain how these
things are usually wired? Do they run off 110 AC, or is there a
transformer that reduces the voltage? Or is it a DC motor? And will I
likely need resistors or a potentiometer in the control unit to limit
the current or adjust speed? ANy guesses on where generic schematics
could be found?

Thanks.

Bill Christens-Barry

Check out http://www.starkelectronic.com/cmmatv.htm#rotor
A few lines down they have a link that reads "More Info" which describes a
Channel Master control box. Below that there's a link for a "9521" which
shows a wiring diagram for the 3 conductor wire.

-al sung
Rapid Realm Technology, Inc.
Hopkinton, MA