I don't have experience with 3rd party controllers but the position reporting is fundamentally different. Instead of potentiometers indicating the present az/el, there are just pulses indicating when the motors have traveled a degree.
So a little more work is associated with keeping track of the heading, and I haven't heard of a compatible 3rd party controller, but I don't foresee modifying one to do so as particularly challenging. On 2/7/10 10:12 PM, amsat-bb-requ...@amsat.org wrote: > Message: 5 > Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2010 17:34:13 -0400 > From: Bruce Robertson<ve9...@gmail.com> > Subject: [amsat-bb] lvbtracker (or other) and AlfaSpid rotors? > To: AMSAT-BB<amsat-bb@amsat.org> > Message-ID: > <49657a761002071334n17015d9cm9de43e3713439...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > The Alfa Spid price list > http://alfaradio.ca/docs/AlfaSpid_Price_June15_2009.pdf indicates that > the az/el rotor alone is about $600 (CAD) cheaper than the rotor with > controller. I understand that this controller is a very nice piece of > kit, and many are quite pleased with, for instance, its mouse > interface. However, that additional charge moves the purchase from the > 'maybe one day' to the 'no way Jose' column. > > So I'm wondering if anyone has experience with third-party controllers > to operate the Alfa Spid rotors. Are they electrically similar to > other rotors, or is the proprietary controller absolutely necessary? > > 73, Bruce VE9QRP > -- http://ve9qrp.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
