What do SmartSDR for Mac users do for rotator control?

Mike W8MM

I really like PSTrotator control software, but it’s Windows oriented.

What do Mac users do?

George KF2T

I use PSTrotator running on a small Windows PC, and the web interface on my Mac, iphone, or ipad - whichever I”m running remote on.

AWe

MacLogger DX has a Rotor interface, i use this with my Spid-Rotor.

George KF2T

I use the PSTRotator web interface. Goes great with running remote or at home.

David Holmgren

I bought an Alpha Spider rotor and it's connected to the Green Heron Rotor controller. If you buy the optional WiFi and have it installed you can use your standard web browser to rotate your antenna. If you open a port on your router you can do it from outside your house when you use you Flex on the road. See the screen shot of the browser screen.

Green Heron.png

73, K9AT

W1XYZ

I'm biased toward the rotor controller in MacLoggerDX. Even with the new SmartSDR for Mac, I will keep MacLoggerDX for sure. It's just too useful and nice.

G2YTpeter

I use a low cost Windows laptop running PSTRotatorAz which I downloaded from the internet for minimal cost. That allows direct connection to control the PST rotator with a simple USB to Serial cable. I then run Chrome remote desktop on both the low cost PC and the MacBook I use for SmartSDR.

I should add that the the only reason I bought the PC was because I needed to use one (at the time I bought the PGXL) to be able to configure the Flex to operate with the PGXL. Currently you can do this from the Mac too, but the addition of the PC facilitated control of my PST rotator and was simple to get running.

I suspect that Rotator Genius for Mac might be a better solution at time of writing (October 22).

G2YTpeter

> @W7NGA said:
> "What do SmartSDR for Mac users do for rotator control?"
> I place the index finger of my left hand upon the paddle-switches of my Yaesu G-450A rotator controller. I press the left one to rotate counter-clockwise and I press the right switch to rotate my hex beam clockwise. Upon indication that the beam is oriented to the desired bearing I remove my index finger.
> It seems to work just fine ...

Ha ha... not so easy to do when you are 6000 miles away from your shack operating remote!

W7NGA

"What do SmartSDR for Mac users do for rotator control?"

I place the index finger of my left hand upon the paddle-switches of my Yaesu G-450A rotator controller. I press the left one to rotate counter-clockwise and I press the right switch to rotate my hex beam clockwise. Upon indication that the beam is oriented to the desired bearing I remove my index finger.

It seems to work just fine ...

Johan SE3X

@W7NGA That method actually works with two controllers as well .. I have one for my Hexbeam and one for my 6m Yagi. Reliabel as he .. and no PC software that could crash ..

Mike-VA3MW

The other Rotator to consider is the 4O3A Rotator Genius as it is integrated with SmartSDR MAC.

You can configure it to work with most rotators

https://4o3a.com/products/genius-family/rotator-genius

K3SF

hi..i use app called Rotor by DL2RUM

can be found i apple app store...

uses usb interface from mac mini to Green Heron RT21 controller to my HD 73 Rotor

supports multiple rotor control protocols

Paul K3SF

G2YTpeter

> @Mike-VA3MW said:
> The other Rotator to consider is the 4O3A Rotator Genius as it is integrated with SmartSDR MAC.
> You can configure it to work with most rotators

Hi Mike, I agree that this sounds like an ideal solution. My installation is a little unusual in that I have a very long distance from the radio/amplifier to the antenna (just over 150 metres, or 500+ feet in old currency). I looked up some info on the system and I see that it requires a Cat 5 cable. It would be a pretty big job to lay the cable and get it suitably protected against rodents etc, so before even considering it i'm wondering if you know that the lenght itself would present any problem. Also my antenna is a log periodic which has a driven boom, so there is likely to be very high RF field strength in the vicinity of the azimuth sensor. I wonder if you know if this is likely to present any difficulty... there is likely to be a lot more RF in the sensor location than if I were mounting it on a Yagi.

David Decoons, wo2x

RT21 direct to a Pi running Node Red server. Web access from anyplace. Just got a MAC Mini running SSDR for MAC and going to see what is involved to integrate it

DL4RCE

RaspPi, hamlib RS232 connect to controller and Node Red connects via TCP/IP and uses webbrowser to show controls. At Windows PC I use Pstcontrol which connects via TCP/IP to rotator. Dave helped a lot to make this happen.

Mike-VA3MW

@G2YTpeter

My tower is about that far away in Northern Ontario. I have feedlines, CAT 5 cable and AC extension cord running through the woods. It has been like that for about 7 or 8 years now with no special protection. YMMV. I have yet to see any animal damage.

I have my Steppir Controller and RG controller actually at the base of the tower. I use the CAT 5 cable for a LAN. It works wonderfully.

brianbruff

Bit of an old thread.

I run rotctld service on a local linux machine.

most logging clients qlog/maclogger etc can connect directly to the rotctld ip:port and give you control of your rotator
even pst on windows can connect to rotctld

other solutions i tried:
pstrotor server alongside radio and pstrotator/web client at station

now with smart sdr 3.9 you can just shove the rotator up the bum of the flex and use it via cat.