Hi,
I recently the midi loop (running manual mode using the ATU) and it worked great for the first two weeks. Over this time it started reporting "Motor Failed No Load" and the actuator eventually stop working completely. I have checked the power supply line from the ATU to the chock found at the base of the loop and the line looks good. I fear that the problem may be an open connection from the chock to the actuator. Taking the loop down is a problem for me and am looking for any suggestion to further check to see if there is anything else I can do before taking the loop down and inspecting the actuator connects more carefully. Other pieces of information are I am running with the firmware version 3.19 and have done a second installation to insure it is doing the polarity correctly and have identified the antenna as the midi loop. There was no luck in resetting the ATU unit. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
73's --- KA2CRH
Just an update I got the midi working the controller had lost its settings
next is to get the full auto on my ftdx3000 working
I wrote about my experiences when I replaced a failed actuator, and found that the controller could no longer auto-detect the antenna type. In my case a bad SO-239 coupler was giving rise to spurious cable resonances corresponding to quarter wavelengths and this was confusing the controller's algorithm. In order for the controller's tuning and detection algorithm to work over the entire frequency range of the loop there must be one and only one sharp resonance at the loop's current frequency, and away from resonance the SWR response has to high and flat. In the Auto-Detect mode the loop controller measures the resonant frequency, and the steps the actuator and makes a new measurement. Depending upon whether the new frequency is higher or lower determines the 'sense' of the motor connection. Obviously, if there are spurious resonances this will confuse the algorithm leading to an incorrect motor 'sense' connection. The only way I have found to detect spurious resonances is to use my antenna analyser and sweep the frequency from the lowest to the highest loop frequencies and check the SWR curve so obtained. In addition, a very careful check of the RF connections to the antenna from the controller should be made.
Adrian, 5B4AIY