Re: [amsat-bb] Low cost az-els

[George Humphrey <kc5wbv@xxxxxxxxx>]

Don and Eric,

I understand the need to compare apples to apples, but right now I am using 
the SatEl rotor system and it's cost was 50% below anything else I priced 
at the time. The system works as advertised and is really simple to work 
with. I use it on my tower at home and have also removed it and put it on a 
temp pole and moved the whole system to a local school and accomplish a 
really good ARISS contact with it is October. Right now I don't see how I 
can be any happier with it, but the guys at SatEl seem like they continue 
to work on improvements. I say keep up the good work, there are a lot of us 
that cannot spend lots of money for a rotor system and the SatEl system 
works for me.

73 George KC5WBV


At 09:53 PM 12/16/02 -0500, you wrote:
>A more apples to apples comparison would be to bundle UniTrac (radio 
>tuning and
>rotor automation) at $260 with the G5500 - with UniTrac you don't need Yaesu's
>GS-232 - so $525 + $260 = $785. The G5500 can also go through north and/or 
>also
>flip (90-90 EL). In order to be fair you'll need to add some radio tuning
>software (maybe freeware) to the SatEL setup right?
>
>73's
>
>Don Woodward
>KD4APP
>AMSAT 33535
>kd4app@amsat.org
>http://kd4app.webhop.org
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Eric Rawson" <ericrawson@rawsonoptics.com>
>To: <amsat-bb@AMSAT.Org>
>Cc: <ericrawson@rawsonoptics.com>
>Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 20:21
>Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Low cost az-els
>
>
>David Beach, VE3STI, compared the cost of a Yaesu G5500 az-el with SatEL's
>az-el...
>
> >I just took a look at Gigaparts and the Yaesu G5500 is $625 and SatEL's rig
> >is $418. I am not sure that the price of SatEL's product would sway me to
>it
> >rather than the Yaesu if I were about to buy.
> >
>
>This comparison is incomplete.  The Yaesu G5500 at $625 is the bare az-el
>unit.  If you add to that the Yaesu GS-232A Computer Controller ($495) the
>total is $1,120.  This Yaesu controller has no internal memory, and tracking
>must be controlled in real-time by a dedicated computer.
>
>The SatEL Az-El costs $418 and comes with a controller that has an internal
>processor and memory that you can "set and forget" and use the computer for
>something else.  The SatEL Az-El is being used with 3' diameter 25 dBi
>dishes (www.n3iyr.com) for AO-40 2.4 GHz downlink.  The current SatEL model,
>Model 5, tracks in 5 degree steps so its always with 2.5 degrees of the true
>direction, good for N3IYR's 8.6 degree beamwidth.  SatEL's Model 5 also
>tracks through north without having to sweep back around 360 degrees,
>especially convenient for ARISS QSOs.
>
>These factors should be considered in making a cost-performance comparison.
>
>Eric Rawson, KN6KC
>
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