Yaesu G - 250 Rotator

-

After watching a selection of second hand antenna rotators on eBay, I decided to go for a brand new model which I got through Nevada's eBay shop at a buy it now price.
Nevada have been selling the Yaesu G-250 Rotators at a promotional discounted price so it wasn't to hard to decide to purchase a new item rather than a used one which gave me peace of mind instead of not knowing the life expectancy of a pre owned unit.

I've been using the recently purchased antenna rotator for the last 10 days and have found it to be excellent value for money. I installed the recently mentioned IOIo beam on the GS-250 and have had successfully greatly improved 5/9 exchanges on the LEO Satellites, as well as the DX worked on 2m SSB.

The Rotator is well constructed and assembles easily in minuets, it comes with u-bolts ready to fix to your poles. Its design and choice of material has been well thought out as its shape is pleasant to the eye as well as practical and usable with good water resistance.

The GS-250 is a six pole 24 volt set up and 7-core trailer cable is the cheapest option to feed your rotator. The terminals are good quality and are numbered 1-6 which is repeated at the termination point on the Controller unit. I soldered some small terminal connectors which are normally crimped on to each end of the 6 core cable. The 7th core was cut at the end of the sheath and discarded.

The Controller is retro style simple and basic which may not suit all, but for myself it compliments the rest of my kit- FT-767, MD1, and SP-102 matching speaker, as it is exactly the same colour as the rest of the set up.
I use the Rotator/IoIo with the FT-847 and it already looks like its always been part of the shack. h.i
The dial is definitely retro design and is very basic in display showing N E S W and has marks set at 15 degree increments. The idea of learning my 15 X table all those years ago at first school, now seems all worth while. I have been enjoying using my brain power to calculate the sums, track the 'Birds' and noting Call Signs whilst in QSO. Extremely good fun.

All in all, the complete set up looks well and comes with Yaesu's usual quality build reputation performing smoothly and quietly as well as being accurate.

100% Rating from me and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to use it with a light weight antenna up to 25 kG total weight.
The ROTATOR and IOIo Home Brew Beam

Comments

Phaze58 said…
Looking GOOD!

Ca'nt wait to see it close up :) er well you know what I mean

I defo think I am going to get one of those for my 3ele 6mtr and a bit better coax .

TTfN
de (infamose) M1PAC
9:17 am
MØYKS Simon said…
EY Up Phil,

Thanks for the Flowers and you can try it out for yourself when you and M0DIT Josh comes up all being well this Saturday.

Catch you on 2

73 de 2E0HTS
8:20 pm
Tomas said…
Hi Simon, looks like great event! Just now I am demonstrating to my friend our amateur station and we just cought ao-51 pass and we heard you there (on home vertical antenna)! Best 73! Tomas
8:21 pm
MØYKS Simon said…
Hi Tomas,

Wow! Glad you heard me in there!

Regards to your friend and hope to hear you on AO-51 soon.

73 de Simon.
11:24 pm
atropa said…
Hi Simon
Interesting review on the G250 rotator and in consequence have bought one to support a 2 metre yagi. The entry grommet is very small to take 7 core trailer cable. Perhaps you could let me know how you coped with this?
73 de Vince, G0AQT
taylorvincent@gmail.com
8:59 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Full Size Delta Loop for 20M

-
Image
I came across a simple delta loop design courtesy of dxzone found on the net some time ago and have been planning to give it a go for a while. This weekend I had a couple of hours spare, so I decided to give it a go using some 2mm multi strand wire cable, a dipole centre and a mixture of 75 ohm and 50 ohm coaxial cable. The delta loop is supposed to be resonant on 20 meters but I found it to be a little high so at present I am tuning the Loop with my mfj-969 which copes extremely well. The resonant frequency is 13.2 MHz at the moment so the next chance I get, I shall shorten the overall length making sure that each of the three sides are still equal in length, and hopefully adjusting the antenna for maximum performance ATU free for 14.2 MHz. I believe the miscalculation in the resonant length is probably down to the fact that my wire is covered in the plastic sleeving from the manufacturer which always effects the swr as I have noticed in past experiments with dipoles you always get sl...
Read more

Homebrew 40/80 Trap Dipole Design

-
Image
This Antenna design was one that I used about 4 years ago, it worked exceptionally well on 80m and 40m. The size of the antenna makes a Half wave length on 80 meters, and with the traps a half wave on 40m with a SWR (standing wave ratio) of 1:1-1.5 across both bands. It worked well also on 20m with the use of an A.T.U (antenna tuning unit). I made my version of this antenna using 3mm multi strand copper cable which I left covered by the PVC insulation. The traps can either be home brewed using some 40mm diameter plastic drain pipe and winding wire around the pipe approximately 10 turns, then connected in line after the 10 metre lengths. Or the alternative is to purchase some commercially made 7.1 MHz traps, and fit them in line the same way. The antenna can be fed with 50 ohm coax with a home brew balan or again a commercially purchased balan. The wire lengths of the dipole are 2x 10 metres and 2x 6.7 metres as shown on the diagram above. This antenna can be mounted quite low to the gr...
Read more

YAESU G - 5500 Elevation Rotator Repair

-
Image
After 10 years of careful use my G-5500 eventually developed a couple of faults on the elevation rotator side.  Fault 1. For the past year I have had to guess the elevation as the readout was no longer working on the controller unit. I suspected the position switch which was located inside the rotator up above the house roof which was a pain in the butt to say the least. Fault 2. Over the winter the gearbox on the elevation rotor seized up solid. I plucked up some courage and erected my ladder and which with the aid of a rope to lower the mast it all worked out quite straight forward. Once down out with the impact driver and away I went. Once I split the case with the impact driver which was easy, I found lots of sandy grit and dried out remains of what should have or once was gearbox/bearing grease. The next step was to inspect the seized gearbox and then remove the main shaft which can only be carried out by first removing the entire gear housing u...
Read more