In recent years, amateur radio station management has evolved greatly with computer aided systems. Many ham radio operators effectively work remotely and can even control their entire station from their own PC. With this in mind microHAM, a pioneer in the development of integrated radio-PC systems, has developed “ARCO“, a rotor controller device that has innovative and unique features.
ARCO is a fully autonomous rotor controller with a wide range of remote control options. It controls azimuth adjustment through an intuitive graphical interface and a 7-inch touch screen that can be customized by the user in terms of color, automatic day/night variation, display of the globe in grayscale and more.
Positioning of the antenna can be done by simply touching a point on the displayed globe or one of the proposed ITU prefixes, but also by using the classic CW-CCW keys or even by entering the position via a virtual keyboard.
For remote management, there are several connection options: the classic USB port with COM emulation (no driver required for Win10, macOS and Linux), the RS-232 serial port and the Ethernet port for Internet connection.
Boxed into an all-aluminum enclosure, the unit can be configured through simple menu functions, allowing it to be easily connected to any type of rotor, commercial or even homebrewed, and guarantees longer life through gradual control of the start and stop speed in case of strong wind gusts or ice on the antennas.
For complex antenna systems, there is a local connection between several ARCO controllers via a two-wire bus connection for directional masts, rotating towers, etc. Even remotely several ARCO controllers, located in different parts of the world, can be synchronized each other via the Internet with a very simple procedure.
MicroHAM will ensure continuous implementation of functionality through the development of free downloadable firmware.
