www.arrl.org
QST
February 2023 49
The unit is standalone, but it can be operated re-
motely via a computer, tablet, or phone (more on
this later).
Description
There are two versions of this controller. The 200 W
unit is the standard version, and the 400 W unit is
meant to be used with larger rotators. I have the
Yaesu G-450A, and the 200 W version (the reviewed
unit) is more than enough.
This rotator controller is huge, at 10.4 × 4.9 × 5.9
inches (without protrusions). It’s slightly taller than my
Icom IC-7610. On the front panel, it has a 7-inch color
touchscreen with intuitive functions. With a touch on
the map, it turns. It has an infinite rotary knob to
select an exact bearing by turning in either direction.
After 3 seconds, the rotator moves to the desired
bearing. You can cancel the rotation just by pushing
the rotary knob. Under the rotary knob, there are tra-
ditional direction buttons — CCW and CW — for each
direction to manually turn the rotator holding the
selected pushbutton.
There are three LED indications on the front panel:
POWER
(amber when on),
FAULT
(normally off, red
when a fault is detected),
MOTOR
(turns green when
it’s moving), and an on/off switch.
What makes this unit different is that there are rack-
mount-style handles on each side of the front panel.
It’s useful when you need to transport it, because the
ARCO weighs 6.28 pounds.
There are many ports on the rear panel (see Fig-
ure 8). This controller can be plugged into a standard
ac outlet using the included standard power cord. If
you order from the US, you will get the 115 V ac unit.
It’s internally switchable to 240 V ac, and you can
confirm your pre-wired version by looking at the rear
panel. Above the AC
LINE
connection is a 3.5-milli-
meter (
1
⁄
8
-inch) stereo jack, which can be used to link
multiple ARCO controllers together. There’s a legacy
DB9
SERIAL
RS-232 computer control port, a
LAN
Ethernet RJ-45 port to control the unit over IP, a USB
B port (
USB
) for computer control, a USB A port (
FW
)
for keypad connection or local firmware update, and
a DB15 female (
D-SENSOR
) socket for digital position
sensors. There are two different types of rotator
connector, a 10-position removable terminal, and a
rotator connection port connected in parallel with six
conductors to connect directly to a Yaesu rotator.
There’s also a ground (
GND
) terminal bonded to the
chassis, a fuse holder, and the cooling fan that I never
heard running. The unit is always on, but goes into
standby after a while.
Optional Accessories
While I was writing this review, microHAM launched
three optional ARCO External Control (ARXC)
accessories for the ARCO controller. These options
appeared in the
SYSTEM
menu after upgrading the
controller to the latest firmware (reviewed version
3.1.E). The three optional accessories are: the ARXC
RELAY, which adds a user-programmable relay output
for antenna and polarization switches control, or mast
preamplifier bypass control; the ARXC MAGNETIC,
which adds an antenna slippage watchdog and elec-
tronic compass sensor function to ARCO; and the
ARXC LoRa, which consists of two LoRA communica-
tion modules paired for a wireless link between ARCO
and ARXC modules (the operating frequency is 868
MHz). Note that this information was taken from the
manufacturer’s website, and none of the listed acces-
sories were tested in this review.
Rotator Connections and Setup
In the manual setup section, the first thing mentioned
is “Do not connect any rotator cables to the ARCO
and make sure the power is switched to off.” They
also ask you to check that your unit is wired for your
region AC voltage. After confirming the voltage, you
can connect the power cord into the
LINE
socket.
Figure 8
— The microHAM ARCO Smart Antenna Rotator
Controller rear panel.
Figure 9
— The ARCO Rotator settings menu tab.
