Why Rotator
Modern Azimuth / Elevation Rotor Control for Amateur Radio
WHY Rotator is a modern Windows application for controlling Az/El antenna rotators. It was originally developed around the SPID / AlfaSpid RAS Az-El system, but also includes support for common rotor-control protocols such as GS-232 and EasyComm.
The program combines normal rotor control with station targeting, astronomical tracking and several safety functions intended for real antenna installations.
Enter a callsign or Maidenhead locator and WHY Rotator calculates the bearing and distance from your station. Callsign information can be retrieved from online sources as well as an existing WHY Logger callbook. A station can then be selected and the antenna pointed directly towards it.
For manual operation, azimuth and elevation can be entered numerically or selected directly by clicking the graphical instruments. Twelve editable presets and dedicated JOG controls are also available.
Sun, Moon and EME
WHY Rotator includes high-precision Sun and Moon calculations using the station locator and altitude.
The Astro / EME display provides Moon and Sun position together with useful EME information such as Moon distance, declination, illumination, angular diameter, Doppler shift, echo delay and estimated degradation.
Automatic Sun and Moon tracking is supported, with adjustable movement deadband to avoid unnecessary small rotor movements.
Rotor and cable protection
A major part of WHY Rotator is dedicated to safe operation of real antenna systems.
For SPID RAS installations the software keeps track of azimuth travel around North and can use a configurable overlap, for example –5° to 365°. When a requested direction would take the rotor beyond the allowed cable travel, WHY Rotator automatically selects a safe route in the opposite direction instead of continuing to wind the antenna cables.
Additional protection includes communication monitoring, position validation, movement watchdog, stall detection, configurable elevation limits and automatic STOP handling.
Main features
- SPID Rot2Prog / AlfaSpid RAS Az-El support
- GS-232 and EasyComm support
- Serial and TCP communication
- Graphical Azimuth and Elevation instruments
- Click-to-move control
- Manual AZ/EL entry
- Hold-to-move JOG controls
- 12 editable rotor presets
- Callsign and Maidenhead locator lookup
- Bearing and distance calculation
- WHY Logger callbook integration
- WHY Logger rotor-control interface
- Sun tracking
- Precision Moon / EME tracking
- Astro / EME information display
- Configurable tracking deadband
- Cable-wrap and North-overlap protection
- Stall and communication watchdogs
- Rotor calibration and offsets
- Park position
- PstRotator-compatible UDP interface
- Built-in simulator for testing without rotor hardware
- Diagnostics display for communication and troubleshooting
Current version: WHY Rotator v1.1.7
WHY Rotator is developed primarily for my own amateur-radio station and measurement work, but is made available for other radio amateurs who may find it useful.
If you like the program and feel to donate use the Donate button.
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