AlfaSpid AZ Rotator & Controller (RAK)

I own an Alpha Spid, and I would NEVER get another! I really don't think it is well made. Mine came new with rusted gears, very noisy motor and gear lash set wrong because the holes were drilled in case wrong. There is places were water can get into the top of the gear box and open seems in the bottom of the gearbox were water AND YOUR GREASE can drip out. I am not happy. The Alpa info says it would take a 2 inch mast. Mine would not. I hauled a 2 inch OD, 24 foot long "DOM" mast from Texas Tower in Dallas to Tucson only to find my Alpha had a bore of ~ 1.980. A 2.000 inch mast would not fit in my Alpha Spid!! They made it too small for a standard 2 inch tubing mast! Who in their right mind would try to make a "Heavy Duty" rotator, and make it for a mast smaller than 2inches? Maybe a metric thing? I was pissed. I spent hours boring out the Alpha with a brake hone. And using pinch bolts to mount the mast and the base of the rotator is a REAL PAIN. It is extremely hard to center the rotator when you have 16 bolts (8 bottom and 8 top) because tightening any one more or less will tilt the mount pipe or the mast. I was able to do this on the ground with a lot of effort, then put up the top section with a crane, I spent hours working on it to get it all centered. But if it needs replaced in the air my tower guy will never get it right.

And you must build a base mount because the bottom is made to fit on a pipe, not a flat plate like most all others in the free world. Also it was priced at $599, but it ended up being a ""surprise"" on my credit card at around $1,000 because of "import tax", "exchange rates" and "an old web price" posted by they guys selling the Alpha Spid. They said "yea, we should up date that some day"!

Now to be fair, these guys were very nice guys to talk to. And when I complained about the rusted gears they sent me a new rotator out the same day, on a buss I had in in a day or two. But it had more problems than the first one! So I just tore it all apart and redid it as best I could.

I would say, very nice guys, very bad rotator.

I wish I had a better report for them.