Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyL
...It is interesting to see how these things work. I still have no idea how they shut themselves off after the mast is raised/lowered. I see how the wheel lifts up a contact to remove voltage, but there are sooo many other things in there!...
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When I had the one on my wife's 87 apart, I could find no limit switches to stop the travel. The circuitry seems to sense the increase in current drawn by the motor as it stalls when the antenna reaches "full up" or "full down." That has an additional safety advantage in that, if the antenna hangs up on something, gets broken off, or simply jams due to dirt, the motor won't continue to run until it fries, causes a fire, or drains your battery. That is
proper engineering.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyL
...And yes, over-engineered......
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No such thing.
Proper engineering means that the Hirschmann antenna can be taken apart and repaired. Proper engineering makes for more expensive manufacturing, however, so often the engineers are told to "make it cheap" rather than "make it good." There are ways to engineer something better and less expensive -- ICs, which replaced transistors, which replaced vacuum tubes, for example, but too often it's just a manager trying to reduce his budget.
Jeremy
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"Buster" in the '95
Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles
Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles
My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970