SkyRoof Rotor Control Changes Direction Unnecessarily When Crossing 360 Degrees

Bob Kmak

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Jul 5, 2026, 3:03:26 PMJul 5

to SkyRoof

Hello,

I use SkyRoof with a K3NG rotor controller supporting GS-232A and a Yaesu G-800DXA 450 degree rotor. Currently running SkyRoof 1.38.

I don't remember exactly when this problem started but its definitely been there for the last few releases.

Here's what just happened: I was working SO-50 on a pass that started around 240 deg and went clockwise past 360 to about 15 deg. As the rotor approached 360 it reversed direction and started going counterclockwise like it couldn't go through 360.

There are other cases where this happens but from memory mostly happens when rotating clockwise.

Could this be a HamLib problem or does it sound like the way SkyRoof manages the rotor?

If it helps this is how I start rotctld:

"C:\Program Files\hamlib-w64-4.5.5\bin\rotctld.exe" -m 601 -r COM14 -s 9600 -vvvv

Thanks,

Bob K5WO

Alex VE3NEA

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Jul 5, 2026, 7:15:57 PMJul 5

to SkyRoof

@Bob check your minimum and maximum azimuth settings in the Settings dialog, wrong settings there the symptom you have described.

Bob Kmak

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Jul 6, 2026, 12:50:12 PMJul 6

to Alex VE3NEA, SkyRoof

Hi Alex,

I've attached a screen cap of the settings window.

Just to be clear my rotator has a hard stop at 0 deg when moving CCW. In the CW direction it starts at 0 and moves through a complete 360 deg and continues to 90 degrees where it stops for the 450 deg limit.

Bob K5WO

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SkyRoof Rotator Settings.jpg

Alex VE3NEA

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Jul 10, 2026, 4:29:19 PM (10 days ago) Jul 10

to SkyRoof

Check if the HamLib driver of your rotator knows abut your rotator's capability to go beyond 360. Instructions how to do this are in the HamLib docs, e.g., https://hamlib.sourceforge.net/html/rotctl.1.html - use interactive rotctl.exe (instead of rotctld.exe server) that comes with HamLib to post the dump capabilities command.

Bob Kmak

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Jul 13, 2026, 11:29:59 AM (7 days ago) Jul 13

to Alex VE3NEA, SkyRoof

Hi Alex,

I started rotctl with the same params as I use with rotctld and got lucky -- it rotated CW from 200 deg thru 360 and continued CW to 89 deg.

I was worried that I would have to experiment with different values for min and max azimuth because the documentation is a bit confusing on those.

See below for a trace of the rotator movement. It also works as expected in the CCW direction-- passes thru South without stopping and goes all the way to 0 deg.

C:\Program Files\hamlib-w64-4.5.5\bin>rotctl -m 601 -r COM14 -s 9600

Rotator command: M CW
Direction: Speed: 100

Rotator command: p
Azimuth: 249.00
Elevation: 0.00

Rotator command: p
Azimuth: 286.00
Elevation: 0.00

Rotator command: p
Azimuth: 331.00
Elevation: 0.00

Rotator command: p
Azimuth: 5.00
Elevation: 0.00

Rotator command: p
Azimuth: 44.00
Elevation: 0.00

Rotator command: p
Azimuth: 89.00
Elevation: 0.00

Rotator command: q

Bob K5WO

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/skyroof/40f0c451-553a-4bfb-9e4e-a15ad36aedb4n%40googlegroups.com.

Alex VE3NEA

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Jul 13, 2026, 11:41:12 AM (7 days ago) Jul 13

to SkyRoof

Hi Bob,

In this log you just tell the rotator to move, without setting the target azimuth. Please try the capital P command and see what rotctl does.

Bob Kmak

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Jul 13, 2026, 1:55:34 PM (7 days ago) Jul 13

to Alex VE3NEA, SkyRoof

Here you go. Let me know if you need the more detailed diag trace.

C:\Program Files\hamlib-w64-4.5.5\bin>rotctl -m 601 -r COM14 -s 9600

Rotator command: P 190.0 0.0
Azimuth: Elevation:

Rotator command: p
Azimuth: 44.00
Elevation: 0.00

Rotator command: p

Azimuth: 53.00