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Reviews For: Ameritron RCS-4

Category: Antenna Switching, Phasing, Controllers

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Review Summary For : Ameritron RCS-4
Reviews: 89MSRP: 99.99
Description:
4 Antenna Remote Coax Switch w/ SO-239 connectors on 100/110/120V
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ameritron.com/ameritron/products.php?prodid=RCS-4
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15893.6
PE1HZG Rating: 2024-07-31
Simply works Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
With the closure of the MFJ factory, I was worried that I was too late, but I found a RCS-4 on an auction site.

Upon reception, I inspected the units and found that workmanship was OK - could not find fault.
I don't agree with some of the comments on "putting voltages on the transceiver port - there is 30nF of capacity, if the radio cannot handle low-voltages remaining then perhaps the radios are not robust.

Since I only received the unit, I don't have experience with durability. With extreme weathers, perhaps I would make some adjustments but for my goals (experiments) the unit is absolutely fine.

Would happily buy another one but one is all I need at this time.
WB6JWB Rating: 2024-03-17
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well after owning the RCS4 for a decade or so, it has succumbed to some issues. The 12VAC wall wart died a couple of years ago, easy to replace, still odd it died though.

More recently the RCS4 stopped working altogether. I was optimistic that the switch box in the shack was at fault which would have saved me from climbing the tower to get to the relay box. No dice though, the switch box was properly providing the four voltages out of the subject SO-239.

So I climbed the tower and removed the relay box. Upon opening the box I was perplexed to see dirt and corrosion inside of it, clearly part of the problem.

I cleaned it up and then went about diagnosing the problem by checking the voltages at the relays and son on. For some reason things weren't adding up, and that's when I found the problem. The circuit board and the mounting plate for the SO-239's are separated by metal standoff, all of which were corroded (two just crumbled off). The standoffs provide a ground between the circuit board and the SO-239 plate, so without the ground the relay box will not work. After replacing the standoffs, it worked as expected.

Prior to all of the diagnostics, I phoned the "tech support" number shown in the manual. It was quite evident that the man on the phone did not care to help at all and provided no useful information whatsoever.
N7ZM Rating: 2022-06-30
Sold it and bought a RCS-8 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought the Ameritron RCS-4 back in 1996. It was a poor design so I sold it within 4 months I then bought the Ameritron RCS-8V. What a difference, it actually works well. I live in snow country in Northern Nevada and the unit has worked flawlessly in the last 26 years. Never a problem.
K1HMS Rating: 2022-06-29
I like it. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My original review is below. The RCS-4 is monuted 2 feet above the ground. It has been buried in Snow during 3 winters so far, it hasn't required any maintance so I upped the reviiew to 5 stars.

I get 4 antennas into the shack on one coax and no extra wires. As it says in the instructions there is AC/DC power on the center conductor, it isn't a problem.

Previous Review--
I like it. If it had shorting switches I would give it 5 stars.
What is important will vary with each shack, here is my take:
Pro
- The control signal is on the coax so no additional line is required, therefore less copper into the shack.
- While not inexpensive it is less expensive than 4 100' coax lines to the house. Eliminating 3 coax cables significantly reduces the total copper cross section into the shack.
- The XYL likes the reduction of cables in the garden.
- It works well and can handle 1.5kW with well matched antennas.

Cons
- It only has 4 ports
- It precludes the use of multiple antennas simultaneously.
- The "on the coax" control signal precludes using a DC blocked coax surge protector which have better lightning performance (it is probably still better than having a CAT-5 control cable into the shack)
- The unused ports are open circuit (non-shorting) limiting isolation to 50dB on 10m, it is better at lower freq. For me 50dB is adequate. If you had a 2nd ant/coax/txcvr for SO2R or a multi-op station you would probably need higher isolation.
- High SWR antennas (used with a tuner in the shack) can destroy the internal RF choke used to put the control signal on the coax due to High voltage nodes on the coax. (The SWR on the coax/antenna side of the tuner does not change with a tuner in the shack.)

The RCS-6 has shorting switches / higher isolation, no control signal on the coax, and 6 ports. But it does require a seperate cable for control. With several wire antennas in 100' tall trees I like having just one coax cable into the shack with the RCS-4. We had a good storm last night with several large strikes within 1/4 mile, it is a matter of time...

Hamilton K1HMS
W9MDB Rating: 2022-06-29
Will fry your antenna tester Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
WARNING!!!!
Friend bought one and we discovered it puts 12VAC on the center conductor coming back to the rig.
It fried his antenna tester.
So we cut the connection to antenna 1 internally to remove the 12VAC on the center conductor and that makes it an RCS-3 now.
Note that the RCS-10 doesn't have this problem plus it has external relay control inputs.
WA1SXK Rating: 2022-06-28
Bad Design Don't buy this Ant. Switch Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I would not recommend this antenna switch to any ham radio operator; I would give it a zero (0) rating if possible. There are no switching control lines going to the relay unit, this Ant. switch applies voltages to the output coax for switching. The directions recommend mounting the relay box on the tower mast as close to the antennas. Control voltages are then applied to the output coax running up the tower, to switch relays (+15vdc) ( -15vdc) (15vac) and (0 volts). But, when you select Ant. 1, 15volts AC is applied to the output and to the " RF INPUT CONNECTOR” (rig input connector). This 15VAC voltage is fed back into the rig or device hooked to the input connector. Never a good idea to do this.

What I experienced with this design bug: When I wanted to test my antennas and the coax on my tower after installation of this switch, I hooked up my antenna analyzer to the input connector and when I switched to Ant. 1, it applied 15 volts AC back into my new $400 Rig Expert analyzer and smoked it. It was like transmitting into my new analyzer! There is no way to run tests on your antennas or coax cables with this poorly designed Ant. Switch, unless you want to climb the tower and hook up directly to each of the antennas. Also, having this 15VAC on the input when in Ant. 1 position with normal operations will always be feeding 15vac back into your rig 24/7 and when in receive this cannot be a good. Note: Front end designs of rigs in receive are sensitive and are designed not to expect incoming voltages like 15vac applied to the antenna connector when in receive.
W1SWL Rating: 2022-06-14
Works Well Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This antenna switch allows me to have one run of lengthy coax and at the end, switch between up to four antennas in the antenna field. No wires! It uses the coax as a signal. When not powered on it defaults to the antenna in socket 4 which should be your most used antenna.

Also, be aware that you cannot power the in shack control box with DC power. You must use the AC power adapter as the unit sends signal to the relays via AC not DC! I had a heck of a time figuring this out initially. Also there is a 1 AMP fuse inside the unit. I leave the unit OFF until I need to change antennas via the selector. I painted on a white marker indicator on the Knob. The unit works very well. I suggest if you have 2 antennas, then use port 4 and 1 for the most distance.
W4VR Rating: 2021-12-11
Don't get the RCS-5 Ron W4VR Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I replaced my RCS-5 with one and so far so good. The RCS-5 has a control cable and even with the coax from the shack disconnected I took a lightning hit and it came in via the control cable...to the tune of $10,000 of radio and other things in the house that were damaged. Get the RCS-4...much safer.
WB7SDX Rating: 2021-12-10
New to me RCS-4 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well, I received this RCS-4 from a fellow ham who was downsizing and moving from Washington state to Florida. He wanted some nicer weather. The console naturally is in great condition. The relay box is another story. I don't know the history of this item and the cover for the relay box is nowhere to be found. The bracket for the u bolt and the metal plate where the relays and so-239 attach were both bent. The console powers on fine. This is the model that looks just like the one above where the coax connectors are all in a straight line. I connected the relay box to the console and the relays would not energize in any of the 1 through 4 positions.Anyway, I called Ameritron to get prices for new relays and diodes and naturally a new cover. Prices were very reasonable but the tech told me to check the diodes first as it is really difficult to remove the relays without destroying the PC board. Sooo, I unsoldered one lead on each diode and lifted it up a bit to be able to test it safely. Both diodes test good. So I resoldered the diodes and reconnected the console to the relay box.....and it now works fine. The only thing I can figure out is that one of the diodes had a bad solder joint. Visually they looked fine but I guess they weren't. Sooo, if anyone has trouble with their switch, it might be good to just touch up the solder connections, who knows. I am ordering the cover($6.00) and a few more items today. Thanks.
AA3R Rating: 2020-10-11
It works well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
It is actually well built and does a good job