PSR-100 satellite rotor

Ham radio · satellite · 2026-02-10 · Daniel

I have long been fascinated by ham radio satelites, but once you get past the most basic setup of an Arrow II or Elk antenna and an HT, the required equipment can become prohibitive in both size and expense.

Enter the PSR-100, a small rotor kit that is designed to hold those handheld Arrow II and Elk antennas. This is both cheaper and smaller than the amazing Yaesu G-5500/M2 LEO Satellite antenna setup. I am sure it will be less performant, but right now for me size and cost are top concerns.

I really like the Yaesu G-5500 setup with the M2 LEO Satellite antennas, but I live in an HOA where that type of setup is not allowed, so I started looking for something that would effectively be the little brother of the awesome 5500/M2 setup. This PSR-100 + an Elk or Arrow II antenna seems to be just that.

I got my kit last week and soldered the board over the weekend. I should finish my build this week, then I will be able to try it out.

This kit requires a Windows laptop to control the rotor. It has an interesting design where the link between the computer and the rotor is not wired but is instead a private wifi network between the kit's two ESP32 devices. One ESP32 is installed on the rotor control board and the other is found in a USB dongle that plugs into the computer. The companion Windows software uses the private wifi connection to control the rotor.

The Windows software can also act as a go-between to allow the rotor to be controlled by a CSN SAT controller, with the CSN SAT configured to control a PST Rotator, using the laptop's IP address as the rotator IP address.

My plan is to use this rotor with an Elk antenna, a CSN SAT controller, and an Icom IC-9700.

I chose the Elk over an Arrow mainly because I wanted a faster and simpler setup. Since I cannot have a permanent satellite station at home, I will be using this in portable/temporary setups, both in my driveway and in parks, so setup time and complexity must be considered. There are trade-offs with this setup: Instead of having 2 cables, I will instead need a duplexer, but I already have a Comet CF-416B, so I will be using that. I have ordered a coax cable from ABR Industries, and that should arrive soon.

Based on what I have seen so far, this kit is top shelf. This kit came extremely well-packed and ready to build. I didn't take a picture of it when I opened the box, but I took pictures of the box and then all the components. Don has done a great job with this kit, as you can see.

Box

Components

Don has a comprehensive pre-assembly test guide, and I took this pic while I was running those tests.

Board

I look forward to finishing this project and then using this setup to make satellite contacts. I might even try to work satellites during a POTA activation.

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