Rotor Setup

In 15 minutes from "rotator controller and Mac are sitting next to each other" to "HAM-Tools turns the antenna at the push of a button — and automatically to the DX bearing on a spot click".

Requirements

• A rotator controller with a serial or USB interface (22 models in the HAM-Tools bundle, including SPID, Yaesu GS-232, Hy-Gain DCU-1, Green Heron, EA4TX, Prosistel, M2)
• A USB-serial adapter to match the controller (unless it has its own USB port)
• Possibly a driver for the USB-serial chip (FTDI, Silicon Labs) — usually not needed on macOS Sonoma+
• A bundled rotctld is included in the app — you do not need a separate Hamlib installation

Step 1 — Connect the Cable + Driver Check

1. Power on the rotator controller, connect it to the Mac via a USB-serial adapter
2. Open Terminal, test:

   ls /dev/cu.* | grep -iE "usbserial|slab|usbmodem"

3. You should see at least one entry, e.g.:
   • /dev/cu.usbserial-AB0OJWMD (FTDI chip)
   • /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART (Silicon Labs)

No entry? Then the driver is missing:

• FTDI: included in macOS since ~10.9, nothing should be needed
• Silicon Labs (CP210x): download at silabs.com
• Prolific PL2303: problematic on modern macOS versions, better to replace the adapter

Step 2 — Pick the Model

1. Open HAM-Tools → Settings → Rotor (⌘, → "Rotor" tab)
2. Pick the manufacturer, then the model — the factory defaults (baud, data bits, parity, handshake) and the azimuth / az-el capability load automatically
3. Below the picker, the Hamlib rotor no. and az/el or azimuth only appear for confirmation

Manufacturer	Examples	typical baud
SPID	Rot1Prog (RAU), Rot2Prog (RAS), MD-01/02	600 (Rot1/2Prog), 115200 (MD-01)
Yaesu	GS-232A/B, GS-232 Generic	9600
Hy-Gain	DCU-1/DCU-1X (Ham-IV, T2X)	4800
Green Heron	RT-21	4800
EA4TX / Prosistel / M2	ARS, D/Combi-Track, RC2800	9600

No matching model? Hamlib Dummy rotator as a test without hardware — use it to check the controls and the spot click.

Step 3 — Set the Connection + Port

1. Leave the connection on USB (Serial) (default)
2. Under Serial Interface, pick the USB port you identified in step 1 (🔄 refreshes the list)
3. The baud rate is preset by the profile — it must match the setting in the rotator controller

Check the baud in the controller

If the baud rate in HAM-Tools doesn't match the one set in the controller, rotctld connects but reads no position (azimuth stays "—°"). Set both to the same value.

Step 4 — Connect + Turn

1. Click "Connect"
2. The status light at the top shows:
   • ⚪ Not connected → not connected yet
   • 🟠 Connecting… → the rotctld subprocess is starting
   • 🟢 Connected → the live azimuth appears on the compass rose
3. Move Manual target to e.g. 90° → "Turn" — the antenna swings east and the red needle follows. "Stop" halts immediately.

Step 5 — Calibrate + Enable Spot Click

1. If the antenna isn't mechanically exactly on north, correct it in the North offset field (degrees). For rotators with overlap, set the rotation range (e.g. 0–450).
2. In the DX Spots section, enable the switch "Turn to the bearing automatically on spot click".
3. Make sure your QTH locator is set in the station settings — the app computes the great-circle bearing from it.

From now on, a click on a DX cluster spot turns the antenna automatically to the bearing to the DX station.

What Runs in the Background?

HAM-Tools ships a bundled rotctld (Hamlib) as a helper binary at HAM-Tools.app/Contents/Helpers/rotctld. On connect, a subprocess is started:

rotctld -m <rot-id> -r /dev/cu.usbserial-X -s <baud> -T 127.0.0.1 -t 4533

HAM-Tools then talks to rotctld via TCP on 127.0.0.1:4533. To diagnose by hand:

# In a second terminal (not in parallel with a connected rotator — the port is busy):
nc 127.0.0.1 4533
p          # query position (azimuth/elevation)

Common Problems

Azimuth stays on "—°"
→ Baud mismatch between controller and HAM-Tools. Set both to the same fixed value (e.g. 600 for SPID, 4800 for Hy-Gain DCU-1).

"Error" in the status line right on connect
→ Port busy (old rotctld instance, another rotator program): close the other app or pkill rotctld. Or wrong USB port / wrong model number.

Antenna turns to the wrong angle
→ Calibrate the north offset. For overlap rotators, set the rotation range correctly so the app picks the allowed path.

Spot click turns the radio but not the rotator
→ Toggle in DX Spots active? Rotator connected? QTH locator set? All three are needed.

Port doesn't appear in the dropdown
→ Press the 🔄 button; otherwise the USB-serial driver is missing (see step 1).

Next Steps

• Rotor module docs — all models, calibration, multi-config
• DX Cluster — the spot source for automatic turning
• CAT Setup — the same Hamlib foundation for the radio