Switching Yagi Polarization using a U-100 Rotor

In order to allow me to participate on a few of the vertically polarized ragchew frequencies around Connecticut, I wanted to devise a way to switch beam polarization on the fly. Generally I have my 9 element M2 antenna in horizontal mode, which often (but not always) underperforms when listening to mobiles and vertical stations at a distance. The best way to do this, as far as I could tell, was to use a “through the boom” rotor. I found a U-100 model on ebay for about $20 shipped and jumped on it. This picture below (borrowed from Norm's rotor repair) shows the rotor and the parts:

This rotor allowed me to affix the boom of the M2 9 element to the hole in the rotating portion. However, it had to first be mounted 90 degrees off it's normal axis. The spacing between the factory bolts is at least 2 inches, and I am currently using 1.5 inch diameter PVC for the portion of the mast extending from the rotor, as can be seen on my personal page. In order to mount the rotor to the mast in such a way that I could change modes, I had to fashion a new mounting plate. I created this plate out of an aluminum nail plate that you can find at Home Depot on one of the end caps in the lumber section for about 69 cents. I drilled new holes for the bolts and slid the PVC pipe between the bolts. There was a very large amount of play so I also used a plywood shim to fill the gap and then tightened down the aluminum plate until everything was immovable.

I attached the beam's boom to the rotor by removing both of the bolts that hold two of the boom segments together, and replacing one with a longer bolt that allowed me to tighten it down through the hole in the rotor. I zip tied (hose clamp would have been better but i'm moving this all soon anyway) the other end to keep it as sturdy as possible. At the north stop the yagi is in horizontal mode, and by rotating the control box to the west position the beam is in vertical mode.