the SteppIR 4-element to your updated list of beam antennas to test and rate in your HF TRIBANDER PERFORMANCE - TEST METHODS & RESULTS . It was a great review article that I wish could be updated wit
The Force 12 "net gain" numbers are not field verified. They are "model values" derived at a specific height (74 feet) and are the maximum gain for the antenna - not an average across the band. In a
" As far as the SteppIR, it's a monobander for all practical purposes. " It would be, if they had motors to vary the distance between the elements... otherwise its a tribander (ok 5 bander) with a go
No. Triband antennas have multiple elements or sections of the elements that are not needed on other bands. This is not true with a SteppIR. When the SteppIR is tuned for 20m it will not work very we
I think Dick's point is, without a way to adjust the boom length, you can't really compare it to a monobander....my 3 el Steppir , when on 17m, is as close to a monoband 17m as you can get, but when
Nonsense! Some 30+ years ago W2PV showed that a monobander was a monobander no matter what the element spacing as long as the elements are properly tuned for their place in the array. Gain is a prod
...and although the element-to-element spacing is not optimized for all frequencies, the element lengths are set to compensate for this as best as possible. It's probably better than a christmas tree
You are dead right it is a "tunable "monobander" and in a classification of its own really, so nothing to compare with. Even on 20 meters a three element Steppir has hardly has anything to compare wi
No, on 20 it's still a monobander with a 16 boot boom length. That makes the SteppIR three element yagi nearly identical to the well proven Hy-Gain 203BA *20 Meter Monoband Yagi*. 73, ... Joe, W4TV
I knew a lot of competitive signals from 203BA antennas "in the day." While a lot of people went for the 204BA (24' boom) and 205BA (32' boom), the 16 boot boom 203BA (same boom length as the 3 elem
This thread is really running thin. That being said, do you really think that given the same height and feed line loss you could tell one or two db difference between antennas. At that point it's mor
Absolutely. Over the long term one or two dB will be significant. That's an excellent *joke*. Only a very small portion of the boom length of a log-periodic is active on any one frequency typically
Yeah, but there's another variable besides forward gain, bandwidth and feedpoint impedance: front-to-back ratio. The 3-el and 4-el SteppIRs have only about 11 dB F/B on 10m, which is less than half t
I haven't actually tried a model recently, but I would think that you could get arbitrarily good front/back ratios (as in a very good null at 180 degrees), but not a generalized front/everything "beh
Alas, there are some who will deny it! Chris G3VBL _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ TowerTalk mailing list TowerTalk@contesting.com http
The trouble with LP antennas and some multiband Yagis is that they have a very high wind load. The SteppIR avoids this with fewer elements. SteppIR, maintenance has been a problem for some and not fo
As someone who is considering a smaller HF antenna for the cottage, I find this discussion quite interesting. I'm struck by Joe's assertion regarding LPs. And I say that only because if you compare
You are correct, the 11 dB F/B on 10 meters is because the reflector to driven element spacing has begun to approach 1/4 wave. That's one reason for the optional fixed parasitic elements on six mete
I agree on the F/B issue. I built a long boom 15m yagi years ago that worked great. I pointed it to JA from Colorado and it was quiet off the back so much so that stations would constantly move in on
It depends on where you live the band opening, and the frequency. Even here in Michigan with a good band opening on 20 I find F/B important. It often makes the difference between being able to copy a