I believe there have been a few problems with the controller box. These
have bee immediately replaced by FM. Also a couple of fractured "element
housings" (fibreglas tube) Almost all other trouble have been human element
in the original installation. And FM's followup and customer service is the
best I've ever seen, bar none.
Mechanically, the stuff in the air seems to do very well in all climates.
>From the tropics to Canadian and Alaskan winters.
There a several sets of pics by owners of ice loads before/during/after.
I'm a happy 3 el owner. The idea of the 40 M driven el intrigues me, but
the moxon looks very inviting too..
Gil, W1RG
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom McAlee" <tom@klient.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Help in planning a new QTH
>> For me the Steppir has too many moving parts way up the in the air.
> Anything mechanical will break sometime, and if it moves it will break
> quicker.
>
> I considered that. At the same time, the only negative comments I have
> ever
> heard about the SteppIR are from those who do not actually have one. On
> eham.net, the only review that was not a 5 was one person who gave it a 3
> and said why it went with something else instead; he never actually owned
> or
> used one.
>
> I've not heard any such complaints from people who actually have one.
> Granted, it hasn't been around all that long, so maybe time will tell. In
> the meantime I love my 4-element SteppIR :)
>
> Tom, NI1N
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Jones K0HY" <k0hy@comcast.net>
> To: "Steve London" <n2ic@arrl.net>
> Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>; "na5s" <na5s@zianet.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 11:16 AM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Help in planning a new QTH
>
>
>> For me the Steppir has too many moving parts way up the in the air.
>> Anything mechanical will break sometime, and if it moves it will break
>> quicker.
>>
>> 73 Jim
>>
>> Steve London wrote:
>>
>> > From Dave Hachedorian's (K6LL) posting:
>> >
>> > > Once you do the conversions, the claimed
>> > > gain is as follows:
>> >
>> > > Band 4el Steppir C31XR
>> > > 20 9.5dBi 8.1
>> > > 17 10.0 -
>> > > 15 10.2 8.4
>> > > 12 10.4 -
>> > > 10 10.6 9.5
>> >
>> >Those Steppir gain figures are very questionable. They are
>> >significantly
> higher
>> >than the gain figures for optimized yagi designs in the 20th edition of
> the ARRL
>> >Antenna Book. While a Steppir may be a fine antenna, it's still just 4
> elements
>> >on each band, and won't be any better than an optimized 4 element beam
>> >on
> the
>> >same boom length.
>> >
>> >For another comparison:
>> >
>> >Band Optimized 4-element from ARRL Antenna Book
>> >
>> >20 8.5 dBi (26 foot boom)
>> >17 8.5 dBi (20 foot boom)
>> >15 8.2 dBi (18 foot boom)
>> >12 8.5 dBi (15 foot boom)
>> >10 8.3 dBi (14 foot boom)
>> >
>> >Now, you could argue that the Steppir has the 4 elements on a longer
> boom, so
>> >let's compare to an optimized yagi with approximately the same boom
> length:
>> >
>> >Band Optimized N-element yagi from ARRL Antenna Book
>> >
>> >20 9.2 dBi (34 foot boom, 5 elements)
>> >17 9.8 dBi (30 foot boom, 5 elements)
>> >15 10.8 dBi (36 foot boom, 5 elements)
>> >12 10.8 dBi (30 foot boom, 6 elements)
>> >10 11.6 dBi (36 foot boom, 6 elements)
>> >
>> >I would have to conclude that the Steppir manufacture's gain figures are
>> >inflated on 20 and 17 meters. I would also question the higher bands -
> when I
>> >get a chance I'll have to model 4-element optimized yagis for 15, 12 and
> 10
>> >meters on 32 foot booms and compare to the Steppir claims.
>> >
>> >By the way, I have done my own modeling of the C31XR vs. optimized
>> >yagis.
> The
>> >model and results are at http://n2ic.topcities.com/c31xr/c31xr.htm .
>> >
>> >73,
>> >Steve, N2IC
>> >_______________________________________________
>> >
>> >See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any
> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>> >
>> >_______________________________________________
>> >TowerTalk mailing list
>> >TowerTalk@contesting.com
>> >http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any
> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TowerTalk mailing list
>> TowerTalk@contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|