[TowerTalk] Re: SteppIR SmallIR vertical review

[Rob Atkinson, K5UJ]

2 points, having read the SmallIR vertical review in QST:

1.  I'm disappointed in the way that the reviewer installed the antenna.  I 
don't see how a base fed ground mounted (feed point only a few inches off 
the ground) 1/4 w. vertical can perform very well on 6 and 10 meters.  I 
would have preferred a review of the antenna with the feedpoint elevated 
somewhat.  The author said he worked everything he heard.   There is more 
than one way to take that.

2.  This I expect also applies to the other Fluidmotion antennas:  The 
review and others have described the fiberglass tubes the metal strip moves 
in and out of, as telescoping tubes with smaller diam. tubes fitting inside 
larger ones.  It seems to me that means inside the tube there must be ridges 
where the small diam. tube snugs inside the larger one it mates to at the 
point where they fit together, one inside the other.  I would like to know 
what had been done to prevent the metal tape from bumping up against that 
ridge and getting hung up on it when the motor is pushing it out through the 
tube.  I picture one of the tapes spooling up inside the tube instead of 
going straight out.  Perhaps the inside tubes have been filed down to make a 
smooth transition to the smaller diameters.

Rob Atkinson
K5UJ

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