[TowerTalk] Help in planning a new QTH

[Tom McAlee]

> 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 at comcast.net>
To: "Steve London" <n2ic at arrl.net>
Cc: <towertalk at contesting.com>; "na5s" <na5s at 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.
> >
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> >
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> 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.
>
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