[TowerTalk] LP v SteppIR

Sat Jan 23 11:57:57 PST 2010

All this chatter makes my old PRO-57A look better and better.
OK guys, bombs away ....

73, Dick, W1KSZ

> From: w0mu at w0mu.com
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:55:21 -0700
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] LP v SteppIR
> 
> This could easily be said for any antenna system.  I have seen pictures
> where KC1XX was using an extension ladder at the top of a 200 ft tower to
> reach the driven element tuning box.  Other than the sheer pucker factor,
> how much do you think an expert tower climber is going to charge.
> 
> The bigger the antenna the more one should expect failures.
> 
> I have 3 4 ele SteppIR's and they are pretty darn good.  Being a contest I
> wanted the 4th element for that extra gain.  It is a blast to use on the
> WARC bands and not too many people have bigger beams on this band and you
> can be very loud with low power.
> 
> I have had TH7's fail, baluns on C3's, Cushcraft 40-2CD coil issues.
> 
> Yes I have had a failure of the original boots (most likely because I over
> tightened the clamps) with my 4 ele in Montana which caused an element half
> to experience gravity.  The element is in perfect shape after the fall.  I
> have been lazy with the crappy condx to fix it.  This antenna also has an
> issue with swr.  I believe this might have been caused by operator error
> transmitting while the element was in motion.  He was a new op to the
> station.  I now have lock out boxes making this impossible now.  This
> antenna will most likely come down this summer for an overhaul and upgrade
> to the 30/40 driven.  It was installed in 2003 so it will be interesting to
> see how it has held up.  It has survived a number of 80 mph wind events and
> is located in a very windy area.
> 
> I have nothing but good things to say about the support and service I have
> received from SteppIR.  I was able to get Jim and Mike to provide me with
> some specific dimensions for a project.  A task they thought would take a
> few minutes modeling ended up being much more difficult but they came
> through.
>  
> It is easy to make a mistake building these antennas I am sure many of the
> problems could be attributed to the user obviously some issues are infant
> mortality with chips/motors or in the case where many of the motors failed
> the rod holding the spool failed because of a defect in the materials used
> to make the rod.
> 
> Do most people need the 4 ele.  Probably not.  The 3 ele has very good
> numbers and I probably could have improved other areas of the station with
> what I could have saved.
> 
> Mike W0MU
> 
> CC Packet Cluster W0MU-1
> W0MU.NET or  67.40.148.194
> 
> "A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may
> never get over." Ben Franklin 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of john at kk9a.com
> Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2010 9:04 AM
> To: TOWERTALK at contesting.com
> Cc: noddy1211 at sbcglobal.net
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] LP v SteppIR
> 
> I am not trying to start rumors, in fact I think that the adjustable element
> is a fantastic idea.  Perhaps the motors itself did not actually fail in
> many cases, but there were other mechanical issues that prevented the
> elements from extending and retracting properly.  Here are some reviews
> addressing the issue: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3858 by GM4YSN
> KL7GS or IW0CMM.  The point of my post was that you should consider if you
> want a mechanically complex antenna if it is mounted in a location that is
> less accessible for possible repairs.  There are other factors to consider
> as well since the SteppIR may not work well using long cable runs.
> 
> 
> 
> To: "'Tower and HF antenna construction topics.'" <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] LP v SteppIR
> From: "Mike" <noddy1211 at sbcglobal.net>
> Reply-to: "Tower and HF antenna construction topics." 
> <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:21:13 -0800
> 
> I have monitored the Steppir group from the beginning and can't remember one
> Stepper Motor failure and personally know six people with Steppir antennas.
> Stepper Motors are just about the most reliable motor around, they are used
> in the packaging industry 24 hours a day and I have never seen a failure.
> Many other parts around these motors may fail but not the Stepper motors.
> 
> I think you are starting rumors- :)
> 
> Steppir Antennas may have other problems like tape snarl up's or motor
> driver chips, but not the Motors.
> 
> Mike, K6BR
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <john at kk9a.com>
> To: <TOWERTALK at contesting.com>
> Cc: <jimlux at earthlink.net>
> Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 8:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] LP v SteppIR
> 
> 
> I have heard of a number of motor failures so I wonder how common this
> problem is.  I suspect only the manufacturer knows this answer.  If the
> antenna is mounted on a crankup tower repairing it may be somewhat easy,
> however if it is mounted 100 to 200 feet high with other antennas on the
> tower or  in an H-frame like K9LTN's problematic phased array, repairing the
> antenna can be a lot of work and expense.  It is true that any antenna can
> break and in choosing a product one should consider which one is built
> stronger and less susceptible to failure, along with comparing the
> electrical performance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To: "Tower and HF antenna construction topics." <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] LP v SteppIR
> From: jimlux <jimlux at earthlink.net>
> Reply-to: "Tower and HF antenna construction topics."
> <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:08:03 -0800
> List-post: <towertalk at contesting.com">mailto:towertalk at contesting.com>
> 
> <snip>
> 
> There are complaints of motor/mechanism failures, but they're fairly
> infrequent, and, to be fair, you hear complaints about conventional
> antennas with broken traps, incorrect hardware, etc.  And, because
> they're new and novel, the "reporting rate" on SteppIR problems is
> higher than for conventional antennas (e.g. you're more likely to find
> an online comment about a SteppIR problem than about a missing set of
> clamps in some other antenna) 
> 
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