[Elecraft] Feedline loss w/wo tuner

[Ian White]

SteppIR's reputation is still haunted by reviews from its early days
(the first eHam review was in 2001) but the SteppIR antenna you would
buy today is not the same as it was back then. SteppIR have made several
improvements over the years, including new and stronger moldings for the
element/motors, stronger and better quality fiberglass tubes, and the
new SDA100 controller.

A few years ago, a kind friend lent me his early model 3-element to try
over winter and it worked out fine. Based on that good experience I
bought a new 3-element for myself, and that too has proved reliable. But
when I unpacked the new antenna, the improvements over the earlier model
were clear to see.

Today's versions of the original 20-10m yagis with their simple,
straight 17+17ft elements can now be considered a mature technology. The
later models featuring longer elements and/or trombone elements are
demanding more from the original SteppIR design concept, but I have no
experience of those.

Every yagi has its advantages and also its drawbacks, so your choice
will depend on what's important for you at your particular QTH. The
3-element has been a good solution for this one-tower station because it
gives good performance (for its size) on five HF bands, yet with only a
little more wind loading than a 3-element 20m monobander. With improved
modifications for 6m [1] the same antenna has worked over 100 countries
on that band also.

There are still improvements that SteppIR could make (a weatherproof
junction box should come as standard, not a $185 extra, and SteppIR's
documentation is perennially awful) but the SteppIR 3-element is a very
serious contender for people with limited wind loading and mast space.


[1] www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek/vhfdx/gm3sek-steppir-6m.pdf


73 from Ian GM3SEK


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
>Jim Brown
>Sent: 27 April 2016 23:38
>To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Feedline loss w/wo tuner
>
>On Wed,4/27/2016 2:31 PM, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote:
>> I've had my 4 El Steppir (20-10, plus 2 more fixed el for 6 m) up for
>> over ten years 1 mile from the Ocean. Zero problems.
>
>My 3-el (no trombones) has been up on a 120 ft tower about 12 miles N
of
>Eric's QTH for about 7 years, also with no problems I can blame on the
>antenna (but several I can blame on myself). :) I find the antenna
quite
>effective on all bands, 20-6M.
>
>73, Jim K9YC
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