The 3el SteppIR worked very well on the high bands, especially when I lowered
it to about 40 feet. I often broke pileups on the first call on the high
bands.
That SteppIR is an incredible little antenna. With a 16' boom and an extra
element, I expected it to have maybe a couple of dB on the C3S and,
subjectively speaking, it probably does. Having reasonable SWR across all six
bands (17m, 12m and 6m included) is a nice luxury. The vendor claims their big
advantage is pattern. They say their antenna
maintains its pattern across the bands, unlike most tribanders that
allegedly deliver specified F/B, F/R and F/S only near their resonant
frequencies. Limited, ad hoc testing seems to confirm this. What really blew
me away were the Reverse and Bi-Direction features. I could switch between JA
and Carib in three seconds or spray RF in both directions. This is REALLY
useful in the real world of CA contesting.
Tnx to Steve for posting this on the contest reflector.
My only reservation with the SteppIR antenna is mechanical reliablility. How
long has it been in service and what is the MTBF roughly ?
They are using BeCu material, which is very strong but also highly toxic. Any
environmental problems ?
73
Rag Otterstad LA5HE also JW5HE OZ8RO
located in Telemark - home of skiing.
My antenna "farm" can be found on HTTP://no.photos.yahoo.com/la5he when you
click on Radio.
Take a look at: http://WWW.visitTelemark.com
or http://www.visitnorway.com
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