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[Towertalk] SteppIR and results

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [Towertalk] SteppIR and results
From: tavan@tibco.com (Rick Tavan)
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 22:36:37 -0800
It's a pretty new antenna. I think this is its first or second winter in 
production use. My unit went up only this past September. It survived a 
ferocious wind, snow and ice storm during the 10m contest that blew the 
top 15' off a healthy 60' pine tree in my yard. I don't have an 
anemometer but the winds were pretty wild. It drooped quite a bit when 
coated with ice but sprang back fine when the ice melted. I'm on a small 
ridge at about 6200 feet in the Tahoe Sierra with some sparse tree 
shielding. I don't think MTBF data is useful for antennas which are 
installed in wildly different environments.

There has been discussion of the beryllium issue on the SteppIR reflector 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SteppIR

FluidMotion, the manufacturer, says the material is only toxic when 
ground into a fine powder and inhaled. So don't breathe after grinding 
up these wires. ;-)  I assembled and installed the antenna without ever 
seeing the beryllium wires. They are wound up inside a rigid housing 
until the antenna is assembled and its control line powered up. Then 
they move inside the fiberglass poles that constitute the visible 
"elements."

73,

/Rick N6XI


Ragnar Otterstad wrote:

>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 ?
>




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