W2UP's reluctance to adopt the new technology notwithstanding,
I had my 3 el SteppIR up through last winter in Vermont. Snow,
Ice, -20F. Performed flawlessly. My rotor failed,though, and
the 180degree flip mode allowed me to work without one for most
situations.
>From my perspective, there is no other beam I'd own, unless I was
going with single band stacks on multiple towers. My wife
assembled the fiberglass tubes IN THE LIVING ROOM, while watching
television. First time in 35 years she's helped with a radio
project, and her comment was..."Gee, this stuff is really clean.
and it looks good, too".
The stepper motor technology is well proven. The fit and finish
of the SteppIR product is exemplary. And the best part is...you
don't have to fool around, empirically diddling the antenna to get
the best vswr compromise....pattern and f/b be damned. It's literally
put it up, and either forget it, or program the beam as you'd like
it to be. We literally assembled it and put it on the tower in a
total of two hours elapsed time. I've never had that happen before,
in >40 years of hamming.
Now that we've moved, mine is waiting for a tower. But one of the
bigger questions is.... 4 el or a stack of 3's?
N2EA
Jim Jarvis
_______________________________________________
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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