My take on the SteppIR, and I'm not an owner (yet):
Their excellent Customer Service, including willingness to replace field
failed components instantly, doesn't make me very happy to hear. Customer
Service is better than not having any, but I don't want to replace stuff
that's failed, at least not for several years -- especially when the stuff's
atop my tower.
Two of my neighbors with SteppIR products, WA6DKN and W6EIJ, have both had
to replace their controllers. That was relatively painless, as SteppIR's
service was good, and the controllers go "in the shack," so don't require
much work to replace. But why did they both experience a 100% failure rate,
with gear in service for only months and not years?
-WB2WIK/6
"Nobody needs more than 640k!" -Bill Gates, 1982
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jerry Keller [SMTP:k3bz@arrl.net]
> Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 11:34 AM
> To: TowerTalk; 4x1ad
> Cc: (Reflector) SteppIR
> Subject: [BULK] - Re: [TowerTalk] New antenna system
>
> Morel... we all know SWR is not the whole story. I will let others debate
> with you about the
> SteppIR's F/Band F/B ratios and gain figures in comparison with other
> antennas, as I am not all that
> well qualified to discuss such matters.
>
> As concerns reliability and life expectancy of components, Fluidmotion has
> test-cycled the SteppIR
> mechanisms literally millions of times without failure. If you will search
> the archives of more than
> 4000 postings over the past 2-1/2 years of the SteppIR YahooGroup
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SteppIR/
> you will find that over 600 users have described perhaps a dozen or two
> instances of problems, most
> of which were eventually attributed to causes other than the SteppIR
> antenna itself. And solutions
> to the few "actual" problems were quickly found and just as quickly
> resolved by Fluidmotion's
> amazingly responsive customer service. I know of no other manufacturer of
> antennas anywhere in the
> world that has the record of customer satisfaction and responsiveness to
> custmer needs that the
> folks at Fluidmotion have earned. If there has been one downside, it's
> that there have been so many
> orders that it takes a while to get one of these magnificent antennas.
> But, as always, anything
> worth having is worth waiting for!!
>
> So, Morel, I will challenge you... you have my opinion, and I can point to
> the huge worldwide
> response to the SteppIR and the nearly universal satisfaction of SteppIR
> users worldwide as my
> evidence. Perhaps you can name me another "antenna design development
> since the invention of the
> yagi" that shows more promise for great all-around performance than the
> SteppIR concept? I don't
> think so....
>
> 73, my friend, and good DX..... Jerry K3BZ
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "4x1ad" <4x1ad@iarc.org>
> To: "Jerry Keller" <k3bz@arrl.net>; "TowerTalk" <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 2:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] New antenna system
>
>
> > Jerry,
> >
> > IMHO, your statement that "SteppIR concept is the most important antenna
> > design development since the invention of the yagi itself", it's real
> only
> > if your life ideal it's a low SWR antenna. But what about F/B or F/S
> ratio
> > ? Aren't they of any importance ? I have also mixed feeling about the
> > reliability of the copper-berillium perforated strip or the life
> expectancy
> > of the modest contacts.
> >
> > Personally, I can't take too seriously the manufacturer claim that "a
> long
> > boom is not needed to achieve near optimum gain and front to back ratios
> on
> > 20 - 10 meters since the SteppIR can control the element lengths" !!!!
> >
> >
> > 73
> > Morel
> > 4X1AD
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jerry Keller" <k3bz@arrl.net>
> > To: "TowerTalk" <towertalk@contesting.com>
> > Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 8:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] New antenna system
> >
> >
> >> Rob, that 1 hour response from the folks at SteppIR is pretty typical
> of
> > the kind of customer
> >> service they provide. You will never regret your decision to go with a
> > SteppIR yagi, I've had mine
> >> up a year and it is truly the best performing antenna I've ever had in
> 40+
> > years of hamming. I was a
> >> little skeptical at first, especially looking at the price tag, but
> > serious HF antennas from Force
> >> 12 and others cost big bucks too. After considering all the rest I
> > concluded that all the other
> >> multi-band yagis have to compromise to some extent... they may have a
> > dozen or more elements, but
> >> still only 2 or 3 on each band...whereas the SteppIR actually gives you
> a
> > 3 element monobander on
> >> each of those bands, tunable even within a band, PLUS you can hook it
> up
> > to your radio so it will
> >> follow along seamlessly as you tune around or change bands. I think the
> > SteppIR concept is the most
> >> important antenna design development since the invention of the yagi
> > itself, and I have lots of
> >> company... check out (and join) the SteppIR YahooGroup at
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SteppIR/
> >> and you'll find a great bunch (over 600 happy users and growing) who
> will
> > be happy to answer your
> >> questions and share info on the SteppIR antennas.
> >> 73, Jerry K3BZ
> >
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> 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.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
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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