Julio,
would agree, having rebuilt the KT36 two times, each time taking weeks
rather than days from Black to Blue to Green insulating plugs (can't
remember the sequence now). I would add the performance of this antenna is
great but, the maintenance is horrible. The KT36 is not an easy antenna to
work with, it is heavy and awkward, it now sits at the bottom of my aluminum
scrap pile. My 3 element Steppir along with two other Hams in town have
been up for over three years without any problems at all, if one takes time
to assemble and check everything carefully there should be no mechanical
problems. I am sure there will be the odd electrical and small mechanical
failure from time to time, just because of the moving parts, but the
performance, weight and size make up for any of these potential problems.
Some of the mechanical problems that I have seen on the Steppir group have
been obvious operator error, this is probably due to people not
understanding the poor installation manual. If I were Steppir I would hire
a good technical manual writer and get rid of one problem.
Mike, K6BR
-----Original Message-----
I don't mean to be disrespectful but I find it odd that Tony, K1KP who
apparently was re-building his KT34/36 for the third or fourth time was
concerned with the reliability of the SteppIR antennas.
I personally have had one in the air for almost 4 years with no problems
here in Florida. I know there have been some issues that have shown up in
the SteppIR e-mail reflector, some due to growing pains with a new design,
but considering the number of antennas that must be in the field at this
point the failure rate has to be less than a couple of percent. My other
point is even if you had to re-build a SteppIR antenna it would be easier
than having to do the same to a KT34/36.
Again Tony no disrespect intended just a difference of opinion.
Julio, W4HY
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