I live in Florida and have a 4EL SteppIR at 80 feet, up 5 years. Last
August, I took a lightning strike which totally wiped out my station.
The antenna itself was not harmed, but the controller was fried. There
was a hole blown in the shield and jacket of the control cable. If I had
taken prudent precautions, there would have been no harm at all.
So far there have been zero issues with motors et.al.
Now I retract the elements and unplug EVERYthing in the shack.
73, Mike NF4L
Doug Turnbull wrote:
> Buddy, Everything you say seems pretty sensible to me. Thunderstorms are
> not muck of a problem in EI land but I wonder if Florida operators have much
> trouble with SteppIR. You can always retract all the elements when not using
> the SteppIR. One does wonder how the SteppIR will hold up after ten years.
> Thank you for your insights.
> 73 Doug EI2CN
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of F.R. Ashley
> Sent: 22 January 2010 13:43
> To: Tower and HF antenna construction topics.
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] LP v SteppIR
>
> Doug & others,
>
> I am going to put up a new antenna this spring, and my choices came down to
> either a LP, such as the T-10, or a 3-element SteppIR.
> I decided on the T-10 for several reasons. The main reason being I don't
> desire moving parts, little wires and motors at 75 feet. We get plenty of
> lightning during the summer here so it would only be a matter of time before
>
> something happened. Weather is the main reason I ruled out a quad also, too
>
> much freezing rain during the winter.
> Secondly, the SteppIR is too expensive; I could stack 2 T-8's for about
> the same price. Additionally, my operating style is one of jumping from
> band to band, and I don't want to have to tune my antenna every time I
> change bands, even if it takes a short amount of time. I think that would
> get old rather quickly.
> Like transceivers, all antennas have pros and cons, what works for me might
> not work for you. I just want an antenna I can put up and pretty much
> forget about.
>
> 73 Buddy WB4M
>
> --- Original Message -----
> From: "Doug Turnbull" <turnbull@net1.ie>
> To: "'Tower and HF antenna construction topics.'" <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 4:39 AM
> Subject: [TowerTalk] LP v SteppIR
>
>
>
>> Gentlemen,
>> I wonder what the attraction of the LP is when one can use a SteppIR.
>> Am I wrong to believe that the Fwd gain and FB are better for a Yagi of
>> the
>> same number of elements tuned to the frequency of interest than an LP?
>> Is
>> it not the case that LP antennas have a lot of metal and hence wind
>> loading
>> for what they achieve? Wind loading is as important to me as gain and
>> directivity. It is a big balancing act. Granted the SteppIR has a good
>> bit of electronics but in my experience they seem to be reliable.
>> Perhaps
>> the SteppIR is more expensive for the same performance but Aluminum is
>> pretty dear.
>>
>> I am not trying to start a 'barney' but these are just my thoughts and
>> it may be that some one can correct me. I believe that SteppIR has
>> changed
>> the entire technology and past equations.
>>
>> 73 Doug EI2CN
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
>> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of brahmangou@aol.com
>> Sent: 22 January 2010 02:24
>> To: towertalk@contesting.com
>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Single Tower, All Band Solution ?
>>
>> You need to take a look at the Tennadyne T-8 log periodic. I have 8 towers
>> and have run most every antenna design at one time or another and it is
>> one
>> of my favorites. 5 bands, cw to ssb (try that with a trapped antenna),
>> instant band switching, no matching network, light and really low cost.
>> 73,
>> AB5GU
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
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