yagi instructions feb 5 2003
Contents
1. element is a director and the element behind the driven is a reflector In the normal direction the director is the ele ment that is closest to the driven element 89 50 between the two In the 180 degree mode we swap the reflector and director positions by changing their respective lengths However we do not simply swap the actual element lengths we create a new antenna based on the new element spacing So you will always have an optimized antenna SteppIR Antennas 9 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Connect the Boom to the Mounting Plate Attach the antenna housing to the element to boom bracket Place the flat side of the antenna housing on top of the element to boom brackets fig 9 The outside elements consist of the reflector and director These two elements are identical in design and are iden tified by having much longer control cable lengths than the driven element The reflector and director should be positioned so the fiberglass element is furthest away from the driven element fig 10 The driven element should be positioned so that the element is closest to the mast plate fig 11 Fasten each element housing to the element bracket using 4 of the 1 4 x 1 bolts flat washers lock washers and nuts The flat washer needs to be placed between the bolt head and the plastic element hous ing Tighten securely but not too tight if you over tighten the nut you may split the plastic flange on the element housing The ol2. down arrow until the element of choice is flashing For example if you press the up key once DIR will now be flashing with the current length shown on the second line To change this length press the select button Now the display will say Up Dn to adjust which means use the up or down ar rows to adjust the length of the director to your desired length Individual clicks will change the length approxi mately 0 4 at a time and if you hold the button down after a few seconds the controller will ramp up to adjust at 1 inch increments The elements are changing in real time so you will see the SWR change as you adjust the ele ment Once you have reached the desired length press the select button DIR will be flashing again with the new length shown on the second line of the LCD screen To change the driven element and reflector lengths use the up down arrows until the respective element is flashing and repeat the above procedure When you are finished mak ing adjustments press the up down arrow until DONE is flashing again and press the select button The screen will read SAVE YES NO with NO flashing Use the up down button to choose the proper choice and press the select button If you selected yes the new lengths will be saved into memory for the antenna segment you are cur rently on If you select no no changes will be made your antenna segment will be just as it was before Note changing the lengths of the antenn
3. We do not seal the groove so that in the event there is water accumulation inside the enclosure from condensation it will be able to escape Fasten the enclosure to the boom using the 4 worm gear clamp taking care to not trap the cables in between Tape the cables to the boom as shown in figure 18 Figure 18 We recommend that you route your coax and control cable as shown in figure 19 Figure 19 Attach the wiring enclosure and control cable to the boom SteppIR Antennas 12 Attach the fiberglass element supports to antenna housing You will notice that the olive green element support tube EST has an aluminum reinforcing ring attached to each end of it fig 20 This reinforcement is there to provide extra strength in potential high wind conditions Before you insert the telescoping fiberglass tube make sure the copper elements are fully retracted into the white plastic piece inside the EST Insert the end of the telescoping fiberglass pole into the EST as shown in figure 21 It is very important to ensure that the butt end of the fiberglass pole firmly bottoms out inside the EST The ends of the fiberglass poles vary slightly in outside diameter Some of the poles may have been sanded while others have not All poles are tested before shipping so do not be concerned if your poles vary slightly in tightness The telescoping fiberglass tube is held on to the EST by using a flexible PVC connection coupling that has a stainless steel clamp on
4. for more information on the 180 degree and bi directional feature refer to page 24 These are the antenna segments that we have computer modeled and field tested and stored into the mem ory of your controller At any point you can change the lengths of these antennas and save them to mem ory for more information on creating or modifying antennas refer to the create modify menu on page 22 and saving antennas to memory page 24 When saving the new antennas you are replacing the old factory defaults with your new antenna lengths At some point you may decide that you want those fac tory antenna segments back This is what the factory default section is for You can restore the factory default for a specific antenna segment or you can completely restore all of the factory defaults at once If you want to restore the factory default on a single antenna segment first you will want to go to that seg ment in either the amateur mode or the general frequency mode For example Let s say you had replaced the antenna segment 14 050 with a new antenna length you modeled for maximum gain Now you have decided that you want the gain FB combination of the factory default back To restore the factory default for 14 050 MHz first you would go to the 14 050 antenna segment You would leave the antenna at this position and proceed to the factory default menu in the setup mode When you first enter setup mode you will see mode ke
5. CT 17 to interface to your PC it already has 5 C IV connectors that the SteppIR can be plugged into Otherwise you can simply parallel the SteppIR controller and the radio by using a simple Y con nector available at Radioshack The part number for this connector is 274 889 Radio Shack 274 889 Gold Y Adapter for use with Icom radios Kenwood and Yaesu If you are using a Kenwood or Yaesu radio you will not be able to use the Radioshack connector mentioned above You must use a Y cable which is available from SteppIR Antennas or you can build it yourself by referring to the drawing on page 20 SteppIR Antennas 27 SteppIR 2 and 3 Element Yagi Gain Front to Back Modeling The SteppIR has a matching system that is included in both the 2 element and 3 element Yagi it is avail able as an option on the dipole Our antenna designs are all close to 22 ohms at all frequencies so we needed a broadband matching system We found an excellent one designed by Jerry Sevick that is de scribed in his book Building and Using Baluns and Ununs Our matching network is a transmission line transformer that is wound on a 2 25 inch OD ferrite core that operates with very little internal flux thus allowing it to function at very high power levels The trans former includes a 22 ohm to 50 ohm unun and a balun Jerry has espoused these transformers for years as an overlooked but excellent way to match a Yagi he would probably be proud to
6. at the desired mode If you do not the controller will default back to the last mode you were at The select button is located just to the right of the mode button Amateur Mode The amateur mode is used when you are manually operating your controller and the primary in tended use will be in the ham bands when operating with the optional transceiver interface you will need to be in general frequency mode When in the amateur mode to tune through the bands you simply press the desired band button and the controller will simultaneously adjust the length of each element to that segment Each time you press the individual band button the antenna will ad just to the next antenna segment By using the up down buttons it is possible to adjust the an tenna to frequencies outside of the ham bands while in amateur mode but the controller will only let you scroll a certain point past a given ham band while in amateur mode To tune through all fre quencies without limitation you will need to be in the general frequency mode General Frequency Mode There are two purposes for the general frequency mode When operating the antenna manually it is possible to adjust the antenna to any frequency within the coverage range of 13 800 MHz to 54 000 MHz When doing this you can use the amateur band buttons to get near the desired frequency and then use the up down buttons to tune the antenna to the exact frequency desired In general fre quency mode each tim
7. by Ward Silver N0AX and Steve Morris K7LXC 3 element yagi field test normal direction BAND GAIN FRONT TO BACK 20 meters 4 9 dBd 42 dB 17 meters 5 5 dBd 44 dB 15 meters 5 7 dBd 44 dB 12 meters 6 2 dBd 16 5 dB 10 meters 6 3 dBd 15 dB 6 meters without passive element 2 9 dBd 4 dB SteppIR Antennas 31 SteppIR Antennas 32 Fixed Element Spacing and the SteppIR Yagi First of all there really is no ideal boom length for a Yagi To get maximum gain the boom of a 3 ele ment beam should be right around 4 wavelengths long This would allow a free space gain of 9 7 dBi however the front to back ratio is compromised to around 20 dB If the boom is made shorter say 25 wavelengths the front to back can be as high as 35 dB but now the maximum gain is about 8 6 dBi Shorter booms also limit the bandwidth which is why right around 3 wavelengths is considered the best compromise for gain front to back and bandwidth It turns out that being able to tune the elements far outweighs being able to choose boom length We chose 16 feet for our boom length which equates to 23 wavelength on 20 meters and 46 wavelength on 10 meters because very good Yagi s can be made in that range of boom length if you can adjust the element lengths When bandwidth is of no concern to you as it is with our antenna you can construct a Yagi that is the very best compromise on that band and then track that performance over the ent
8. dBi 35 8 5 dB 6 meters 5 dBi 35 1 5 dB SteppIR Antennas 29 Stepper 3 Element Performance SteppIR antennas are developed by first modeling the antenna using YO PRO and EZ NEC We cre ated antennas that had maximum gain and front to rear without regard for bandwidth Our modeling in dicated what most yagi textbooks say real world optimized range from 16 ohms to 28 ohms imped ance The antennas that reside in our controllers memory are all optimized for gain and front to rear with a ra diation resistance of approximately 22 ohms The modeling also takes into account the changing elec trical boom length as frequency changes When the 180 degree function is enabled a new yagi is cre ated that takes into account the change in element spacing the reflector is now closer to the driven ele ment and the director is farther away The result is slightly different gain and front to rear specifica tions Ironically you will get a slight bit more gain in the 180 degree direction We then go to the antenna range and correlate the modeled antenna to the real world In other words we determine as closely as possible the electrical length of the elements We are very close to the mod eled antennas but it is virtually impossible to get closer than a few tenths of a dB on gain and several dB on front to rear The following figures are very close but not exact There are three factors that make our antennas outstanding performers 1 Th
9. each end 3M adhesive tape is also used to provide further protection First you will want to slide the connection coupling in place rotating it down onto the EST until the end of the EST bottoms out on the shoulder of the connection coupler as shown in figure 22 Check the telescop ing pole to be certain it is bottomed out in the EST and make a slight mark with a felt pen on each side of the connection coupling fig 23 Slide the connection coupling back and apply the 3M electrical tape firmly starting flush with the felt tip mark on the EST and continuing in an X pattern to the felt tip marking on the telescoping fiberglass tube fig 24 Re peat this again in the direction towards the EST You want to use plenty of tape but not so much that you cannot slide the connection coupling back onto the EST You will not require any silicone wrap for these joints because the connection couplings effectively protect the 3M tap Slide the connection coupling back onto the EST Tighten each stainless steel clamp firmly in place Test the connection by pulling and twisting it there should be no slipping at the joints and the coupler should be firmly attached to both the EST and the telescoping fiberglass tube Telescope the fiberglass support elements by pulling each joint out firmly in a twisting motion until securely locked in place and fully extended The pole lengths may vary but when fully extended the poles must be a minimum of 17 8 in length
10. know they are being used in a commercial Yagi This matching network does not require compressing or stretching a coil or separating wires to get a good match something that can easily be bumped out of adjustment by birds or installation crews When we claim our Yagi outperforms much larger arrays we are referring to multi band Yagi s that inter lace elements on a long boom and don t use the entire band boom for each band and additionally have degraded performance due to element interaction There are many antennas out in the world that are not getting the maximum theoretical gain from their boom Because we have tunable elements and a very efficient antenna we are getting close to the maximum gain from our boom Traps linear loading and interlaced elements all contribute to this degradation Shown on the following page are gain and front to back figures for our 2 element 57 inch boom antenna that we claim rivals most 3 element beams These values were measured on a range using the protocol described in Antenna Comparison Report HF Tri Banders by Ward Silver N0AX and Steve Morris K7LXC To create this report they took popular tri banders and put them on a 48 foot tower and transmitted a sig nal to a dipole on a second tower several thousand feet away with a spectrum analyzer connected to it Using this setup they measured gain and front to back ratio of each of the tri banders Their test repre sents the most realistic comparisons
11. located on the front of the controller It is advisable that you do not hook the antenna control cable to the controller when turning the unit on for the first time so that you can be certain that the controller display reads elements retracted If the LCD dis play does not say this you will want to refer to retracting the elements on page 23 When the dis play reads Elements Retracted you can then hook the control cable up to the back of the controller This is accomplished by mating the 25 pin male connector on the cable to the 25 pin female connector in the middle of the back panel of the controller Also on the back of the controller are two ports Data In and Data Out If you have purchased the transceiver interface option there will be two 9 pin d sub male connectors in the ports If you have not purchased the interface there will be plastic covers over the ports For more information on the transceiver interface refer to page 20 Connecting the controller to the antenna SteppIR Antennas 17 The SteppIR controller has fifty one independent antennas programmed into its memory These are antenna designs that we have computer modeled on YO PRO and EZ NEC and then field tested at our antenna range in Moses Lake Washington Our test height was 48 feet SWR should be nearby our test results until you get below 35 feet in the air and then you may see a slight rise in SWR Optimal height for the SteppIR Yagi is
12. 40 70 feet but you can still obtain very good performance as low as 25 feet in the air Each individual element is simultaneously adjusted to it s programmed length by the controller There will be anywhere from one to five antenna segments per band depending on how large the frequency spectrum is see chart below for complete listing For example on 20 meters there are three antenna segments 14 050 MHz 14 200 MHz and 14 300 MHz Each time you press the 20 meter button the controller will re adjust to the re quired length of the next antenna segment Using our 20m example if you are on antenna segment 14 050 MHz and press the 20m button once the antenna will re adjust to the 14 200 MHz segment Press the button again and you will be at 14 300 MHz One more press of the button will bring you back to 14 050 MHz again As you tune the rig to frequencies in between the programmed antenna segments the SWR will slowly start to rise If you want to adjust the antenna for best SWR while in between two antenna segments you can use the up down arrows to adjust the antenna 25 KHz per click When you click the band buttons an asterisk will light up and flash on the display LCD Example 14 200 This is the indicator that lets you know that the controller is in the process of tuning each element of the antenna to the proper length When the new an tenna segment has been reached the asterisk will disappear Note When operating with over 200 watts it
13. Connect the mast to the mast plate using the included 2 304 stainless steel U Bolts with saddles lock washers and nuts as shown in figure 7 Tighten securely Connect the boom to the mounting plate on the opposite side of the mast figure 7 and 8 using the 1 3 4 U bolts saddles lock washers and nuts Align the boom so that the element brackets are level then tighten securely The center balance point of the boom is at a splice as shown in drawing 2A There will be a bolt on each side of the splice make sure that the nut end of these two bolts are facing away from the mast plate figure 8 Otherwise you will not be able to secure the boom snugly to the boom clamps To ensure a bal anced weight load the center of the mast plate should be reasonably close to the center balance point of the boom Installation note If the U bolts are not an exact fit you can bend them slightly in a vise or even with your hands to obtain the proper clearance for the holes in the mast plate Determining the direction of the antenna The SteppIR Yagi has three directions in which it can be used Normal 180 degree and bi directional for more information see page 24 This can make it complicated to describe the actual aiming direction of the antenna When you are installing the Yagi you will want to position the antenna so that the normal direction co incides with your rotor heading When you are in normal direction the forward or aiming
14. SteppIR Antennas 14135 233rd Place SE Issaquah WA 98027 Tel 425 456 0200 Fax 425 391 6031 Toll Free 877 885 8700 Web www steppir com SteppIR Yagi Dipole Instruction Manual Yagi Dipole Vertical Patent Pending TM SteppIR Antennas 3 Table of contents 3 Price list 4 SteppIR Why Compromise 5 SteppIR design 6 3 element Yagi installation instructions 7 14 Yagi spacing and installation layout 8 Control cable connection drawing 11 6 meter passive element installation optional 14 2 element yagi installation instructions 15 Dipole installation instructions 16 Using the SteppIR electronic controller 17 27 Connecting the controller to the antenna 17 Modes of operation amateur general frequency and Setup 19 Restoring the factory default antennas 20 Using the transceiver interface optional 20 21 Creating and modifying antennas 22 Calibrating the SteppIR 23 Retracting the elements 23 24 Normal 180 degree and bi directional feature 24 Saving antennas to memory 24 25 Using the SteppIR controller with a logging program 26 27 SteppIR 2 and 3 element Yagi gain and front to back performance 28 31 Fixed element spacing and your SteppIR Yagi 32 RF Power transmission with the SteppIR antenna 32 SteppIR Yagi dipole specifications 33 Balun matching system 33 SteppIR warranty 34 Safe handling of copper beryllium 34 Notes pag
15. a segment while in normal direction will not change the antenna lengths in the bi directional or 180 degree direction as they are completely different antennas independent of the normal di rection segment To change these antennas you must be in the respective direction and follow the above proce dures Remember if you ever need to restore the factory defaults this can be easily accomplished Refer to the factory default instructions on page 20 for more information SteppIR Antennas 22 Calibrating the Antenna Calibrating the antenna ensures that the element lengths are exactly what the controller display says they are Usually the only way the antenna can get out of calibration is if the power is interrupted or the ca ble is somehow disconnected while the antenna is changing length The controller doesn t know where the antenna is adjusted to unless you start at a known place The antenna housing sent to you has an ele ment retracted inside and the controller is set to elements retracted If you power up the controller and it says elements retracted and you connect the antenna control cable with the elements physically re tracted you are calibrated and ready to go If you need to calibrate it is a simple two click operation When you select calibrate the antenna will retract all of the elements and the stepper motor will continue to over step for a few moments after the elements have retra
16. al frequency bands All of these methods have one thing in common they signifi cantly compromise performance The SteppIR antenna system is our answer to the prob lem Resonant antennas must be made a specific length to operate optimally on a given fre quency So instead of trying to trick the antenna into thinking it is a different length or simply add ing more elements that may destructively interact why not just change the antenna length Optimal performance is then possible on all frequencies with a lightweight compact antenna Also since the SteppIR can control the element lengths a long boom is not needed to achieve near optimum gain and front to back ratios on 20 10 meters Each antenna element consists of two spools of flat copper strip conductor mounted in the an tenna housing The copper strips are perforated to allow a stepper motor to drive them simulta neously with a sprocket Stepper motors are well known for their ability to index very accu rately thus giving very precise control of each element length In addition the motors are brushless and provide extremely long service life The copper strip is driven out into hollow lightweight fiberglass support elements forming an element of any desired length up to 36 long The fiberglass poles are telescoping light weight and very durable When fully collapsed each element measures 48 in length The ability to completely retract the copper antenna elements coupl
17. as many different antennas you want without ever leaving your ham shack Remember however modeling programs output the electrical length of the element not the physical length Our controller indicates the physical length the electrical length is from 2 3 5 longer due to the conductor diameter mounting hardware and dielectric loading due to the telescoping fiberglass poles We have this data accounted for and programmed into the factory default antenna segments If you are doing some serious antenna modeling call us at the factory and we can give you more data on electrical lengths With the SteppIR Yagi when you have finished changing the respective lengths you can save the new antenna to memory overriding the factory default antenna segments If at any point you want to re store the factory default antennas you can do so by going to the Factory Default menu in setup page 20 which allows you to easily restore either a single antenna segment or every one of them if necessary When you first enter setup mode you will see mode key to exit up dn to scroll on the LCD screen Press the up button three times and it will take you to Create Modify up dn to scroll To enter press the select button A new screen will appear saying DIR DVR REF DONE with DONE flashing DIR means the director DVR means the driven element and REF means the reflector If you want to adjust any or all of these you will need to press the up
18. cted In doing this the controller is making sure that there is not a shadow of a doubt that each element is fully retracted and back to the known starting point When calibrating you will hear a buzzing noise for about 30 seconds this is normal When calibration is finished the antenna will go to the last segment you were on you started the calibration process The entire process takes less than a minute Note Whenever your antenna is not acting as it should we highly recommend that you use the calibrate function before exploring other potential problems Always calibrate when in doubt it is easy and doesn t hurt a thing When you first enter setup mode you will see mode key to exit up dn to scroll on the LCD screen Press the up button four times and it will take you to Calibrate up dn to scroll To enter press the select button A new screen will appear saying Calibrate YES NO with NO flashing To calibrate the antenna press the up or down button until YES is flashing and then press the select button The screen will now say Calibrate with the second line saying Homing Elements You will notice that the asterisk will be flashing the entire time the antenna is calibrating When the controller is done cali brating the antenna the LCD screen will then display the last antenna segment you were on when you started the calibration process When the asterisk quits flashing the controller leaves the calibrate m
19. d rate press the up or down arrow until BAUD is flashing and then press the select button You can then use the up or down arrows to adjust to the proper setting If you are not sure what this setting is refer to the users manual for your radio When the proper baud rate is showing press the select button BAUD will now be flashing again Now you will want to set up the mode which is the radio type you will be using The radios to choose from are Icom Kenwood Yaesu FT847 1000D 1000MP and OFF Press the up or down arrow until MODE is flashing and then press the select button Now you can use the up or down arrow to scroll through until the proper mode selection is visible Press the select button and MODE will be flashing again To save these settings use the up or down arrow until DONE is flash ing again and press the select button The controller will ask you if you want to save these settings and NO will be flashing If you do not want to save your changes press the select button while NO is flashing If you do want to save them press select while YES is flashing YOU MUST NOW TURN THE STEP PIR CONTROLLER OFF AND THEN TURN THE CONTROLLER BACK ON AGAIN BEFORE THE SETUP WILL TAKE PLACE Once this is done press the mode button until the general frequency LED is lit and then press select within 2 1 2 seconds When you tune your rig the SteppIR controller should now automatically re adjust every 50 KHz SteppIR Antennas 21 Creatin
20. e a place for you to jot down notes 35 Topic Page Dipole 479 00 2 element yagi 799 00 3 element yagi 1079 00 Includes controller elements and 24 dc power supply Extended Warranty Covers mechanical design and UV protection 35 00 per year available up to 4 years beyond the factory one year warranty Element Expansion Kit 375 00 per element Includes everything required to expand the antenna one element cable not included Balun for Dipole 34 95 Note Balun is included with the SteppIR yagi 6 meter passive element kit 74 95 Adds an extra element on 6 meters for greatly improved gain and F B Transceiver interface kit 59 95 When hooked up to your rigs output port the antenna will adjust in length automatically as you tune through the bands BoomSlide Tower assembly fixture 69 95 Allows the installer to safely assemble the SteppIR yagi while at the top of an antenna tower or tree etc utilizing a clamshell design with rollers The user can slide the boom inward allowing installation of each outer element reflector and director as well as the driven ele ment Controller Cable PVC jacketed shielded 22 gauge 4 conductor 0 16 ft 12 conductor 0 38 ft SteppIR Antennas 4 SteppIR Why Compromise The SteppIR antenna was originally conceived to solve the problem of covering the six ham bands 20m 17m 15m 12m 10m and 6m on one tower without the performance sacrifices caused b
21. e first called data out this connector is only used in the event you stack two SteppIR Yagi antennas it allows the two con trollers to communicate with each other so that when you change frequencies on one of the controllers the other will follow The transceiver interface option will work with any of the above rigs listed but the cable connections vary in type depending on the radio manufacturer Note We can also supply a wye cable that allows the user to run a logging program concurrently with the SteppIR controller For more information on this refer to page 26 Icom uses a 3 5 mm miniature phono plug connection for their CI V ports Yaesu has a 9 pin D sub con nection The newer Kenwood radios use 9 pin D sub connectors the older Kenwood radios use 6 pin DIN connectors If you want to use the SteppIR interface with different rigs you may require additional inter face cables which are available from SteppIR Antennas When you first enter setup mode you will see mode key to exit up dn to scroll on the LCD screen Press the up button twice and it will take you to Transceiver Setup up dn to scroll To enter press the select button A new screen will appear saying Baud Mode Done with DONE flashing The baud rate is the speed in which information is exchanged between the SteppIR controller and your ra dio This setting must be the same as the setting in your radio or the interface will not function To set the bau
22. e you press the up down arrows the controller will tune 100 KHz When you continuously press the up down button without releasing it after a few seconds the tuning ad justment will ramp up to a faster speed tuning at the rate of 1 MHz If you have the optional trans ceiver interface to utilize that feature you will have to be in the general frequency mode For fur ther information on the transceiver interface refer to page 20 Setup Mode The setup mode is the mode you use when you want to set up or change certain features of the con troller When you first enter setup the screen will say mode key to exit up dn to scroll Mode key to exit means that if you want to exit back to either the amateur or general frequency mode from this point you would simply press the mode button once and you would be taken back to the amateur mode Up dn to scroll means that if you press either the up button or the down button the controller will scroll through the setup menu Once you get to the desired menu you press the select button to enter that menu item Each function in the setup mode is explained in detail on the following pages SteppIR Antennas 19 Restoring the Factory Default Antenna Lengths When your controller is sent to you it has 17 factory default antennas residing in it for the forward direc tion antenna and 17 totally separate default antennas for the 180 degree antenna function and bi directional function
23. eceive data together with the SteppIR s receive data This way when the logging program request the radio data the SteppIR controller also receives a response There will be a slight delay depend ing on how fast you have the polling set in the software The only caveat is that the logging program must be active on the computer for the SteppIR controller to follow the frequency The programs that are designed to strictly do spots will only be recognized by the SteppIR controller when a spot is selected Some of these logging programs can be linked to TRX Manager to get the bene fits of both programs Most of the logging programs such as Logger Log Windows and TRX Manager send the spot frequency information to the radio and then ask the radio if it got the frequency information OK The SteppIR controller can only listen to the radio data not the logging program data therefore those logging programs that send spot data and do not query the radio such as Logic 6 and DX Base will not work with the SteppIR controller unless an Icom radio is being used However these programs will work if used in conjunction with TRX Manager Icom The Icom is unique in that it has no conflicts when using logging programs of any type with the SteppIR controller This is because the Icom uses a shared serial Buss CI V that can have up to 5 devices con nected to it The SteppIR controller connects to this Buss through a 3 5 mm phono plug If you are using the Icom
24. ed with the collapsible fi berglass poles makes the entire system extremely portable The antenna is easy to assemble and can be installed on the ground or up on the antenna tower using our Boomslide assembly system The antenna is connected to a microprocessor based controller via 22 gauge conductor cable that offers num erous functions including dedicated buttons for each ham band continuous frequency selection from 20m to 6m 17 ham and 6 non ham band m em ories 180 direction reversal or bi directional m ode in just 3 seconds yagi SteppIR Antennas 6 3 element Yagi Installation Figure 2 and 3 Connecting the end pieces to the middle sections Figure 4 Securing the boom sections Connect the boom by sliding the respective sections together and align the pre drilled holes figure 2 and 3 Re fer to figure 5 and drawing 2A on page 8 for correct configuration It is advisable to spray a small amount of WD 40 on the male sleeve before sliding the female section onto it Do not twist the aluminum excessively as this can cause binding the WD 40 will help keep the two pieces lubricated Insert the included bolts into the pre drilled holes add a split lock washer and tighten the nut securely figure 4 Be sure to position the bolts and nuts so that they are in the same direction as the others The boom is drilled while completely assembled result ing in precision element alignment The bolt holes should all align close to perfect I
25. en we want to show off the great front to back performance of the antenna The bi directional function operates in a similar manner except when enabled you are now operating with gain in opposite directions With the 3 element yagi you will have approximately 4 dBd of gain in each direction and with the 2 element yagi you will have approximately 2 dBd in each direction This feature can be very handy for those who are involved with net operation or ham contests where hearing or sending signals from two directions can give you an advantage The direction button is located to the right of the LCD display The button is a 3 way toggle meaning that each time you press the button it will move to the next position When no LED s are lit this means you are in the forward or normal operating direction If the 180 LED is lit the direction of the antenna is now 180 degrees or the exact opposite direction of where you were pointed at before If the Bi Dir LED is lit you now are operating with gain in each direction Saving antennas to memory In addition to creating or modifying antennas you can also save specific frequencies that you may want to access repeatedly You can save up to 18 different frequencies and access them in the general frequency mode For example if you wanted to save WWV on 15 000 MHz into memory so that you could access it quickly you would first go to general frequency mode and press the select button From there yo
26. ency range of 14 to 28 mhz the typical height of an amateur radio antenna is between 1 2 and 1 wavelength above ground At these heights the impedance of a horizontal 1 2 wave dipole is in the vicinity of 70 to 80 ohms When the antenna is mounted at heights greater than 1 2 wavelength it should exhibit an SWR of less than 1 5 to one At lower heights the SWR may be higher SteppIR Antennas 16 On the back of your controller there are two power connections primary and AUX You can use ei ther one of these to connect the included 24 volt power supply cord The AUX is intended for use with 4 antenna elements or more Currently we do not have an antenna that is larger than 3 elements but we are in the process of designing a 4 element yagi with no release date scheduled at this point When the 4 element version of the yagi is available as a SteppIR owner you will be able to upgrade your antenna to this design by purchasing an element adder kit The 4 element antenna will take two power supplies to give it a little more juice Because we have no interlacing elements or traps we can make our antenna modular in design so that our current customers won t get left behind on fu ture product releases Once you have connected the power cord to the controller and plugged the other end of the cord into the power outlet the universal power supply can accept 100 240 volts AC you will want to turn the controller on by pushing the on off button
27. es so we needed a broadband matching system We found an excellent one designed by Jerry Sevick that is de scribed in his book Building and Using Baluns and Ununs Our matching network is a transmission line transformer that is wound on a 2 25 inch OD ferrite core that operates with very little internal flux thus allowing it to function at very high power levels The transformer includes a 22 ohm to 50 ohm unun and a balun Jerry has espoused these transformers for years as an overlooked but excellent way to match a Yagi he would probably be proud to know they are being used in a commercially Yagi This matching network does not require compressing or stretching a coil or separating wires to get a good match something that can easily be bumped out of adjustment by birds or installation crews Balun Matching System Safe Handling of Copper Beryllium Handling copper beryllium in solid form poses no spe cial health risk When sanding or grinding avoid inha lation or contact with dust or vapors Wash hands with soap and warm water after handling For more infor mation about copper beryllium please contact Brush Wellman Engineered Materials 800 321 2076 TM SteppIR Antennas 34 SteppIR Antennas 14135 233rd Place SE Issaquah WA 98027 Tel 425 456 0200 Fax 425 391 6031 Toll Free 877 885 8700 Web www SteppIR com Yagi Dipole Vertical Patent Pending TM
28. ey are tuned to a specific frequency for maximum gain and front to rear without the com promise in performance that tuning for bandwidth causes 2 They are very efficient antennas with high conductivity conductors a highly efficient matching system 99 plus and low dielectric losses 3 There are no inactive elements traps or linear loading to reduce antenna performance Note Bear in mind that these values are not the maximum or average for a given band this perform ance is across the entire band Additionally the rear response figures for our 2 and 3 element yagis are front to rear as opposed to front to back Front to rear means the worst case response off of the back of the antenna Front to back is simply the response exactly 180 degrees from the forward direction Front to rear measurement is a more realistic conservative specification SteppIR Antennas 30 Computer Models of Free Space Gain and Front to Rear vs Frequency SteppIR 3 element yagi BAND GAIN dBi HALF POWER ANGLE FRONT TO REAR 20 meters 7 4 dBi 34 25 dB 17 meters 8 3 dBi 32 25 dB 15 meters 8 5 dBi 29 20 dB 12 meters 8 8 dBi 28 15 dB 10 meters 9 0 dBi 29 11 dB 6 meters 6 2 dBi 35 2 8 dB 6 meters w passive element 10 1 dBi 25 20 dB The following figures were measured on the testing range using the protocol set forth in Antenna Com parison Reports HF Tri Banders
29. f the pre drilled holes are visibly out of alignment you probably have the boom pieces assembled incorrectly We pre drill the holes to be quite snug In some cases you may find it necessary to assist the bolts with a tap of a hammer or thread them in by turning with a wrench SteppIR Antennas 7 Figure 1 The 3 element SteppIR Yagi boom consists of four sections of aluminum tubing that are 4 feet long x 1 3 4 OD x 1 8 wall along with three aluminum antenna housing brackets as shown in figure 1 The ele ment housing brackets are pre installed at the factory To assemble your antenna you will need a 1 2 13mm and 7 16 11mm wrench and or socket drive We double check the fasteners for proper tightness before shipping but it is always a good idea to check them yourself before installing the antenna Assemble the boom amp connect to mast plate DRAWING 2A Figure 5 The four sections of a 3 element yagi shown in the staggered order of installation SteppIR Antennas 8 The mast plate has a total of ten pre drilled holes 4 of these are used for the 2 stainless steel mast clamps four more are used for the s 1 3 4 stainless steel boom clamps and the last set of two are for the optional Boomslide antenna fixture If you have purchased the Boomslide refer to the included instructions If you do not have the Boomslide you will not be using these holes Figure 6 shows the configuration of the mast plate
30. g and Modifying Antennas The factory default antenna segments that are programmed into your controller have been modeled and field tested to provide very good gain without sacrificing front to back The create modify menu allows you to change the length of the director driven element or reflector for any antenna segment You can use this feature to try out your own antenna designs or to tune out potential objects that are causing interaction or SWR problems with your an tenna The driven element can be changed up to 5 in length to obtain a better match with no appreciable change in gain or front to back performance so it is always best to just tune the driven element to correct SWR problems This feature is especially good for those of you who experiment with modeling programs such as EZ NEC or YO PRO Computer modeling has dramatically simplified antenna design With this technology many modeling pro grams are available on the internet the average ham can create his her own antennas and have a very accurate idea as to what kind of performance to expect before the antenna is built While modeling has been a great help in the past when the modeling was done you still would have to go outside and make the necessary modifications in length for every single antenna design which could be quite cumbersome and time consuming With the SteppIR adjustable antenna we have advanced antenna design technology one step further now you can model and build
31. gure 24 Figure 25 Figure 26 Figure 27 Figure 29 Figure 28 SteppIR Antennas 13 Optional 6 Meter Passive Element The 6 meter passive element comes in 3 pieces The main body with a 1 2 x 58 element section attached to it and two 3 8 x 36 element sections figure 30 The overall length of the element is approximately 108 when assembled Figure 32 Top view of element Figure 33 6 meter element mounted to boom SteppIR Antennas 14 The required fasteners will already be attached to each end of the 1 2 element section fig 31 remove this hardware and slide in the short ends of the 3 8 tubing the end that has the least amount of distance from the edge of the tubing to the drilled hole Use an anti oxidant such as NALOX not included when connecting the two sections of tubing Fasten securely Locate the scribed mark on the boom showing placement 35 1 2 from the edge of the driven element antenna housing to the center of the of the 6 meter passive element The passive element is located between the driven element and the reflector the passive element that is furthest away from the driven element when in normal direction Fasten securely to the boom using the U bolt saddle and hardware Fig 32 amp 33 Make certain that you have the 6 meter passive element level with the others Important Once the passive element kit is installed the forward direction antenna is now 180 degrees opposite that of the no
32. h more than the 2000 watt rating how much more we don t know Jerry Sevicks book Transmission Transformers available from ARRL has a chapter Chap 11 that discusses the power handling ability of ferrite core transformers Note When operating with more than 200 watts do not transmit while the antenna is changing bands A mismatch at elevated wattages may cause damage to the driven element Specifications Dipole 2 El Yagi 3 el Yagi Weight 10 5 lb 4 5 kg 34 lb 13 6 kg 45 lb 19 kg Max wind surface area 1 9ft 0 17 m 3 9 ft 0 37 m 6 0 ft 0 57 m Longest Element 36 ft 10 97 m 36 ft 10 97 m 36 ft 10 97 m Maximum Power 2000 Watts PEP 2000 Watts PEP 2000 Watts PEP Boom Length N A 57 1 44 m 16 ft 4 87 m Boom Diameter N A 1 3 4 1 3 4 Frequency Coverage continuous 20m 6m 20m 6m 20m 6m Turning Radius 9 ft 2 74 m 14 4 ft 4 39 m 19 7 ft 6 m Cable Requirements 22 AWG 4 conductor 12 conductor 12 conductor Tuning Rate 1 17 mhz Sec 1 17 mhz Sec 1 17 mhz Sec Balun Included see below No Yes Yes Wind survivability 100 mph 160 9 kph 100 mph 160 9 kph 100 mph 160 9 kph SteppIR Yagi DipoleAntenna Specifications SteppIR Antennas 33 The SteppIR has a matching system that is included in both the 2 element and 3 element yagi it is avail able as an option on the dipole Our antenna designs are all close to 22 ohms at all frequenci
33. ire band It is this ability to move the performance peak that makes the SteppIR actually outperform a mono bander over an entire band even when the boom length isn t what is classically considered ideal Bear in mind that a Yagi rarely has maximum gain and maxi mum front to back at the same time so it is always a compromise between gain and front to back With an adjustable antenna you can choose which parameter is important to you in a given situation For ex ample you might want to have a pile up buster saved in memory that gets you that extra 5 1 0 dB of gain at the expense of front to back and SWR when you are going after that rare DX RF Power Transmission with the SteppIR Yagi The RF power is transferred by brushes that have 4 contact points on each element that results in a very low impedance connection that is kept clean by the inherent wiping action The brush contact is 08 in thick and has proven to last over 2 million band changes The copper beryllium tape is 545 inches wide and presents a very low RF impedance that results in conductor losses of 17 dB with a Yagi tuned to have a radiation resistance of 15 ohms which is about as low as most practical Yagis run The type of balun we are using can handle tremendous amounts of power for their size because the is almost no flux in the core and they are 99 efficient That coupled with the fact that our antenna is always at a very low VSWR means the balun will handle muc
34. is important that you do not transmit while the antenna is adjusting There are some situations where the SWR may be higher than you would like it to be Interaction from nearby fixed objects or mounting the antenna at a low height are the most common potential culprits With most anten nas you would have to live with the problem With the SteppIR you can re adjust the antenna to help compen sate for these potential problems and save the new parameters into memory The driven element can be ad justed to get a better match with no appreciable effect on gain and front to back For more information on how to accomplish this refer to page 22 SteppIR Antenna Segments 20 meters 17 meters 15 meters 12 meters 10 meters 6 meters 14 050 18 100 21 050 24 950 28 200 50 000 14 200 21 200 28 500 51 000 14 300 21 350 28 800 52 500 29 100 53 500 29 400 Using the Antenna Controller SteppIR Antennas 18 Modes of Operation There are three modes of operation with the SteppIR controller Amateur General Frequency and Setup To access any of these modes press the mode button located at the bottom right corner of your controller front panel The mode button is a 3 position toggle each time you press the button the controller will change to the next mode and the respective LED will light up adjacent to the mode description It is important that you click on the select button within 2 1 2 seconds after arriving
35. ive green element support tube EST on each antenna housing will appear uneven in length it is actually centered on the inside of the antenna housing Installation note One of the passive elements and the driven element will have the EST lined up so that the short side and long side of the EST are facing in the same directions The remaining passive element s EST configuration will be the opposite This is normal Connect the wiring and secure to boom Each antenna housing will have an installed 4 conductor cable attached to it using a waterproof strain relief fitting fig 12 The housings with the longer cables are the director and reflector they are identical and in terchangeable the one with the short cable and SO 239 coax connector is the driven element the balun is on the inside of this housing There will be a 12 position terminal strip included with the antenna and a single position terminal strip for the ground connections as shown in figure 13 and 14 the terminal strips are inside of the included PVC connector housing with a white plastic cap loosely attached First dip each bare wire into the provided blue connector protector pouch Connect each wire of the 4 conductor ca ble to it s respective location on the 12 position terminal strip drawing 1 and figure 14 You will need to repeat this on the opposite side of the terminal strip for the 12 conductor cable as well Each cable all 3 of the four conductor cables and the 12 co
36. ll start to flash Let up on the 20m button and then imme diately press it again Now 15 000 MHz is saved at the 180 direction To add 15 000 MHz to bi directional on the 20m band button you would press the direction button until Bi Dir LED is lit and repeat the procedure one more time Band Segment Memory Button Default Antenna Normal Direction Default Antenna 180 Direction Default Antenna Bi Directional 20m Mem1 14 050 01 14 200 07 14 200 13 17m Mem2 18 100 02 18 100 08 18 100 14 15m Mem3 21 200 03 21 200 09 21 200 15 12m Mem4 24 950 04 24 950 10 24 950 16 10m Mem5 28 800 05 28 800 11 28 800 17 6m Mem6 51 000 06 51 000 12 51 000 18 General frequency mode factory default settings Each default antenna has a number in parentheses this is to show that there are 18 possible memories to store saved frequencies in SteppIR Antennas 25 SteppIR Antennas 26 Using the SteppIR controller with your logging program Logging programs fall into two groups programs with manual rig control like TRX Manager which al low you to control the radio from the computer and programs that are focused on logging with the ability to set the rig to the correct frequency through a spot like DX Base The first type of programs poll the ra dio continuously to get the frequency These programs work with the SteppIR by using a Y cable to link the computers r
37. nductor cable will have a bare silver wire which is the ground You will need to connect all three of these to the single terminal strip fig 14 drawing 1A Note While the 2 element Yagi has only 8 wires that are used it is still extremely important that you hook up the re maining 4 wires Even though these wires are not used they still have power being supplied to them so hooking them to the terminal strip will eliminate the chance of shorting Figure 12 Figure 13 SteppIR Antennas 10 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 9 Figure 14 When the connections have been secured you will want to position the cables so that they are parallel with the 12 position terminal strip fig 15 The 12 conductor cable will be at one side and the 3 four conductor ca bles will be at the other You will then want to slide the cables and terminal strips into the provided plastic en closure fig 16 pulling all 4 cables into the groove in the plastic enclosure fig 17 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 SteppIR Antennas 11 Place the cap on the end of the plastic enclosure You do not need to glue the cap the enclosure will be trapped between the two U bolts keeping the cap from loosening from the enclosure Secure the cables to the enclosure with 2 wraps of electrical tape Position the plastic enclosure so that it is snug to the boom and is located between the two U Bolts Be sure that the groove in the enclosure is facing downward figure 18
38. ode and returns to the mode you were in you are ready to go Retracting the Elements If you ever plan on taking your antenna down you will first need to retract the elements In addition if you want to protect your antenna during periods of non use or during lightning storms or harsh winter conditions you can use the retract element feature for this as well Many of our customers have retracted their elements during lightning storms greatly reducing the conductive area of the antenna platform In ice storms SteppIR users have also been able to retract their elements greatly reducing the potential for loss in case of a catastrophic failure When you retract the elements the copper beryllium conductive strip is safe and sound inside the antenna housing leaving only the telescoping fiberglass poles These poles are easy to replace and reasonable in price 20 each for SteppIR owners so even if you damage the telescoping fiberglass support elements the most valuable part of the antenna should be safe SteppIR Antennas 23 Retract Elements continued When you first enter setup mode you will see mode key to exit up dn to scroll on the LCD screen Press the up button five times and it will take you to Retract Elements up dn to scroll To enter press the select button A new screen will appear saying Home Now YES NO with NO flashing The controller is asking you if you want to send the elements home which mean
39. of Yagi s we have seen to date SteppIR Antennas 28 2 element Yagi Field Test normal direction BAND GAIN FRONT TO BACK 20 meters 4 2 dBd 18 dB 17 meters 4 2 dBd 19 dB 15 meters 4 1 dBd 13 7 dB 12 meters 4 0 dBd 13 dB 10 meters 3 8 dBd 9 3 dB 6 meters 2 6 dBd 1 5 dB These values correlate fairly well with YO PRO and EZ NEC If you have YO PRO try modeling a 2 element yagi on a 57 boom with the passive element a director You should see performance close to the above figures A two element yagi on a short boom will be very narrow in bandwidth but high in performance but with tunable elements who needs bandwidth Computer Models of Free Space Gain and Front to Rear vs Frequency SteppIR 2 element yagi Note Bear in mind that these values are not the maximum or average for a given band this perform ance is across the entire band Additionally the rear response figures for our 2 and 3 element yagis are front to rear as opposed to front to back Front to rear means the worst case response off of the back of the antenna Front to back is simply the response exactly 180 degrees from the forward direction Front to rear measurement is a more realistic conservative specification BAND GAIN dBi HALF POWER ANGLE FRONT TO REAR 20 meters 6 6 dBi 35 20 5 dB 17 meters 6 6 dBi 35 16 dB 15 meters 6 5 dBi 34 13 dB 12 meters 6 4 dBi 35 10 5 dB 10 meters 6 2
40. rmal antenna when on 6 meters the rest of the bands remain unaffected When you are using the 6 meter band you will want to keep the antenna in the 180 degree direction and rotate accordingly Optimum performance will be seen from 50 000 MHz to 50 500 MHz The 6 meter antenna will not function nearly as well in the forward antenna mode due to the fixed element configuration Figure 31 Figure 30 Figure B Figure D Once the wire harness is attached and taped to the boom this 2 element yagi is ready for action 2 element Yagi Installation For the most part assembling the 2 element yagi involves many of the same steps as covered in the 3 element yagi instal lation section You should carefully read the 3 element yagi instructions as well There are a few key differences the most evident being that the 2 element yagi has a one piece 57 boom figure A The boom will come with one side having the element bracket attached you will have to install the other The bracket will overhang the end of the boom by 2 1 2 when properly installed Fig B Make sure the bolts and nuts are facing in the same direction as the other bracket When attaching the boom to the mast plate you will want to position the mast plate as close to the center point as possible Fig C which in the case of the 2 element Yagi is directly in the middle of the boom When fastening the elements to the element bracket make sure the element is mounted in such a way tha
41. s retract ing the elements inside the antenna housing To retract the antenna press the up or down button once and YES will start flashing Press the select button the display will say Home Now Homing Ele ments The asterisk will be flashing this means that the antenna is retracting when the asterisk disap pears the new message will read Element Retracted Your antenna is now safely inside the antenna housings When you want to put the antenna back on the air simply press the antenna segment you de sire and the controller will adjust to that segment Normal 180 Degree and Bi Directional Function The 180 degree mode feature is one of the most popular among SteppIR users The 180 degree mode allows you to literally rotate the antenna 180 degrees from your current normal direction beam heading This is done by simply pressing a button and in 2 1 2 seconds the transformation is com plete With the three element Yagi the existing reflector becomes a director and the director becomes a reflector and you now have a completely different antenna in the exact opposite direction With the two element Yagi the director becomes a reflector In addition to greatly reducing your rotator use many SteppIR users report that the 180 degree function is an excellent tool for short path long path operation or for picking up that elusive multiplier in the heat of a contest At Fluidmotion we think the best use for this function is wh
42. s used if you have purchased the optional transceiver interface To use the transceiver in terface you need to have a rig that has computer interfacing capability Rigs with these options were pri marily manufactured from 1990 on When enabled the transceiver interface on the SteppIR controller will listen to your rig and will automatically re adjust every 50 KHz as you tune through the bands The following are radios that work with our transceiver interface module New radios are added periodi cally Note If you do not see your rig here that does not necessarily mean the interface will not work If your rig has an interface call the factory to be certain whether the interface will work with our controller SteppIR Antennas 20 Transceiver Interface continued Icom All radios that have a CI V port 706 746 746 PRO 756 756 PRO 756 PROII 765 775 781 Kenwood TS50 TS570 TS570G TS850 TS870 TS950SD TS950SDX TS2000 Yaesu FT 847 FT1000D FT1000MP FT1000MP Mark V Ten Tec Omni VI Omni VI Plus these radios emulate ICOM protocol SGC Some of their rigs emulate Kenwood TS 570 these will work with the SteppIR transceiver interface If you have the transceiver interface option your controller will come with an interface cable which has a 9 pin d sub connector on one end that hooks up to the Data In port on the back of the controller The other end will go to your rigs interface There is second 9 pin d sub connector below th
43. st as it should for example if you save 15 000 MHz in bi direction mode that new setting will only work in the bi directional mode and the default frequency will not have been changed in either the forward or the 180 degree direction Because of this if you want the SteppIR controller to work in normal 180 degree and bi directional for the new frequency of 15 000 MHz each one will have to be changed individually by activating the respective feature and then replacing the fre quency and saving it to memory Changing the defaults in the general frequency mode is not difficult We will be using our example of WWV at 15 000 MHz to explain the procedure While in general frequency mode first you will want to tune the controller to 15 000 MHz as explained above In this case we are going to save the new frequency on the 20m button since 15 MHz is pretty close to the default antenna segment of 14 050 MHz Press the 20m button and hold it down for a few seconds The LED will start to flash Let up on the 20m button and then immediately press it again 15 000 MHz has now replaced 14 050 MHz and is saved in the 20m normal direction segment That is all there is to it If you wanted to add this new frequency to the 180 degree mode on the 20m band button you would now press the direction button located the immediate right of the LCD screen until the 180 LED is lit Press the 20m button and hold it down for a few seconds The LED wi
44. t the element itself is as far away from the mast plate as possible Fig D In the normal direction mode ie not the 180 mode or Bi Directional mode the antenna directs RF energy towards the passive element the element that does not have the coax attached to it giving gain in that direction and rejecting signals coming directly at the driven element from the opposite direction When the 180 mode is selected the gain is now directed from the driven element end and rejected from the passive end For di rectional purposes if you want your SteppIR 2 element yagi to point due North when in normal direction mode the passive element director would be the forward or aiming element If you switched to the 180 mode you would now be pointing south even though your rotator still says you are North This is done by turning the director into a re flector When you are operating in the Bi Directional mode your antenna is directing RF in both directions SteppIR Antennas 15 Figure A Figure C Dipole Installation Attach antenna housing to antenna mast not included using the 1 3 4 U bolt and mast saddle fig E F G and H Figure E Mounting the dipole to the mast Figure F Figure G Hardware for mounting Figure H Follow instructions on page 13 of the Yagi installation instructions Dipole SWR Considerations The impedance of a half wave horizontal dipole depends on it s height above ground In the frequ
45. u could either hold either the up down arrow until you reached WWV at 15 000 or you could press one of the band buttons to get you close to the destination frequency and use the up or down arrow to dial it in the rest of the way This brings up an important point for manually operating in the general frequency mode SteppIR Antennas 24 Saving antennas to memory continued Since the controller adjusts 100 KHz at a time in this mode to get to the exact frequency desired you will need to find a starting point that is either even XX 100 or odd XX 050 Otherwise you will be off by a factor of 50 KHz The default frequencies for each band button in general frequency mode are 20m 14 050 17m 18 100 15m 21 200 12m 24 950 10m 28 800 6m 51 000 MHz So to get to an even numbered destination frequency you will need to start at either 17m 15m 10m or 6m To get to an odd numbered destination frequency you will need to start from 20m or 12m In the general frequency mode there are a total of 18 different memories Each individual band button 20m 17m 15m 12m 10m and 6m has 3 memories a memory for the forward direction another memory when you go into the 180 degree direction and a third memory when you go to the bi directional mode Remember these are all separate antennas independent of each other You can re place the factory default frequency with a new setting at any of these points but keep in mind that the antenna will act ju
46. when measured from the butt end of the pole to the tip Attach one 16 stainless reinforcing clamp at the tip of the base section of each pole leaving approximately 1 2 from the edge fig 25 Starting at the 1 2 area to the right of the clamp firmly wrap the black 3M tape around each side of the joint using an X pattern fig 26 Be sure to use plenty of electrical tape on each joint two rolls have been provided for this purpose Apply the silicone wrap to the left side of the reinforcing clamp overlapping the clamp in the same manner as the electrical tape fig 27 You will want to completely cover the 3M tape for a vulcanized weatherproof seal The silicone tape will not stick to any surface it bonds only to itself Rub the silicone wrap to ensure it is flat and has adhered The wrap will immediately start to cure once contact is made and will be fully cured within 24 hours On the remaining joints for each pole you will not require a reinforcing clamp but you will still need to wrap the 3M tape in an X pattern and cover it with silicone wrap in the same manner fig 28 and 29 You will use approximately 12 of silicone wrap for the largest joint 10 for the 2nd joint 8 for the third and 6 of waterproofing for the smallest joint Note be sure to remove connector protector resi due from your hands before applying or it will cause the silicone wrap to not adhere to itself in places Figure 23 Figure 22 Figure 20 Figure 21 Fi
47. y interaction between all of the required antennas Yagis are available that cover 20 meters through 10 meters by using interlaced elements or traps but do so at the expense of significant performance reduction in gain and front to back ratios With the addition of the WARC bands on 17m and 12m the use of interlaced elements and traps has clearly been an exercise in diminishing returns Obviously an antenna that is precisely adjustable in length while in the air would solve the fre quency problem and in addition would have vastly improved performance over existing fixed length yagis The ability to tune the antenna to a specific frequency without regard for band width results in excellent gain and front to back at every frequency The SteppIR design was made possible by the convergence of determination and high tech materials The availability of new lightweight glass fiber composites Teflon blended thermo plastics high conductivity copper beryllium and extremely reliable stepper motors has allowed the SteppIR to be a commercially feasible product The current and future SteppIR products should produce the most potent single tower antenna systems ever seen in Amateur Radio We thank you for using our SteppIR antenna for your ham radio endeavors Warm Regards Michael Mike Mertel K7IR President SteppIR Antennas 5 SteppIR Design Currently most multi band antennas use traps log cells or interlaced elements as a means to cover sever
48. y to exit up dn to scroll on the LCD screen Press the up button once and it will take you to factory default Press the select button to enter into this menu The second line of the LCD screen will say Current YES NO and the NO will be blinking The controller is asking you if you want to revert back to the factory default for the current antenna seg ment you are on in our example 14 050 Entering YES gives you back the original antenna lengths that came with the controller for that segment To enter YES you simply press the up or down button and YES will start flashing Press the select button the factory default has been restored for that single an tenna segment If you select NO the screen will say All Ant YES NO with the NO blinking The con troller is asking you if you want to replace every single antenna segment currently in the controller mem ory with the original factory defaults To do so press either the up or down button once and the YES but ton will now be flashing Press the select button and now every one of the factory default antennas has been restored If you decide not to restore the defaults you would press NO and you would be taken back to the setup factory default main menu From there you can either use the up dn arrows to further scroll through the setup menu or you could press the mode button to go back to amateur or general fre quency mode Transceiver Interface This menu item i
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