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1. 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 balanced weight load the center of the mast plate should be reasonably close to the center balance point of the boom as LL Figure 6 Figure 7 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 26 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 coincides with your rotor heading When you are in normal direction the forward or aiming element is a director and the element behind the driven is a reflector In the normal direction the director is the element 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 Dipole 2 3 Element 9 Attach the antenna housing to the element to boom bracket Place the flat side of the
2. could interfere with the copper tape movement There are foam plugs glued in the small end of each of the dark green telescoping poles These plugs allow the poles to breathe preventing the buildup of condensation inside Do NOT remove block cover plug cap or in any way inhibit air flow through this foam plug filter Note The telescoping element support tubes will not all be the same length this is not a problem as long as they are a minimum of 17 8 They are interchangeable and can be used in any ele ment position Figure 21 Figure 22 Next wrap each joint on the fiberglass poles with the all weather electrical tape see Figure 21 Each joint should have at least the full width of the tape on both sides of the joint Use common sense on the amount of tape or you will not have enough of the silicon tape used later to cover the electrical tape Exception On joints with reinforcing rings the tape must continue further so it extends a minimum of 3 4 beyond the metal ring and onto the fiberglass pole Apply one complete wrap of electrical tape around the fiberglass tube as you begin and then work your way across the joint and back using half overlap wraps so that the entire area is seamlessly cov ered Carefully stretch and smooth the tape with your finger as you apply and especially when you change directions this will help avoid ripples and have the tape lie as smoothly as possible At the end of the run cut the tape
3. 14 300 MHz Each time you press the 20 meter button the controller will re adjust to the required length of the next antenna segment Using our 20m example if you are on antenna segment 14 000 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 14 000 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 an tenna 25 KHz per click When you click the band buttons an asterisk will light up and flash on the dis play 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 antenna segment has been reached the asterisk will disappear Note When operating with over 200 watts it is important that you do not transmit while the antenna is adjusting 50 000 28 500 51 000 28 800 52 500 MEAN 29 100 53 500 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 antennas you would have to live with the problem With the SteppIR yo
4. 90 degrees with each other This is as designed and not a mistake Pre drilled holes are quite snug to align al most perfectly 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 If the holes are visibly out of alignment when you are assem bling the boom you probably have the boom pieces put together in the wrong order or the section of booms without an element to boom bracket may need to be rotated 180 degrees Each boom piece has a number permanently written scribed or stamped on it Match each number with the exact same number of a corresponding boom piece Figure 1 5 shows joint 1 markings inside the ring they must line up Drawing 2A shows how each boom section is numbered Ew ber Pe AS per Connect the boom by sliding the respective sections together and align the pre drilled holes Figure 2 and 3 Refer to Figure 5 and Drawing 2A 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 exces sively as this can cause binding the WD 40 will help keep the two pieces lubricated Insert the included bolts into the pre drilled holes and tighten the nylok nut securely Figure 4 Be sure to position the bolts and nuts so that they are in the same direction as the others Make sure the boom bolts for the center splice are installed as shown in Fig
5. director to your desired length Individual clicks will change the length approximately 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 element 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 ele ment and reflector lengths use the up down arrows until the respective element is flashing and repeat the above procedure When you are finished making 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 currently 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 antenna 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 inde pendent of the normal direction segment To change these antennas you must be in the respective direction and follow the above procedures Rememb
6. element housing unit EHU on top of the element to boom brackets Figure 9 The housings without the SO 239 coax connector are the director and reflector they are identical and interchangeable the one with the SO 239 connector is the driven element the balun is on the in side of this housing The reflector and director should be positioned so the actual fiberglass element is furthest away from the driven element Figure 10 The driven element should be positioned so that the element is closest to the mast plate Figure 11 Fasten each element housing to the element bracket using eight 10 32 x 7 8 screws flat washers nylok nuts The flat washer needs to be placed between the screw head and the plastic element housing Tighten securely but not too tight if you over tighten the nut you may split the plastic flange on the element housing The olive green element support tube EST on each antenna housing will appear uneven in length it is actually cen tered on the inside of the antenna housing Note The reflector element and the driven element will have the EST offset tube lined up so that the short side and long side of the each EST are facing in the same directions The director element EST configuration will be the opposite This is normal Figure 11 SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Connect the wiring and secure to boom WARNING Make sure the 25 pin sub D connector is not connected to the controller if the 24 V
7. performers 1 They 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 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 three element 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 11 dB If the boom is made shorter say 25 wavelengths the front to back can be as high as 25 dB but now the maximum gain is about 8 0 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 for a fixed element length yagi It turns out that being able to tune the elements far outweighs being able to choose boom length We chose 16 feet for our three element 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 This compromise works out very well because 10m is a large band and F B isn t as important so you
8. 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 1s 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 They 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
9. raising the antenna If you are not going to connect the control cable and test it on the ground make sure you have the ele ment control cables positively identified and well marked If you get the elements mixed up on the ter minal block you will get very confusing results such as high SWR low performance etc Mark the cables coming from each element box with colored electrical tape or a felt pen Mark them before you tape them along the boom it is very easy to get two parallel wires mixed up Now when you are on the tower 1t will be easy to identify each element control cable positively When performing the Test Motor none of the telescoping fiberglass poles should be installed at this point or you will not see the copper tape extend out of the element housing approximately 4 This test allows you to verify that each of the elements is indeed the one the controller thinks it is and that it is wired correctly not running backwards If the copper is sticking out at the end of testing any element the motor for that element is wired wrong The steppers will run backwards 1f you swap the wires on either one of the motor winding When you select the test mode the screen will appear as shown One of the element names DIR DVR or REF will be flashing indi DIR DVR REF cating that that element can be tested by simply pressing the select Up Dn to SCROLL key An asterisk will begin flashing in the lower right hand corner As you te
10. 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 when 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 a
11. the maximum gain from our boom Traps linear load ing 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 an tenna 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 NOAX and Steve Morris K7LXC To create this report they took popular tri banders and put them on a 48 foot tower and transmitted a signal 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 represents the most realistic comparisons of Yagi s we have seen to date All of the antennas are tested in the same environment so the results are a reasonably relative compari son of performance Bear in mind our values hold over the entire band so compare our values to their average values over a band SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Table 3 BAND 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 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 dire
12. this feature to try out your own antenna designs or to tune out potential objects that are causing interaction or SWR prob lems with your antenna 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 pro grams such as EZ NEC or YO PRO Computer modeling has dramatically simplified antenna design With this technology many modeling programs are available on the internet the average ham can create his her own an tennas 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 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 about 2 2 longer due to the conductor diameter mounting hardware and dielectric lo
13. 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 com mercial 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 installa tion crews SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Connecting the controller to the antenna Mb devre comples with part 15 of cru ln b subject Made in he USA 1o the condition that this de Antenna Connection 2 amp at 24 WDC O SteppIR Antennas AUX power E connected to Primary Issaquah WA 425 391 1999 Drawing 8 On the front of your controller remove the protective plastic from the display On the back of your controller there are two power connections primary and AUX You can use either one of these to connect the included 24 volt power supply cord The AUX is intended for use with 4 antenna ele ments 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 de sign by purchasing an element adder kit Because we have no interlacing elements or traps we can make our antenna modular in design so that our current customers
14. with a knife or scissors and press the end onto the pole Then run your hand over the tape a couple of times to firm up the bonding SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Recommended Lengths for Silicone Tape Wrapping A 18 in 46 cm A Gin Al cm A B C C llin 28 cm Drawing 6 Next you will weatherproof and UV protect each joint with the black self curing silicone tape see Fig ure 22 It is important that you pre cut the silicone tape to the recommended lengths If you do so you will have more than enough for each joint Refer to Drawing 6 for proper lengths for each joint In the event you require more silicone wrap Home Depot electrical department carries Model HTP 1010 Gardner Bender Silicone Rubber Fusion Tape UPC code 032076560102 and Radio Shack and Wall Mart are authorized retailers for the brand we buy Tommy Tape IMPORTANT Per the manufactures specifications the silicone tape has a shelf life of 12 months before it is used and should be stored in a cool dry environment Silicone tape will not stick to just any surface It only bonds to itself Be sure to remove all the connector protector residue from your hands before handling silicone tape as that residue will cause the silicone wrap not to adhere to itself in places Take care to keep the silicone wrap free of dirt or debris Also this tape MUST be cut Do not tear it Wash your hands before completing the following steps Position the black silicone tape
15. 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 Mike Mentel Michael Mike Mertel K7IR President SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element SteppIR Design Currently most multi band antennas use traps log cells or interlaced elements as a means to cover sev eral frequency bands All of these methods have one thing in common they significantly compromise performance The SteppIR antenna system is our answer to the problem Resonant antennas must be made a specific length to operate optimall
16. 2 gt CREME wane DRAWING 1 Warning Look carefully at the order of the elements on the terminal block They are not intui tively laid out as they appear on the boom we did it to make the 2 Element wires consecutive z DRIVEN Figure 14 DIRECTOR 3 E O REFLECTOR When the connections have been secured you will want to position the cables so that they are parallel with the 12 position terminal strip Figure 15 The 12 conductor cable will be at one side and the 3 four conductor cables will be at the other You will then want to slide the cables and terminal strips into the provided plastic enclosure Figure 16 pulling all 4 cables into the groove in the plastic enclo sure Figure 17 Figure 17 SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Attach the wiring enclosure and control cable to the boom Place the cap on the end of the plastic enclosure and secure 1t with several wraps of electrical tape Figure 18 A Secure the cables to the enclosure with several wraps of electrical tape Figure 18 B Position the plastic enclosure in a convenient position on the boom making sure that the groove in the enclosure is facing downward Figure 18 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 enclo sure to the boom using the 4 worm gear clamp taking care to not trap the cables in between Tape the cable
17. Antenna Systems Yagi Dipole Vertical ratentea SteppIR Dipole Instruction Manual Antarctica at 85 mph SteppIR Antennas 23831 S E Tiger MT RD Issaquah WA 98027 Fax 425 391 8377 Toll Free 866 783 7747 Tel 425 391 1999 Web www steppir com Rev 00 NEW SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Abbreviations EHT Element Housing Tube EHU Element Housing Unit EST Element Support Tube pole FCC Flexible Connection Coupler rubber EHT EHU FCC EST SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Table of Contents SteppIR Why Compromise SSCS 3 clement Yagiinsalatoninsractns SSCS Boom Assembly SSCS Attaching Femen Housing o Bom 30 Saving antennas to memory z SteppIR Yagi dipole specifications 37 SteppIR warranty 38 Appendix A New SteppIR Controller Firmware Version 6 4 6 504 39 Appendix B To Replace Upgrade the Controller Driver PCB SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 by 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
18. B 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 Comparison Reports HF Tri Banders by Ward Silver NOAX and Steve Morris K7LXC Table 6 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 2 9 dBd 4 dB without passive element SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 element 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 wavel
19. DC supply is energized and plugged into the controller There are voltages present on the control cable wires even when the power button on the controller has been pushed to off Shorting the control wires with power on them will destroy the driver chips Ei ther unplug the 24 volt power supply or disconnect the 25 pin sub D connector before making any connections or cutting or splicing the cable Also be aware that if you have more than 200 of control cable you must use our optional 33 VDC power supply This will then allow up to 500 of control cable with no problems Be sure to connect the controller case to your station ground using the 8 32 lug on the back of the controller This is important for RFI immunity as well as lightning protection If you are in a high lightning area take the appropriate precautions the controller can be damaged by lightning it is be yond the scope of this manual to cover all of the complexities of lightning protection see some of the ARRL publications that address this The surest protection is to disconnect the 25 pin sub D connec tor and power supply then move them well away from the controller Each antenna housing will have an installed 4 conductor cable attached to it using a waterproof strain relief fitting Figure 12 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 st
20. about 1 2 to the right of the black electrical tape and wrap one layer continually stretching the silicone tape a minimum of 100 its original length completely around the pole so the tape fully overlaps itself Then slowly wrap the silicone tape to the left using half overlap wraps extending about 1 2 beyond the black electrical tape When you reach the end wrap one layer completely around the pole so the tape fully overlaps itself just as you did at the beginning of the wrap If you are stretching the tape correctly you will get about two layers of tape at each joint As before carefully stretch and lay the tape down as smooth as possible The final joint should look like Figure 22 Important After the silicone tape has been applied be sure to rub each wrap with your hand several times to ensure that it is flat and has adhered to itself SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Attach the Fiberglass Element Support Tubes to the Element Housing Units The butt ends of the green fiberglass poles may very slightly in outside diameter Some of them may have been sanded while others were not The colors at the ends will be either natural or black The difference in colors has no affect on performance Do not be concerned if they vary slightly in tight ness when being installed on the EHUs This is normal All poles are tested at the factory prior to shipping however in the event the pole just won t fit sanding it is okay The EHTs
21. ading 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 restore the factory default antennas you can do so by going to the Factory Default menu in setup page 22 which allows you to easily restore either a sin gle 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 down arrow until the element of choice is flashing For exam ple 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 arrows to adjust the length of the
22. ale directly When making this adjustment it is possible to move off the best performance point so some playing may be necessary The changes made in this menu will be saved when the controller power is switched off or after about 3 minutes the controller will do a automatic save Some notes about adjusting the antenna The firmware frequency is set to what we have determined to be proper for each band the lowest SWR point may still be at a higher frequency The SWR should be less than 1 5 1 if the antenna is working correctly The best Front to back Gain and SWR do not all occur at the same frequency on a Yagi usually as you go below the Yagies center frequency the gain will get slightly better and as you go higher in fre quency the front to back will get better The lowest SWR may occur any where in this range design ers choice to some degree usually higher in frequency with the SteppIR There are a couple of tests that can be done to determine where the antenna is tuned First since we use different Model data to make the 180 and Normal antennas it turns out that the SWR is only the same in both directions at the Center frequency we originally picked Next if the antenna is pointed away from a distant signal and is tuned for the lowest signal strength this will be very close to slightly higher in frequency than center frequency Appendix B SteppIR Antennas To Replace Uparade the Controller Driver PCB 1 Make sure the Elements are r
23. be from 50 000 MHz to 50 500 MHz The 180 degree mode is exactly the same as the forward mode since we have no choice when the aluminum passives are used however the Bi Directional works to the same degree by directly reducing the front to back ratio Figure 27 Boom Mast Plate Optional 6m Passive 114 in Long Mast Splice 22 in From center of driven element to center of 6m passive element 5 7 in Director Driven 2 Element Yagi Spacing and Installation Layout inot to scale Figure D 1 SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 installation 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 two piece 61 5 overall length boom Figure A The boom will come with one element bracket bolted to each piece Figure B When attaching the boom to the mast plate you will want to position the mast plate as close to the center point of the boom as possible Figure C When fastening the elements to the ele ment bracket make sure the housing is mounted in such a way that the element itself is as far away from the mast plate as possible Figure D 2 Figure D 1 shows the full element layout In the normal direction mode not 180 or Bi Directional mode the ante
24. ct if the antenna is in the clear 2 6M passive selection Button 3 will toggle between having the 6M passive installed or Not The band LED will be lit when the passive element is selected The lengths for the 6M passive ele ment will be active for the Normal and 180 positions in the frequency range of 50 through 51Mhz There will be a small p in the same location as the saved segment indicator on the LCD display when the 6M passive element lengths are being used The 6M passive antenna always faces for ward even in the 180 mode Bi Dir mode will reduce the front to back but the antenna will still have forward gain This does not effect any other band 3 Button 4 will be the future location of the 40M dipole currently the LED is always on for this button Appendix A SteppIR Antennas 4 Tracking disable Band Button 6 is the Transceiver Interface Frequency tracking control toggle When this band LED is lit the antenna will follow the radio frequency This only effects frequency tracking the computer Port Data Out can still send commands to the controller 5 Frequency Offset ADJ Using the UP and DN keys the antenna Display frequency can be offset from the antenna frequency There will be a number in the range of 15 displayed in the upper right of the LCD display indicating the offset value This is a global adjustment to all bands and is based oFrequencyn a percent of frequency The number is for reference only and does not sc
25. ctor 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 Table 4 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 dBi 35 8 5 dB 6 meters 5 dBi 35 1 5 dB 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 re sponse off of the back of the antenna Front to back is simply the response exactly 180 de grees from the forward direction Front to rear measurement is a more realistic conservative specification SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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
26. deling The SteppIR has a matching system that is included in both the 2 element and 3 element Yagi it is available 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 described 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 commercial Yagi This matching network does not require compressing or stretch ing a coil or separating wires to get a good match something that can easily be bumped out of adjust ment by birds or installation crews When we claim our Yagi outperforms much larger arrays we are referring to multi band Yagi s that in terlace 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
27. e plastic covers over the ports For more information on the transceiver interface refer to page 22 NOTE If you live in an area that has lightning activity we highly recommend that you ground the chassis of the controller to your station ground This can be done by connecting the grounding wire to any of the 4 stainless steel screws that hold the controller together and attaching the other end to your station ground SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Using the Antenna Controller The SteppIR controller has fifty one independent antennas s y E E ere programmed into its memory These are antenna designs that E gt we have computer modeled on YO PRO and EZ NEC and ati mere A E No ei then field tested at our antenna range in Moses Lake Wash 30m 20m 17m 15m 12 te qu a 0 General Frea Setup ington Our test height was 48 feet SWR should be nearby gt 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 40 70 feet but you can still obtain very good performance as low as 25 feet in the air Figure 27 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 14 000 MHz 14 200 MHz and
28. e to the default antenna segment of 14 000 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 14 000 MHz and is saved in the 20m normal direction segment That is all there is to 1t 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 will 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 Table 2 Band Segment Default Antenna Default Antenna Default Antenna Memory Button Normal Direction 180 Direction Bi Directional 20m Mem1 14 200 06 14 200 06 14 200 06 17m Mem2 18 100 06 18 100 06 18 100 06 Note Each default antenna has a number in parentheses this indicates from to 6 which memory location you are currently looking at for that band segment Normal Direction 180 Direction and Bi Directional each have their own memory locations SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element SteppIR 2 and 3 Element Yagi Gain Front to Back Mo
29. econd time at least 30 minutes after the first time you tightened them before raising the antenna to the tower to be sure that there has been no cold flowing of the PVC material on the rubber boot SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 at tached to it and two 3 8 element sections Figure 27 The overall length of the element is approxi mately 112 for the 3 element and 114 for the 2 element when assembled The required fasteners will already be attached to each end of the 1 2 element section 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 a small amount of the included Teflon connec tor protector solution when connecting the two sections of tubing Fasten securely The six meter aluminum element mounts between the driven element and the director the elements that are approxi mately 89 apart The center of the 6m element should be 31 from the center of the driven element see Drawing 2A Fasten securely to the boom using the 304 SS U bolt saddle and hardware Make certain that you have the 6 meter passive element level with the others When you are using the 6 meter band keep the antenna in the forward direction and rotate accordingly Optimum performance will
30. elease the button and press it once more before the LED stops blinking To save the Home position first use the setup Menu retract elements command After the elements are Home press and hold the Band button as before When you press it the second time the Controller will display 0000Mhz The transceiver interface will update the frequency if it is enabled with the radio or computer on overriding the band buttons almost immediately If using a Band button to home the antenna turn off the Radio first Options Menu This menu is entered by holding the Select Key Down for 3 seconds while the controller is in the General Freq Mode Do to limited program space the the only sure indication this mode is active will be some of the Band LEDs Lighting LED 5 will always light Also sense we have 2 different boxes we will refer to the Band buttons as 1 through 6 with 1 being the 20M or 40 30M button on the far left 1 Driven Element Offset Band button 1 works with the 2 band button to adjust the Driven ele ment This is used to correct for feed point interactions Each time the 1 button is pressed the driven element is moved 2 longer The opposite happens when the 2 button is pressed The band LED s for these buttons indicate which way the driver has been adjusted Both Off indicates the default position This adjustment can correct for higher than normal SWRs when other anten nas are interacting with the feed point It will have little to no effe
31. elements themselves The copper beryllium strips are shipped retracted inside their respective element housing units EHUs Repeat the following procedure for each telescoping pole Telescope a pole to full length by pulling each section out firmly in a twisting motion until it is ex tended as far as possible Each segment is tapered and should lock securely in place when fully ex tended Pole lengths may vary but when fully extended each pole must be at least 17 feet 8 inches in length as measured from the butt end of the pole to the tip Figure 20 Verify the length for each pole before installation or wrapping the joints Figure 20 If a pole comes up a little short 1 2 to 1 try collapsing the F pole and starting over this time aggressively jerk each sec tion out instead of twisting The pole cannot be damaged and you may gain a minimum of 1 2 or more If you have trouble collapsing the pole try carefully striking one end on a piece of wood or other similar surface placed on the ground 17 8 min MA SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Warning Make sure to remove the black rubber plug from the base section of each of the telescop ing element support tubes poles This is a shipping plug for handling convenience and will seriously damage the copper beryllium strips and drive mechanisms if not removed Check all four sections of each pole for packing popcorn or any other foreign object that
32. ength 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 entire 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 maximum 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 example 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 radiat
33. er if you ever need to restore the factory defaults this can be easily accomplished Refer to the factory default instructions on page 22 for more information SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 1f the power is interrupted or the cable 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 element 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 retracted 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 retracted 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 an tenna will go to the last se
34. etracted use the Setup Retract Elements menu selection 2 Remove the 2 6 rear connector standoffs using a 3 16 nut driver there are 6 standoffs 1f you have the optional transceiver serial interface Remove the 4 4 40 screws from the sides of the Box Slide off the top cover Unplug the driver PCB by pulling to the rear DD nr A Q Reassemble the controller using the New Driver PCB taking care to ensure all rows of the connectors between the two PCBs are aligned properly You should have your SteppIR controller connected to your station ground If you have the original controller chassis without the ground stud on the back you can do one of the following e Remove the back shell from the 25 pin D and solder to the bare ground wire e Open the Jacket of the cable and connect to the Shield e Simply attach a ground lug to one of the case screws It is important to Unplug the Controller or antenna cable before working on the cabling to the SteppIR When the DC supply is connected to the controller there is a low voltage 4vdc present on the SteppIR antenna cable This voltage is present to hold the elements in place when the SteppIR is not in use Shorting the wrong two wires with this power applied will damage the Motor Driver ICs Stepy R Notes SteppIR Antennas Antenna Systems www steppir com Limited Warranty These products have a limited warranty against manufacturer s defects in materials or co
35. f balun we are using can handle tremendous amounts of power for their size because there 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 much more than the 3000 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 WARNING WHEN OPERATING WITH MORE THAN 500 WATTS DO NOT TRANSMIT WHILE THE ANTENNA IS CHANGING BANDS A MISMATCH AT ELEVATED WATTAGES MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE DRIVEN ELEMENT Balun Matching System The SteppIR has a matching system that is included in the 2 element 3 element 4 element and MonstIR Yagi a balun is available 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 that would transform 22 ohm to 50 ohm We found an excellent one designed by Jerry Sevick that is described 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 wound with custom made high power 25 ohm coax for superior balun operation Jerry has espoused these
36. ffers numerous functions including dedicated buttons for each ham band continuous frequency selection from 20m to 6m 17 ham and 6 non ham band memories 180 direction reversal or bi directional mode in just 3 seconds yagi Boom 7 Element Support Tube Copper Beryllium Tape Stepper Drive Motor Element Housing Unit SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 6 3 element Yagi Installation It is much easier to put yhe antenna together right than fogure it out up in the air 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 element 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 Put anti seize grease on all bolts 1 4 or larger especially on the u bolts because it greatly increases their gripping power Anti seize grease molibnium based is available at most auto part stores Assemble the boom amp connect to mast plate The boom is completely assembled and drilled at the factory to assure precision element alignment You may notice in some cases that on a given splice Figure 1 5 the holes on each side of the splice are at
37. 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 frequency mode each time you press the up down arrows the controller will tune 50 KHz When you continu ously press the up down button without releasing it after a few seconds the tuning adjustment will ramp up to a faster speed tuning at the rate of 1 MHz If you have the optional transceiver interface to utilize that feature you will have to be in the general frequency mode For further information on the transceiver interface refer to page 22 Setup Mode The setup mode is the mode you use when you want to set up or change certain features of the control ler 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 control ler will scroll through the setup menu Once you get to the desired menu you press the select button to enter that menu item Each func
38. get excellent gain with still very acceptable F B 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 entire 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 maximum front to back at the same time so it is always a compromise between gain and front to back This is the same philosophy we use on all of our yagi antennas to give you the most performance available for a given boom length With an adjustable antenna you can choose which parameter is important to you in a given situation For example 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 SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 The type o
39. gment 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 cali brate 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 but ton 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 calibrating 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 mode 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 condi
40. 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 Dipole 2 3 Element SteppIR 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 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 16 ohms to 30 ohms is considered ideal for real world yagis The modeling also takes into account the changing electrical boom length as frequency changes When the 180 degree function is enabled a new Yagi is created that takes into account the change in element spacing and spacing and in the case of 4 element antennas creating a two reflector antenna to get maximum use of all elements The result is slightly different gain and front to rear specifications 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 There are three factors that make our antennas outstanding
41. ion 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 much 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 Warning 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 SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Balun Matching System The SteppIR has a matching system that is included in both the 2 element and 3 element yagi it is available 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 1s described 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 transfo
42. lt 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 but ton to go back to amateur or general frequency mode Transceiver Interface optional This menu item is used if you have purchased the optional transceiver interface To use the transceiver interface you need to have a rig that has computer interfacing capability Rigs with these options were primarily manufactured from 1990 on When enabled the transceiver interface on the SteppIR control ler will listen to your rig and will automatically re adjust every 50 KHz as you tune through the bands SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 control ler The other end will go to your rigs interface There is second 9 pin d sub connector below the first called data out this connector is only used in the event you stack two SteppIR Yagi anten nas it allows the two controllers to communicate with each other so that when you change fre quencies on one of the controllers the other will follow For detailed information see the documen tation included wi
43. n struction for two 2 years from date of sale Do not modify this product or change physical construction without the written permission of SteppIR Antennas Inc This limited warranty is automatically void if improper selection instal lation unauthorized modifications or physical abuse beyond the manufacturer s control has occurred Manufacturer s responsibility is strictly limited to repair or replacement of de fective components The manufacturer assumes no further liability Thank you for choosing StepplR
44. n the general frequency mode SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 just 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 1f 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 clos
45. nd 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 you 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 i
46. ngth 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 14 000 MHz first you would go to the 14 000 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 key 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 segment you are on in our example 14 000 Entering YES gives you back the original an tenna 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 antenna segment If you select NO the screen will say All Ant YES NO with the NO blinking The controller is asking you 1f you want to replace every single antenna segment cur rently in the controller memory with the original factory defaults To do so press either the up or down button once and the YES button will now be flashing Press the select button and now every one of the factory defau
47. nna directs RF energy to wards 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 directional 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 reflector When you are operating in the Bi Directional mode your antenna is directing RF in both directions si EE oN Cenar 1 Figure D gaa SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Dipole Installation Attach antenna housing to antenna mast not included using the 1 3 4 U bolt and mast saddle Figure E F G and H 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 frequency 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
48. ode the controller will go to the last frequency you were on so be ready to manually set the controller to where you want it Icom The Icom is unique in that it has no conflicts when using logging programs of any type with the Step pIR controller This is because the Icom uses a shared serial Buss CI V that can have up to 5 devices connected to it The SteppIR controller connects to this Buss through a 3 5 mm phono plug If you are using the Icom 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 connector available at Radioshack The part number for this connector is 274 310 Dp Radio Shack 274 310 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 Dipole 2 3 Element Creating 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
49. on the EHUs have aluminum reinforcing rings attached to provide extra strength in high wind conditions Figure 23 Locate the six rubber boots and repeat the following procedure for each of the six fiberglass poles e Place the narrow end of a rubber boot onto the butt end of an EST Slide it about 6 out onto the EST Figure 24 Figure 23 Figure 25 Figure 26 e Insert the butt end of that EST into one of the EHTs on an EHU as shown in Figure 29 It is very important to ensure that the butt end of the EST firmly bottoms out inside the EHT Make sure the EST is seated all the way into the EHT Then push the rubber boot firmly onto the EHT until the hose clamp is past the aluminum ring and will clamp down onto the fiberglass EST The correct mounting position of the rubber boot is shown in Figure 30 Note that current production antennas now have a narrower aluminum ring 4 It is imperative that the stainless steel hose clamp be located so that the clamp on the outside of the rubber boot on the EHU side of the connection is completely past the the aluminum reinforcing ring This ensures that the hose clamp can grip onto the fiberglass and the ring will prevent the rubber boot from ever coming off e Firmly tighten both stainless steel hose clamps one over the EHT and the other over the EST Then test the connection by pulling and twisting it There should be no slippage at the joints NOTE You should re tighten each clamp a s
50. rips 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 cable 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 conductor 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 Figure 14 Drawing 1A WARNING While the 2 element Yagi has only 8 wires that are used it is still extremely important that you hook up the remaining 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 Dipole 2 3 Element TERMINAL e PIN NUMBERS STRIP e 1 gt BLACK R E BLACK ii 12 c 2 gt BROWN O re 12 COND GROUND o ae El O DRIVEN THREE 4 COND A 4 gt ORANGE 0O WHITE GROUNDS ta 5 gt YELLOW OM e EE 5 6 gt GREEN E E ro GROUND IS THE BARE SILVER N 7 gt BLUE E g oreen DIRECTOR WIRE ON EACH CABLE T 2 Element Yagi DRAWING 1A R 8 VIOLET O WHITE passive o l ACK 9 GREY 5 BL E RE REFLECTOR 11 gt PINK 0 J creen 1
51. rmers 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 Table 7 specications pote mva savai ew o o oee ECT woe CE IO O oeo enn EI ECO TO eo Pamm EI REI ano was sows pomen e NA NTC TT pomos o fA EST ET EN ECC ETE CIC CT ao sow COC CE O ECN pom ef A A A Appendix A SteppIR Antennas New SteppIR Controller Firmware Version 6 4 6 504 In a effort to improve the operation of the SteppIR antenna we have a new version that address many of the problems that can come up when using the SteppIR in different installations Feature list e Moved Band defaults in the HAM mode to more common frequencies e Moved the center frequency to better center the best SWR e Cleaned up messages so they are clearer e Frequency is now common between Amateur and General Freq Modes e Changed Band segments so there is one segment per band e Applied changes done in Create Modify to entire band e Added New Options menu e Added 6M passive selection e Added Transceiver Frequency tracking Disable Key e Added Global Frequency Offset adjustment e Added Global SWR correction e Made it possible to Set a button for the Home po
52. s to the boom as shown in Figure 18 The terminal housing mounting location is not critical It can be mounted out on the boom or even vertical on the mast Note Be careful NOT to tape the cables over a sharp edge Figure 18 C unless you provide extra protection to prevent eventually cutting through the sheath and shorting the wires Warning We strongly recommend that you preform the Test Motor procedure at this point to verify the wiring is correct and the elements are in the right location Tape to boom approximately 8 from coax connection Rotor loop A 12 conductor cable and coax taped together Recommend Coax Routing Suggested Cable Figure 19 Configuration SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Prepare the Telescoping Fiberglass Element Support Tubes EST Locate e Dark green fiberglass telescoping poles Figure 20 e Rolls of black electrical tape e Rolls of black silicone self curing tape e Y our tape measure Dipole 2poles 2 Element 4 poles 3 Element 6 poles The quantity of tape provided will depend on the number of elements Large rolls are 20 ft small rolls are 10 ft Silicone Tape Note The steel reinforcing rings on the first two pole sections provides extra strength in potential high wind conditions The green fiberglass poles are all assembled in the same manner and when extended become element support tubes ESTs for the flat strip copper beryllium
53. sition Amateur Mode When the controller is in the Amateur Mode the band buttons 20M 6M 1 through 6 are pre programed to get the antenna close to the desired frequency On the larger bands the buttons have several presets in the band which the controller will cycle through each time the band button is pressed If the the controller is switched between bands using the band buttons is will return to the last preset frequency the button was at The Bandwidth will depend on which model antenna you have but it will be at least 100Khz if you want to fine tune the antenna the UP DN Keys will shift the antenna frequency in 50Khz steps The button below the 180 and Bi Dir LEDs cycles the SteppIR through the 3 directions When both the 180 and Bi Dir LEDs are OUT the antenna is in the Forward or Normal direction The transceiver Interface does not change the frequency Appendix A SteppIR Antennas General Freq Mode When the controller is in this mode there are several options e The Transceiver Interface sets the operating frequency e The Options menu is selectable in this mode e The Band buttons are programmable in this Mode If the transceiver Interface is disabled or disconnected the Band buttons can be used as presets to your favorite frequencies or to Retract Home the elements To save a preset first use the band buttons and UP DN keys to select the desired frequency Next Hold the band button in until the LED over it starts to blink R
54. st the individual elements the controller will feed out about four inches of copper out each side of the selected element housing tube EHT For the 2 and 3 element antennas pressing the Up Down arrows will cause each of the elements to flash in turn To test a specific element simply press the Select button when the desired element is flashing Verify that the element is in the right loca tion and the copper tape is extending properly To exit the test press the Mode button SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Amateur Mode The amateur mode is used when you are manually operating your controller and the primary intended 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 adjust to the next antenna segment By using the up down buttons it is possible to adjust the antenna 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 frequencies without limitation you will need to be in the general frequency mode General Frequency Mode There are two purposes for the general
55. th your transceiver interface option When you enter the Tranceiver Setup misspelling intentional mode 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 radio This setting must be the same as the setting in your radio or the interface will not function To set the baud 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 se lect button BAUD will now be flashing again The baud rate selections range from 2400 to 57 6K Next press select to go to the radio type screen and choose the radio type you will be using The ra dios to choose from are Off Icom Kenwood Yaesu FT847 FT920 FT990 1000D 1000MP and Steppir To use the transceiver interface you must put the controller into General Frequency Mode When you tune your rig the SteppIR controller should now automatically re adjust every 50 KHz The rea son we use the General Frequency Mode for automatic tuning is it allows you to disable the auto matic tuning at anytime by going into the Amateur Mode where you will then have full control of the antenna manually Be aware that when you go to Amateur M
56. 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 STACKING Since SteppIR antennas are super tuned mono banders they stack very well because there are no de structive interactions going on A good distance is anywhere from 32 to 64 the best being closer to the 32 value You can also stack them with other non SteppIR antennas and get some reasonably good results You must ensure that the hot side center conductor of the driven elements of all the antennas in the stack are on the same side or you will get attenuation instead of gain see Figure 23 If you want a good demonstration of this phenomenon turn one SteppIR 180 degrees to the other in physical direction and run one antenna in the 180 degree reverse mode You will be amazed at how much it kills the performance Stacking them as described will result in excellent performance over the entire frequency range except 6M because stacking distances aren t that critical just don t put them too close SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Table 5 Band Gain dBi Half Power Angle Front to Rear 20 meters 7 4 dBi 34 25 d
57. tion in the setup mode is explained in detail on the following pages SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 di rection antenna and 17 totally separate default antennas for the 180 degree antenna function and bi directional function for more information on the 180 degree and bi directional feature refer to page 26 These are the antenna segments that we have computer modeled and field tested and stored into the memory of your controller At any point you can change the lengths of these antennas and save them to memory for more information on creating or modifying antennas refer to the create modify menu on page 24 and saving antennas to memory page 26 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 factory 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 segment in either the amateur mode or the general frequency mode For example Let s say you had replaced the antenna segment 14 000 with a new antenna le
58. tions you can use the retract element feature for this as well Many of our customers have re tracted their elements during lightning storms greatly reducing the conductive area of the an tenna 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 ele ments 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 valu able part of the antenna should be safe SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element 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 means 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
59. u can re adjust the antenna to help compensate for these potential problems and save the new parameters into mem ory The driven element can be adjusted 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 24 SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Modes of Operation There are three normal modes of operation with the SteppIR controller Amateur General Frequency and Setup plus a special Test Motor that is only used during assembly 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 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 Test Motor The Test Motor does not have an LED indicator on the front panel and is only used during the installa tion build up of the antenna to provide for testing the control cable wiring before installing the tele scoping fiberglass poles This is a good way to check that you have connected all of the control cables correctly before securing them to the boom and
60. ure 8 if you install them the opposite way the bolt will interfere with the mast plate SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Director The four sections of a 3 element yagi shown in the staggered order of installation DRAWING 2A Optional 6m Passive 112 in Long Mist as Boom Mast Plate 31 in From center of driven element to center of 6m passive element 89 5 in Director Driven Reflector 3 element Yagi Spacing and Installation Layout not to scale Note Spacing lengths are measured with the elements already attached to the boom brackets SteppIR Antennas Dipole 2 3 Element Connect the Boom to the Mounting Plate The mast plate has a total of eight pre drilled holes Four are used for the 2 stainless steel mast clamps and four more are used for the 1 3 4 stainless steel boom clamps Connect the mast to the mast plate using the included 2 stainless steel U Bolts with saddles and ny lok nuts as shown in Figure 7 Tighten securely Note If you are doing this on the tower it is advisable to test each U bolt for a proper fit and bend if necessary to ensure ease of assembly on the tower 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 and nuts Align the boom so that the element brackets are level then tighten se curely The center balance point of the boom is at a splice as shown in Drawing 2A
61. won t get left behind on future product releases The control box gets very worm during use this is normal Even when off it will be slightly warm because it is always supplying current to the antenna to lock the elements in place If you have retracted the elements you can completely remove power from the controller if desired 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 50 60 Hz AC you will want to turn the controller on by pushing the on off button located on the front of the controller It is advis able 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 display does not say this you will want to refer to retracting the elements on page 25 When the display reads Elements Retracted you can then hook the control cable up to the back of the control ler This is accomplished by mating the 25 pin male connector on the cable to the 25 pin female con nector 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 b
62. y on a given frequency So instead of trying to trick the antenna into thinking it is a different length or simply adding more elements that may destructively interact why not just change the antenna length Optimal perform ance 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 beryllium strip conductor mounted in the antenna housing The copper beryllium strips are perforated to allow a stepper motor to drive them si multaneously with a sprocket Stepper motors are well known for their ability to index very accurately thus giving very precise control of each element length In addition the motors are brushless and pro vide extremely long service life The copper beryllium strip is driven out into hollow lightweight fiberglass support elements see be low forming an element of any desired length up to 36 long The fiberglass poles are telescoping lightweight and very durable When fully collapsed each element measures 48 in length The ability to completely retract the copper beryllium antenna elements coupled with the collapsible fiberglass poles makes the entire system easily portable The antenna is connected to a microprocessor based controller via 22 gauge conductor cable that o

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