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Reviews For: SteppIR Fluidmotion 6-20mtr Yagi

Category: Antennas: HF: Yagi, Quad, Rotary dipole, LPDA

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Review Summary For : SteppIR Fluidmotion 6-20mtr Yagi
Reviews: 118MSRP: 1099
Description:
Remotely ajustable 6-20 mtr continuosly...available as Dipole-2 elements or 3 elements Yagi.Copper tape length inside fiberglass tubing controlled by stepper motors. 1500W rated!
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.steppir.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001184.6
KD8MJR Rating: 2023-09-08
11 Years of getting great Signal Reports Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Steppir Antenna'a pretty much blow everything else out of the water, that is especially true on 10M-20M.
Stations will constantly be giving you 59 +20 reports when most other stations are getting just 59 reports.

Mine gave Zero issues for the first 10 years and that was because I just did a few simple Mods and I Installed it properly. Most people don't spend the time to Install it right.

The first thing you need to do is get some of the Marine Green paint that they use, it is sold on Amazon and then put on 3-4 extra coats of paint. This will extend the life of the elements from UV burn in by double.

Second thing is Taking the time to built all of the fiberglass rods properly and to paint over the Shrink tape to give it extra protection from the UV.

If built properly this Antenna can run for 15 years or more. I have a friend who has one of the original models and it is still going strong. My unit broke one of the sprockets at the 10 year Mark so I just rebuilt the whole thing for $500. That included new brushes, new Spindles and Two new Tapes for the main EHU.
I also sanded down of the fiberglass elements and 5 new coats of paint on them. She should be good to go for another 10 plus years.
N4SL Rating: 2023-02-05
Update not so good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought mine used, it's worked perfectly the past year in +100 to - 25° Wx. No degradation from the high UV sun here.

LATEST UPDATE:
I used the boom and fiberglass spreaders to make a 6m Yagi with a 2el quad for 20&15. Email for a detailed report. Do not buy their products.

UPDATE AFTER 3 YEARS:
I’ve had to replace both Director element copper tapes because they stopped retracting the last 5’; parts prices were high & company response was slow. Would have been really expensive if I could not do the work myself.

Update 9/2020: now the DE section has failed. Might part this out & give up.

The original ‘FluidMotion’ controller has no ESD protection on the motor drive lines and two of the SMT driver IC’s have blown. I replaced them myself (available for $1.87/ea at digikey.com) since a new controller was cost prohibitive but ya gotta have SMT soldering tools.

Would I buy it again? No.
Does it work really great when it works? Yes.

The folded-dipole 40m option is very handy since I have no real trees and the 6m option works surprisingly well.
It's a full-sixed rotatable dipole on 30m which is good.

On 10-20 this thing shines.
VK3KTT Rating: 2022-12-22
on 20m to 6m it is very good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
i have a 3 element steppir with a 40/30m loop from 20m to 6m this antenna works well it has helped me finish off dxcc on 12/17 30 and then some i now have 8 band dxcc. the 40/30 m when it works it is exceptional seriously it is 2 s points better than my 40m loop or my dipole i have 227 dxcc worked on 40m from vk3 my antenna is only 10m high not on a 60 ft tower. the issue i have is especially on 40m is its unreliable i can't depend on it working first time that's why my delta loop is still up and my dipole. 30m is sum what better but does not have a good swr so needs an external tuner. some days i want it gone but other days i love it. i purchased mine refurbished with a fluid motion controller which is rock solid reliable. pro tip if you have a flex radio ( i dont ) look for another antenna which is multi banded. on 6m with the added element it performs very well for what it is.
PA1CW Rating: 2022-06-17
Great antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Updated 18 june 2022:
I have this antenna for 14 years now.
What a great antenna.
You can work what you hear.
I also have the trombone extension but I have problems with that twice now.
Once a tape build-up and the other time moisture in the engine which caused internal corrosion.
But apart from all this it is really recommended.

I have this great antenne since 2008!
I had many years ago the broken shaft problem with tape jam.
When this problem was solved it works perfectly.
What you hear is wat you work!!!
My SteppIr is still working like a champ

73 Theo PA1CW
www.pa1cw.com

N4KZ Rating: 2021-06-07
SteppIR in ice storm Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I put a 3-element SteppIR on my tower in August 2003. It has weathered two ice storms since then just fine. The latest storm put a half-inch of ice on everything on Dec. 22, 2004. It finally melted on December 28. The elements dropped, of course, but no more than aluminum yagis I've had in the past under similar circumstances. And with ice on it, the SteppIR is not detuned as other yagis are -- probably because it's a closed system and the actual radiating elements are untouched by the ice. It's a great antenna. I love the 180-degree function and wouldn't want to be without it now!

73, Dave, N4KZ

Eight years after posting my original review of the 3 element-SteppIR, I removed it from my tower and tossed most of it away. Some left over EHUs I gave away. A great performer during the first two years, I began experiencing a complete lack of reliability. Replaced EHUs 6 times. Out of warranty by then. Cost me a lot to keep it in the air and finally got tired of it. Got a Tennadyne log and never looked back. Very reliable. I didn't like the crack from the factory about this product was like a car with moving parts and I should expect regular repair bills like a car. Huh? I never had a car 65 feet in the air before. The analogy left me cold and an ex-customer.
K5RR Rating: 2021-06-06
Reliability leaves a lot to be desired. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had both a 3 element and a 4 element SteppIR. They are excellent performers, but lack the reliability I require. I have had to replace EHUs at least 3 times. My recommendation is that if you need the capability of a SteppIR antenna, put it on a tower which provides easy access to it, and keep spare EHUs and control boxes on hand. I don't recommend using a SteppIR with more than 3 elements.
WB4AM Rating: 2021-04-13
Will not get what you will Pay (in the long Run) Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This review is base on my experience about 6 years ago. Also I am not sure if I left a review in the past, but now that a lot of time has past...Here is my story.

I lived in Pa. at the time. I had come home from Florida just to find what looked like an 8 track ribbon tape hanging on my stepper antenna rapidly blowing in the wind. As I approached closer I realized it was the ribbon tape of the stepper itself! I had my wife push the button on the control box in the shack while I carefully helped fed the ribbon back into the housing while I was belted to the tower!. The antenna did continued to work for about a year later. I don't recall how many years I had gotten use out of it altogether, but I was really disappointed when I discovered the driven element stopped working. I know this because I had taken the antenna down and when I removed the tubes the ribbon tape was extracted out of the housing when it wasn't suppose to be. I tired to use the control box to reel it back in and it would not move. I have had Mosley tri-band antennas that are built very solid. Not much can go wrong with Mosley from my experiences. Anyway I will not be buying a Stepper antenna ever again! The idea and how it originally worked was fantastic! Don't know if there has been a fix to prevent this from ever happening or not. Anyway this was my experience and that's my story!
73 WB4AM
ZS1A Rating: 2020-07-09
Great product but expensive and expire Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I will rate the product 3 stars only for pricing.
I had my Steppir 3 element up for 7 years.
Great product until something goes wrong.
The sun in South Africa (Cape Town) is just more than average. Not to mention the wind. The fibreglass element spreaders turned white in the sun. The motor enclosures on the antenna perish and starts leaking rain water.
My controller had an issue and when asking for a circuit from Steppir, I was told that they no longer support the product. So watch for the expire date.
The price to replace at over $100 each cover is just ridiculous. Read the reviews of others and they have the same feeling.
My Steppir unfortunately will die a natural death once rainwater makes it stop working as I simply just cannot afford the $400 plus shipping included. That is half a months salary. So yes great product but not for the amateur with a budget and in these times it becomes even more difficult to maintain and afford spares from Steppir
I think good healthy competition will blow new life into the Steppir business model.
73
ZS1A

AA6VB Rating: 2020-02-09
Simply Amazing Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Since its been about two years since my last review I thought I would say the antenna has been entirely trouble free and continues to be a fabulous performer, even at 30 feet! My previous review follows:

Where to begin?

I purchased the 3 element yagi with 30/40 dipole.

The quality of the antenna is top notch. Not a single part was missing, and I had some extra left over (no I did not forget to put something in).

Performance so far has been amazing. I have been able to break pileups much faster than with any of my previous antennas. True, I have not been able to do an A/B comparison (except on 30 and 40) but I have been using a 3 element trapped triband antenna on a 12 foot boom regularly for the last four years and the SteppIR is a very big step up. My ability to hear is much improved and I am able to work stations in pileups much faster than before.

The front to back ratio is incredible. Stations that are a true S9 literally do not register on the S Meter once I turn the antenna 180 degrees. True, the S Meter on my rig is only about 2-3 db per S unit, but still that's a mighty big difference. When I turn the antenna a mere 20 degrees signals improve substantially, so the antenna is very directional.

I am absolutely over the moon with the performance of this antenna. Worth every penny!

73,

Bob/AA6VB
W6LAX Rating: 2018-08-20
Good news and some bad news Time Owned: more than 12 months.
There are lots of good things to say about my 3-el with 30/40 meter option that I've owned for over a dozen years.

You soon get spoiled having a perfectly tuned antenna that automatically changes bands with you. I have gotten lots of exceptional reports from DX stations. I prefer this beam's performance to any of the various antennas that I've had through the years.

I chose the 3-el because I live in a very windy area. I'd like more elements, especially two elements on 40, but this is a good compromise.

For the bad news: over the past dozen years, I have had to replace the motors twice. Each time I replaced all three, figuring that if one was failing the others would soon follow. This is an expensive undertaking (over $1000 for the motors) because it also means paying someone to do the tower work (another $1000 or so).

This time I added their new junction box, a significant improvement over the old system. I am just disappointed that they haven't made their (expensive) motors more durable.