| N7BD |
Rating:      |
2011-01-29 | |
| Best Vertical $$ can buy |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After a frustrating 11 weeks wait time, I could not be more pleased with this antenna! I had a SWR problem but found it to be the BALAN that I purchased for it. (Not needed). I have the antenna ground mounted with 48 20' radials + 2 cut for 20M. (They were the result of fighting the initial SWR question)
I did not get the 80M coil. The antenna works great across all bands (6M-40M) with never having SWR readings above 1.3 and most 1.1 - 1.24. I am curious how to does through the winter. Although an expensive antenna, you will NOT be disppointed! I run approximately 600 watts and generally, if I can hear the station, I have been able to work them. On 40M, usually on the first try even with a pileup. |
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| WS4B |
Rating:      |
2011-01-16 | |
| Great - But take precautions |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I live in a deed restricted neighborhood with CCRs. My HOA gave me permission last year to put up a vertical, and primarily based on the reviews here as well as the SteppIR "name" I chose this one. I have zero regrets, and love this antenna! I have it ground mounted with sixteen 32 foot radials, and thirty two 16 foot radials. Since we are still awaiting Cycle 24 to wake up, most of my experience with this antenna has been on 17 through 40 Meters. I do not have the 80 Meter coil (for now).
My first recommendation for those that get this antenna is to guy it. Manufacture specs claim the antenna can withstand winds up to 75 MPH. I had one particular case where that did not happen. The antenna housing has two pieces of 3/4" 7.5 feet CPVC, connected with a coupler. For some reason my coupler cracked after installation. I am not sure if this was from wind pressure or temperature change. While I was away on vacation, I came back to find half the antenna lying on the ground. That is when I found the cracked coupler being in my opinion the most likely cause. Guying the antenna I feel will put far less strain on that connecting piece.
In addition, I had the antenna fully "extended" while I was away. The radiating part of the antenna is a copper alloy that extends and retracts depending on what band you are on. I did not retract the antenna while I was away, thus the copper alloy was bent and fully exposed when the top half of the antenna came crashing down. Fortunately I was able to bend the copper alloy back into place, so no permanent damage was done. So lesson number two is to ALWAYS retract the antenna via the control box when not in use, especially when anticipating bad weather. The owner manual from what I can see DOES NOT state this, which I feel is necessary information to keep from possibly damaging the antenna if it where to come down.
As others have said, the owner manual could be vastly improved. That being said, customer service is fantastic! I am rating the antenna and customer service a 5 out of 5, but the owner’s manual maybe 2 out of 5.
If you want a vertical that really puts out a good signal look no further, this is it! The antenna I was using before this one was a Mosley PRO-67B yagi, and never thought I would find a vertical that would make me as happy as that beam. I'm glad I found one!!
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| KD6SX |
Rating:      |
2010-10-18 | |
| Great Multi-band Vertical |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This is an excellent antenna. I ground mounted it with 20 forty foot radials and 15 sixteen foot radials. I installed the 80 meter coil and the SWR is less than 2:1 on all bands 80 thru 6 meters. It outperforms my 80 meter dipole at distances over 500 miles or so and is a good DX antenna on that band. At times, on 20, 15, and 10 meters, this vertical is as good as or better than my three element triband beam. The 3/4 wave configuration on 15 thru 6 meters gives added performance on those bands. The optional autotrack feature works beautifully.
My only minor complaint is that the instruction manual has not been updated to reflect changes in the MK III model. This caused a little confusion but I made a few calls and exchanged a few e-mails with Jim (the tech support guy) and my questions were all answered. Jim is a great guy and extremely helpful.
I highly recommend this antenna for anyone who is looking for a good multi-band vertical.
73
George |
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| G3OZN |
Rating:      |
2010-07-22 | |
| Update after 2 years |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Added a second set of guys, performs great, in some cases was equal to my yagi at 60ft! the 3/4 wave setting is really a boost to signals.
I am tempted to purchase the 80M coil set up, BUT will it mess up the performance of this fine antenna???? It seems some folk have loads of problems with this 80M add on?
I was fortunate to purchase this antenna when the Pound sterling was in a good state!
I would not be without it, especially as the years creep on handling the tower and mainten ance of same, and Yagi is not as easy as it once was! If the Yagi gives problems or rotater or tower, I think I will stick with just the Steppir vertical. |
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| K3GC |
Rating:      |
2010-06-29 | |
| Fantastic - Exceeds my expectations |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have had my BigIR up and running for just over a week now. If I could rate it a 10 I would.
When I was considering the purchase of the BigIR I searched this and other
forums for a comparison of the BigIR with the Hustler 6BTV which I replaced
with the BigIR.
There was very little information available and practically none on point. Most
of those who did express an opinion did just that - expressed an opinion with no
practical information - most had not ever seen the BigIR.
First off - the BigIR vertical is one FANTASTIC antenna. I am getting more
signal, stronger (by 1-2 S units) than ever before. The reports I receive are
generally much better though this is hard to evaluate.
The BigIR is installed in the exact same location over the same radial field (40
from 12' to 60'+) as the Hustler. I also have a delta loop for 20 meters.
Compared to the Hustler the Delta loop was essentially equal to the Hustler in
signal strength with perhaps a slight advantage to the delta loop. Now,
comparing the BigIR to the delta loop the BigIR signal strength is 1-2 S units
stronger.
Not very scientific I know but, still, there it is. The 40 meter band is
dramatically better - it has really come alive.
The highest SWR on any band is 1.4. I will say that after considerable effort
the Hustler tuned quite nicely across all available bands except 80m which I
don't use and do not have it with the BigIR. 6 Meters is a bit weak which is to
be expected with a vertically polarized antenna.
I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the BigIR vertical is a vast
improvement over the Hustler. I will say that the Hustler is a very good
vertical and served me well with many solid DX contacts but the SteppIR product
is in another world.
Final notes: The antenna installed easily (about 1.5 hours total). The overall
quality is superb. I did have some issues which were quickly resolved on the
phone with Marty. Service and support are tremendously improved over what was
available just a few weeks ago.
If you are considering a BigIR all I can say is "go for it" you will not be
disappointed. Having said all this I will have to express tow caveats - the
BigIR is the most expensive vertical out there that I am aware of and the
perpetual long lead time for delivery can be a problem - I had a seven week wait
which I understand is an improvement. |
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| VE6TL |
Rating:     |
2010-03-31 | |
| Great Antenna - Documentation Could Be Improved |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I've had my BigIR with the 80m coil for about 6 months now. After waiting 3 months to arrive, I was really excited to get it up and working. This was my first SteppIR antenna and everything was new, including the new controller. Putting the antenna together went fairly smoothly - about 1/4 of the time it took to build my Butternut HF9V. I then hit a brick wall as nothing seemed to work when I first tried loading it up. After checking with some locals who also had this antenna, I contacted Marty at SteppIR and he walked me through a series of tests. He then sent me a new 80m coil as mine was deemed defective. While waiting for it to arrive (through Canadian customs), I decided to open the defective coil housing and discovered that they failed to hook up the main conductor. This was the case with another guy in town, so obviously the QC was not functional in the factory. Anyway, I reassembled everything (including the balun which is not designed to fit the 80m coil housing either) and saw that there was a signal! I then had to spend another hour with Marty on the phone to help me set up the controller. The version of firmware I had was different from his and we learned together. But at least he knew about which tap went where and how to get everything adjusted properly. I ended up documenting everything in a spreadsheet (including the procedure) in case I ever needed to go through it again. There was NO documentation that came with the BigIR Vertical and controller that walked you through the procedure. This is why I'm only giving a 4/5. I also noticed the controller only had one washer on the four screws that held the outside case on - another sign of being too rushed and lack of quality control. The good news is that once I set up every band for minimum SWR, I've not had to reset anything since then. The auto track feature works great, especially when contesting as I never have to worry about tuning it.
As for the antenna's performance, I've found it to be better than my Butternut HF9V as it seems less noisy (not measured qunatitatively) and certainly easier to load (from my transceiver). I've made some good DX contacts with it - which is not a proof of how efficient it is but at least to say it works well enough. On 80m, I have compared it to my shunt-fed 40' tower with TH6 on top, and it is not as effective. I say this as I've actually been able to make DX QSOs with my tower when the BigIR could not. This isn't quite apples to apples, as they both have different radial systems (both are tied together, though). Actually, the BigIR has about 40 radials, while the tower has about 16. They are all random lengths and buried. On 40m I've found the BigIR about the same as my inverted vee which hanges off my 40' tower. The advantage is that I also have all the bands from 10-80m on the BigIR. It seems to do a real nice job on the WARC bands as I don't have wires for these. All in all, I feel like it outperforms my old HF9V. If SteppIR ever gets the proper documentation out, I'd give it 5/5. |
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| N8FNR |
Rating:      |
2010-03-27 | |
| Would buy again in a minute |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Ordered my BigIR with the 80 meter coil at Dayton in 2007. It arrived in September 2007. Yeah I know that is a long time but I was aware that it would be a while so no big deal. Did not get around to putting it up until late Summer 2009. First I buried 32, 33 foot radials. Picked 32 foot as that seemed to be the best bang for the buck based on the installation manual. Oh man installing those was not fun as I dug each by hand. And there are a lot of roots in my back yard so some and to be routed around the roots. I don’t look forward to ever doing that again! Took a few weeks to finish this but I knew that a decent radial system was key to vertical performance. Then I rented a trencher to dig a 100 foot long trench to bury the coax and control lines. Used Davis Buryflex for the coax and bought some buryable sprinkler control wire.
So in October 2009 I had everything in place and got the BigIR talking to my Flex-5000A via DDUTIL which also talks to HRD and DXLab. Now this is sweet. DDUTIL also talks to CW Skimmer and Afreet Bandmaster. It was great to see a spot on Bandmaster, clicking on it and having the radio tune to the frequency as well as the antenna.
With this combination the DX in my log has gone way up. Yeah I know it is “just” a 1/4 wave vertical but it is a 1/4 wave on ALL frequencies from 7.00 to 54 MHz and 1/8 wave on 80. I find that I am spending a lot more time on the radio and enjoying it more as I can hear and work more DX than I could with my SGC-237 tuner and large loop.
I know that a yagi would result in more contacts but I can’t see ever having one as it is quite expensive and I am very happy with the BigIR performance.
Recently I started getting crazy SWR readings on all bands. Talked to Marty at SteppIR tech support. He had me do a bunch of different tests. Once I bypassed the 80 meter coil I found that the antenna worked perfectly from 7.00 to 54 MHz so something must have failed in the 80 meter coil. I removed it and returned it to SteppIR. After a few weeks SteppIR returned the repaired coil at no cost. Now this is about 5 months after the 2 year warranty expired. How many companies would do that?
I give the antenna a 5 for performance and 5 for the company standing behind it. Now some would drop the rating because of the coil failure but hey things will break and SteppIR fixed the issue which made me happy.
Would I buy one again knowing what I know now? In a minute!!
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| KJ6RO |
Rating:      |
2010-02-07 | |
| really works |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
We just finished ground mounted installation of a Big IR. We have about 20 radials, the longest 2 are 30 feet or so. Many are in the 10-15 foot range due to space considerations. It took me from September 2009 to just now to get this
done including the 10 plus week wait for delivery and the heavy rains on Northern California in the winter.
I just want to say that it works like a charm. The SWR is no higher than 1.5:1
anywhere. In addition, I hear about a 2 S unit increase over what I hear with my
Carolina Windom 40, which is in an inverted V about 25 feet at the top.(I did
not get the 80 meter coil, as I have no room for long radials)
It is also very stealthy. It is on the side of the house and it is basically hidden by trees all around.
Just wanted to share a success story.
Richard
W6RIG
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| KE6MTX |
Rating:      |
2009-12-07 | |
| No beam, but great antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My SteppIR BigIR was ordered with the 80 meter coil and SDA100 controller on 07/21/09 and the big brown truck dropped it off on 11/18/09. A long lag time, but SteppIR got hit with the flu bug in that time frame. It hit my job and we were very short handed for awhile too.
Now this antenna replaced a 2 year old Butternut HF9V. Doing a A/B comparison was eye opening. I couldn't even hear some of the QSO's with the HF9V. It's fun to use the 3/4 wave feature on 6 to 15 meters. No more tuners to mess with and my amplifier is not tripping off because of SWRs over 2.5:1. Now the SteppIR BigIR is no beam on a 100' tower, but its a huge difference from what I had.
I use the SteppIR SDA100 with a "Y" cable to connect my TS-2000 and my Mac running Aether logging software. Everything worked from the get go. I can even use SkyCommand with my TH-D7A(G) and switch bands with no problems. The controller follows the radio as it should.
Like some other reviews have stated, the literature is geared toward the beams. But it's a pretty strait forward antenna and easily assembled by one person (that was my case).
As far as customer support, I can't comment on that. I've never had a reason to call or e-mail SteppIR.
When it is time for another upgrade in a year or two, I will order another SteppIR antenna without hesitation. Maybe a DB18 and a 50' tower? |
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| ON5CQ |
Rating:      |
2009-11-04 | |
| graet antennas |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| hallo i'am ON5CQ and i'am use now this fantastic antenna now for more than one and ahalf yaer without problems with a 180 degree radialsysteem. a use 36 radials from +- 5metres and it works fantastic with my ic7400 and my amp expert 1k fa also with 1kw. also if you have questions and need technical support you have direct a good awnser from the steppirteam. the antenna is not sheap but it hives a lot of satisfaction simply a verry good product. 73s to all the steppir users and enjoy the antennas ON5CQ PHILIP. |
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