| AH6FC |
Rating:      |
2008-02-23 | |
| Still a great antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Just went back to using my BigIR after a coax line on my yagi failed. So, to stay on the air, back to the BigIR. What a surprise! I've been using an big multiband yagi so figured I wouldn't be able to work anybody. Still can work lots of DX with the SteppIR. Will be anxious to compare to the yagi when it's running again.
I've reviewed this antenna before, but wanted to add this to help convince some of those who might doubt the effectiveness and reliability of this device.
Very good antenna...Have had it for about 4 years |
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| LA3ZPA |
Rating:      |
2008-02-22 | |
| Fantastic |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
One again SteppIr have made a top product.
I order the MKIII with 80m coil, and interface to Icom radios I love it.
Easy to put up,easy to assembler what.
Before I put up my 4L SteppIR I had one this antenna.
Made contact to 9N,N8S on 15 and 20m and it work just fin on every band from 6m to 80m.
Had many contact on as well on 6m.
Perfect antenna for portable or permanent set-up.
In contest I use this as a multi antenna, work fin to.
I have tested the antenna on different location, I it work every time with low SWR max 1.6 on 80m and 1:1 up from 40 to 6m.
To have i vertical playing from 6m down to 80m are just fantastic.
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| K2MK |
Rating:      |
2008-02-18 | |
| An Excellent Investment |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I’ve had my BigIR with 80 meter coil in operation for about 7 months. I went from a 3 element trapped beam at my previous home to the BigIR at my HOA restricted new home. I back up to a wooded area and by mounting the antenna at the edge of the woods I feel that I achieved a degree of concealment thanks to the low visual impact of the antenna. It also enabled me to put 52 radials on top of the leaves and other debris and another 20 just below the surface of the backyard grass.
I operate CW and RTTY only at 200 watts on CW and 100 watts on RTTY. Performance on 80 meters is superior to that obtained with my previous full size inverted vee. I like to chase DX and I only had 20 countries on 80 meters (over 43 years) prior to getting the BigIR. I now have 69 countries worked on 80 meters. That’s 49 new ones in 4 contests. I rate the performance on 80 as very good.
My old tribander had additional traps on the driven element so it could be used on 40 meters. I always had very good results on 40 and the BigIR on 40 is even better. I rate the 40 meter performance as excellent.
30 meter performance is also excellent. I frequently nail pileups on the first or second call.
20 and 17 meter performance is good. Certainly a beam would be better but I can get mostly everybody I call. I do have to wait my turn in pileups. I’ve made DX contacts on 15 and 12 meters but until the sunspots pick up those bands are not productive. 10 meters is an unknown for now.
Installation was simple. It’s nice to have everything at ground level. No more cranking to do routine maintenance. Yes the manual could be better, but it does the job. And there is a terrific SteppIR reflector on Yahoo Groups that can provide almost instant help for just about any question that might arise.
SteppIR customer service is excellent. You e-mail or call the service contact points and talk to Jerry who walks you through the necessary steps to arrive at a quick solution. I had an initial problem that required a parts exchange that went very smoothly thanks to Jerry and other factory personnel.
I use the automatic interface feature of the SteppIR controller that allows the controller to track my transceiver frequency. The antenna length changes automatically as I tune my rig across the bands. As a result, the SWR is always low. A serial Y-cable just piggy backs onto the existing serial connection between my PC and my rig. You can also adjust the controller frequency manually by pushing the buttons on the controller. The controller is small and clearly shows the operating frequency on the display. Product improvements can be implemented with a ROM change supplied by the factory.
Not much more that I can add except that if you are in the market for a vertical you won’t be disappointed with the BigIR, with or without the 80 meter coil.
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| W0TLE |
Rating:      |
2008-01-18 | |
| 6 Month Update |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I have had this antenna now for 6 months, and had a problem with the 80 meter Coil box that SteppIR took care of quickly. I am able to work just about anything I can hear, and have logged a lot of DX on 80 since I put it up. I get great signal reports on 80 and 40 where I use it the most. I highly recommend this antenna to other Hams I know. |
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| K4AJL |
Rating:      |
2007-12-15 | |
| REALLY NICE |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I HAVE THE BigIR WITH THE 80 METER COIL. IT WORKS EXCELLENT. I HAVE 30 FORTY FOOT RADIALS AND 28 FIFTY FOOT RADIALS. IM GOING TO PUT 12 100 FT RADIALS DOWN. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. I HAVE THE 4 ELEMENT YAGI ALSO. I LOVEN BOTH. I HAVE HAD A COUPLE OF PROBLEMS WITH BOTH, BUT MOSTLY MY FAULT. NANCY AND MARGO AT STEPPIR HAVE GONE ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY. THE TECHS HAVE BEEN GREAT ALSO. CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THEM ALL. THANKS STEPPIR AND MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. |
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| AA8K |
Rating:     |
2007-12-13 | |
| Works good now. The right way to multi-band |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Ordered Aug/2005. The assembly instructions were a bit ambiguous, but after laying the pieces out, I could figure out what they meant.
The silicon tape included was just barely enough to cover the joints; make no mistakes, you only get one chance. It would have been nice to have some extra, or if we could know of a source where we could purchase more.
The control-cable connector at the antenna end seems a little light-duty, but has behaved well so far.
I mounted it on a mast with the BiggIR located almost 20 meters above the ground and ran a single, tuned radial for 40, 30, 20, and 17 meter bands. The radials were tied off about a meter away from the base of the mast, and later at a 45 degree angle out from the mast.
Having the BiggIR mounted that high kept it above the power lines and other metallic clutter at my site.
I turned on my rig and switched between my antennae. I suspected that the BiggIR would have more noise, but I was startled when the noise dropped compared to the inverted Vees and a long wire (50 feet high, 130 feet long).
I was disappointed. Then, as I tuned around, I realized that I was hearing signals on the BiggIR that I couldn't hear on the other antennae. These were the stations further from me; the low radiation angle made the difference. California stations were about 3 db stronger on the BiggIR.
I tried transmitting. The SWR was awful.
MHz SWR
7.1 50:1
10.1 10:1
14.2 7:1
18.1 30:1
21.2 20:1
24.9 10:1
28.8 2.8:1
I e-mailed SteppIR about the high SWR and my control box, which looked like the one for the beam, because it had an LED marked for 180 degrees, instead of the 3/4 wave one for the verticals. They had me verify that the display showed BiggIR on boot-up and sent me a 3/4 wave sticker to paste over the 180 legend on the control box.
Jim told me to, “Calabrate the antenna on the 20M band first. Tune the BiggIR up and down around the 20M band to look for the lowest SWR. Usually the impedance runs high unless you have elevated it above ground. When the BiggIR is elevated above ground the impedance depends mostly on the ground radials.“
I attributed the problem to only having one radial per band. I used the antenna very little and always kept it retracted when not in use. This is a nice feature for electrical or wind storms, reducing induced voltages and keeping the most expensive part of the antenna safe.
I had guy ropes on the BiggIR, but found that it still whipped around a lot. Later I added a second set of insulated guys about two sections down from the top; that keeps it nice and stable.
I found that the boot on the bottom of the box did a better job of keeping water inside the mounting tube than outside, so I no longer use that.
I decided to try ground mounting. I laid out eight 35 foot number 12 gage copper radials on top of the grass. I bent some short pieces of the same wire into “staples” that held the wire down until the grass grew over. The radials are soldered to a circle of number 6 copper wire and a short copper strap connects the circle to the BiggIR. Still terrible SWR and inconsistent when I retracted and extended it.
Doing a lot of Googling, I stumbled into a Yahoo group where they were discussing a problem with BiggIR verticals not extending all the way.
Finally, I decided to remove the cover on the bottom of the BiggIR and check inside. I discovered that each time I extended the antenna to 40 Meters, there were different amounts of the tape still on the reel.
I tried laying the BiggIR flat on the ground and the tape went all the way out to the end for 40. Without retracting, I put the BiggIR back on the mount vertically and the SWR was great. I retracted and extended it again and had extra tape on the reel and poor SWR.
I emailed SteppIR support and told them about the problem. Jerry called and said that they had run into a problem with the BiggIR and they had a modification with another section of PVC pipe that helped guide the tape through the larger-diameter fiberglass sections.
After installing the PVC extension tube, tests still showed that the tape wasn't extending properly. I spoke with Jerry and he said to send the bottom of the antenna to SteppIR and they would inspect/repair it.
Now the SWR measurements are more reasonable and repeatable. The SWR doesn't always come out exactly 1:1, but that is probably due to ground mount impedance and all of the nearby metal objects.
I have since added more radials for a total of 38.
It is sometimes scratchy when I haven't used it for a week or two. I run it out to 6.9 MHz and retract it, and so far that seems to clean it up fine.
I only run 100 Watts, so I can't speak for high-power operation.
It does take a while to go between 40 meters and 10 meters, about a Mhz/second.
The SteppIR.com web site is a bit awkward to use, because of the frames and lack of search. They do allow you to download the manual, which is a big plus, and helped convince me to purchase it. I am disappointed that I can't find any mention of the extension problem on the web site (as of Dec/2007), I had to find out about it elsewhere. It would have been nice if SteppIR had been more proactive.
I am happy about the 40 meter through 6 meter coverage. I like the 3/4 wave feature to get me some added height and gain.
The control box is intuitive, except when you want to retract the element. You have to do several steps pushing different buttons in the correct sequence to do it. For a function that is used often, it requires a lot of effort.
Another issue with the control box seems to be that even though the power button is turned off, voltage is still present at the output terminals. If you short the wires, you will destroy the output circuit. Pull the plug to make wiring changes.
The manual is technically correct and gives excellent advice on the radial systems. Be sure to check out eHam and the SteppIR Yahoo group for info that you don't get from their web site or manual.
I believe that a resonant antenna does much better than using a non-resonant antenna with an ATU with all of its losses. It is a lot of fun watching the received signal level peak as you pass through the resonant length. And you don't have to compromise on which part of the band you want. SteppIR is the right way to have a multiband antenna.
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| EA5FKQ |
Rating:      |
2007-11-19 | |
| Maybe.. the best HF vertical multiband antenna |
Time Owned: N.A. |
| The antenna works perfect!. I am very satisfied by the performance of this excellent vertical antenna. without problems. all very well. They are very good professionals. Thanks Steppir! The best invested money in radio. |
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| W1CUN |
Rating:      |
2007-11-09 | |
| Excellent Antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have had my ground mounted Big IR Vertical up for 2-1/2 years with a very extensive ground radial system. I live in a tower restricted area so this looked to be the best way to go for 40-6 meters. My radial system is shared with a ground mounted top loaded screw driver antenna for 80 & 160 meters so the ground radials are just a little different then most installations. The two radial systems are bonded together with four lengths of 4" wide copper strapping. I have (82) 66' radials and (55) 125' radials which makes the Stepp-IR feed point reactive on all bands. To compensate for this I have a motor driven V-V capacitor in series at the feed point of the IR. Results are amazing. Best working vertical I have ever used and with the series capacitor I can tune out the reactance and get a perfect match on 40-6. I had one problem after 2-1/2 years of operation with the tape not spooling corectly on the take-up real. I sent the base unit back to Fluid Motion for rework and in a very short time got it back for a resonable fee. This is a great antenna but is well worth while as with any vertical to put some work into the radial system if it is ground mounted or do not expect miracles. Verticals often get a bum rap from the ham community as poorly radiating in all directions because no effort is put into the missing 1/2 of the antenna. The Stepp IR vertical is a real performer! |
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| G6YEK |
Rating:      |
2007-10-20 | |
| G6YEK |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Had the BigIR for about 2 weeks but only 1 week on the air,im hearing countries not heard before on my g5rv and im getting plenty of 59 report.
Putting the antenna together was easy |
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| W7UV |
Rating:      |
2007-10-14 | |
| Great Antenna But... |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I ordered my antenna in March, and received it in August. Overall it was worth the wait. When I ordered it, I wasn't told how long it would be, but I had read some references to "Your Shipping month" Which had me disturbed. There was a good line of communications from Steppir and the apologized profusely for the delays. I understand that they moved facilities during the processing of my order.
The documentation is a best, poor. Typos, strange grammar and lack of detail. Somebody really needs to hire a technical writer to redo these manuals.
The vent pipe that is supposed to be in the top cap wasn't there... the cap was there, but there was no vent pipe. They offered to send me one for free, but I wanted to put up the antenna, so I fabricated my own.
They provide a 2 foot 2" Mounting pipe to fit in the bottom of the antenna. You pretty much HAVE to use this. I had the idea of using conduit, which has an outside diameter of just over 2" No, it won't fit. You have to use 2.000" O.D. Tubing. Lets put it this way, the pipe they sent, had a factory cut end, and one that Steppir had cut, it had a slight burr on the cut end, it would not fit into the antenna... now we're talking a few thousands of an inch here.... anyway, it would be nice if the mount would accomodate something say... that you can buy at home depot or lowes.
Because the conductivity of the soil at my QTH is so bad I elected for Roof (elevated) mounting. The manual warns about the difficulties, and having done this before at other QTH's I went in with an open mind. On 40 meters I had to keep going lower and lower on the controller... when I hit 6.900 Mhz and went lower... the 80 meter coil would kick in and the antenna would retune. I found by significantly lengthening the radials, I was able to tune 7.100 Mhz with the controller at 7.100 Mhz. If you are going to elevate your mounting, be patient and have your controller and an antenna analyzer on the roof with you.
The results on the air are great, the antenna performs well.
In sum if you want to order the BigIR note the following:
1. Long lead time for ordering.
2. Very expensive, but very well made.
3. If you choose to roof mount... be very patient.
4. Figure out your mounting details before the
antenna arrives.
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