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Reviews For: SteppIR Dream Beam 18-E

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

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Review Summary For : SteppIR Dream Beam 18-E
Reviews: 15MSRP: 3,000
Description:
3 elements 10-30 meters, 2 elements 40 meters
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.steppir.com/files/DB18%20FACT%20Sheet.pdf
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00154.7
KX7P Rating: 2010-08-17
OUTSTANDING ANTENNA Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This antenna has worked flawless for me. No problems at all. SWR is low across all bands. With 2 elements on 40 meters I'm able to break pileups with 100 watts. In fact, with this antenna I have not needed my amplifier.

The antenna is expensive, but I believe it is worth every penny. I encourage anyone who desires a quality 6 meter through 40 meter beam to look into all this beam has to offer. It does what is advertised....and more. Tim KX7P
W9LP Rating: 2010-08-15
Unique Design Doesn't Disappoint! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The DB-18/E is a complex antenna with lots of parts. Fortunately, the documentation is top-notch and the assembly procedure is very logical. My essential recommendations are:

1) Inventory the parts against the comprehensive parts list SteppIR provides as soon as you receive your antenna; confirms you got everything and helps to become familiar with the antenna before you begin assembly.

2) Read the instructions carefully AND FOLLOW THEM. Take your time and do the job right. I assembled the antenna myself without difficulty over a period of about 20 hours.

3) Double check all connections, including the connectors on the RF jumper cables supplied with the antenna.

4) Purchase the "Connector Box" option for this antenna; it makes the wiring job so much easier.

With only one hot-dip galvinized exception, the hardware is all aluminum or stainless steel; obviously intended for years of service. The antenna includes all materials needed for assembly including tape, anti-oxidizer for electrical connections and anti-seize paste. The only problem I encountered with the antenna as-supplied was related to the coaxial jumper cables; the crimp-on RF connectors were not tight enough. It was easy to rectify this problem while the antenna was still on the ground, but would have been a pain if they had failed after the antenna was up. The folks at SteppIR were very good, said they'd look into it right away. Meanwhile, best to double-check these cables and ensure the connectors are tight and strong. If in doubt, re-do them.

I purchased the optional Element and Boom Truss kits; Chicago gets its share of high winds and ice buildup. These kits are well thought-out, not clunky add-ons. They're probably not needed given the antenna's fiberglass radome construction but they keep the elements and boom from drooping.

Correct wiring of the control cable is very important, particularly if you do your own connectors as I did. Before you connect to the SDA-100 and apply power, I highly recommend you do a continuity check to ensure none of the wires are shorted. As I discovered, a short across the wrong wires will damage driver chips in the controller. (SteppIR was exceptionally responsive, shipping replacements to me by overnight courier, but it was a completely avoidable problem on my part.) All ground tests went as expected once I corrected my wiring mistakes and replaced the driver chips.

VSWR readings at the ground level are not helpful and not really needed for an antenna that can be tuned in the air. But once installed, I found the factory defaults in the SDA-100 to be dead-on; no adjustment needed for less than 1.3:1 anywhere I go. Slightly different story when I flipped to 180 degrees on the controller, VSWR is considerably higher on the same frequency. I'm sure there is a simple fix for this but I rarely use this capability and so have not yet looked into it.

On-air performance has been impressive, particularly on 30 and 40M compared to my traditional ground-mounted vertical... no surprise here. In general, 20 thru 10M front-to-back is about equivalent and side-rejection is considerably better than what I've experienced with other multi-band trapped yagi's. As an example, a 59+20 signal on 17M drops to S5 at 90/270 degrees and increases slightly to S7 at 180 degrees. AutoTracking is very easy to set up with the appropriate cables (available from SteppIR) and works perfectly with my K3; I touch the SDA-100 only when I need to retract elements and power-down during a thunderstorm.

The DB-18E is not an inexpensive antenna but it is very price-competitive with commercially available alternatives that offer similar band coverage. It's still early days in my journey with this antenna but, so far, I couldn't be happier. If you're looking for a new 40 thru 10/6M beam, you ought to give this antenna serious consideration. If you need something with a modest footprint (<22' Turning Radius), this is the one!
N6EE Rating: 2010-03-31
An excellent multiband yagi Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I replaced my Cushcraft A3 triband yagi a few weeks ago with a SteppIR DB18E. The A3 was up for twenty years and served me well, but I really wanted an antenna which also covered 40M and the WARC bands. My existing US Tower TX455 crankup wouldn't safely support several separate antennas on a tall mast (IMHO), and my small subdivision lot restricted me to less than 25 ft. turning radius.

When FluidMotion (SteppIR) introduced the DB18/DB18E series I knew I had to have one. It's pretty pricey, but otherwise satisfies my need.
After two weeks of on-the-air testing I am quite pleased with both SWR and performance on all bands (haven't tried six meters yet).

Construction took a couple of days working solo (it would go MUCH faster with an assistant). I had quite a bit of help installing the DB18E on the tower, but it could probably be done with just two experienced fellows. I am fortunate to be able crank my tower down and work from my roof. This allowed hoisting the boom sans elements, then installing the elements one at a time while standing on the roof.

I have chronicled the construction, installation, and evaluation process in a six part series of high definition videos on YouTube. Just type "SteppIR DB18E" in the YouTube.com search box.

I have also done a more extensive on-the-air testing and recording of front to rear and front to side measurements and will be putting those on my website in the near future. My observations show similar ratios to the published specs but are based on fairly small sample sizes and subject to QSB discrepancies.

In summary, the DB18E has these advantages:
1. One antenna covers all bands (40M-6M) with decent gain
2. Low SWR over the entire band - every band
3. Short boom length (19') and turning radius (21.6')
4. Capable of 3 KW continuous

But has these disadvantages:
1. Expensive
2. Electromechical complexity means high liklihood of maintenance issues
3. Weight (>100 lbs) and wind load (12.1 sqft) requires at least a moderately hefty rotator.

The manual is excellent and the parts arrive packaged in separate kit bags which makes assembly fairly straightforward. I found the entire staff at SteppIR to be very courteous and helpful.

Bottom line: for me the SteppIR DB18E is a great solution.
KC0ZRX Rating: 2010-02-17
Great antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had the DB-18E up about two months and am seeing a big improvement in my signals over my previous conventional Yagi antennas. The addition of two elements of gain and directivity on the 40 meter band is an added plus. I also had great service from SteppIR to resolve a problem with one of the EHU motors that occurred shortly after the installation. After running some tests suggested by SteppIR that confirmed the source of problem, they shipped me a new EHU very quickly.
HB9CVE Rating: 2009-12-05
top DX-antenna also for 30 and 40 meterband Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am running since about 2 weeks a new DB18-E. I have done more than 92
countries the last 10 days on 30 and 40 metersband. I am running about 1 KW
output and the antenna in mounted about 20 meters above the ground. The only
thing what I had to do was to upgrade my controller with the latest firmware.
The installation was easy and I hope my DB18-E will work without any problems in
the future like my old SteppIR 3 element has done it as well. I am totally
satisfied and so I wish all the new owners of a DB18 a lot of good results. 73
HB9CVE