WDØM - Pagosa Springs, CO

Pagosa Springs, Colorado




Adding 30 and 40 Meters to the 4 Element SteppIR

When the gang at SteppIR announced that they were going to produce an add-on kit for the 4 element antenna that would add 40 and 30 meters to its capability, I signed up. The rumors had been floating around for sometime and finally it was announced that in 2006 it would be a reality. My order was at the top of the list, according to SteppIR.

They started shipping the kits out - but only to owners of 3 element antennas. Disappointment. After sending them a note canceling my order until 2007 due to pending bad weather, I got a call from Mike Mertel, K7IR, President of SteppIR, saying that they would ship the kit to me within a few days. They had been delayed by a company that was powder coating the counterweights - necessary for the 4 element yagi to offset the weight of the new driven element.

True to his word, the kit shipped out and arrived safely within days. And so began the saga of assembling the kit and installing it on my 4 element SteppIR yagi.

Shipping Peanuts The kit arrived in two boxes, one full of smaller parts and tons of shipping peanuts, and the other box contained the additional tubes required for the longer elements.






The next step in the project was to count all the parts to be sure that they were included. After wading through all the shipping peanuts, opening the bags, sorting them into plastic containers, I discovered that the chip puller mentioned in the installation instructions for modifying the controller was missing. It wasn't until later when I was putting the parts on the antenna that I discovered many other problems with parts. It turns out that the assembly manual I was given was for the THREE element SteppIR, not the 4 element. That was a bad sign of things to come.
SteppIR 30/40 element parts
The first thing I did was to extend the fiberglass tubes to the 213 inch length specified. That I was able to do in my garage. I marked the length with tape, then extended each tube to see how close they were. It turns out that some were easily extended beyond that mark, while others needed a little coaxing. Eventually, I found a compromise that resulted in all of them being fairly close - SteppIR says within plus or minus one inch will work. There was sufficient tape to tape the joints without any problem.
I decided to change out the chip in the controller next, since I had to unplug it from the cable anyway. After opening it up (easily done) and getting set to swap out the firmware chip, I discovered that the chip puller referenced in the instructions wasn't included in the box of parts. Pagosa Springs is a small town and there is no electronics parts store where you can buy one. Radio Shack has a small operation here but doesn't cater to that section of the market. I discovered I had an old tool resembling an ice pick that would work, and eventually, carefully, and slowly, removed the chip and replaced it. New SteppIR Controller Chip


Continued on the next page.