Before I started on my present project I looked at the IR antenna
allband
Wow I couldnt believe the price and why are hams not building it
themselves.
You know you could buy telescopic fishing poles and stick aluminum foil
along its outside length
and at particular points take off some foil and push some finger stock
into
the inner of the pole It is then an easy job to switch these gaps
closed or open
depending on the band you are using. If you are not using high power
just a simple tubular solenoid inside the pole will do the trick though
if you are using power I would widen the gap by having a central dowel
rod placed inside the pole with a aluminum tube covering at the ideal
points where they can rub the finger stock to close the gap. Pushing
the dowel rod is quite easy,, just take the belt and step motor off a
printing machine and fix the dowel on both sides of the element to the
belt and bingo you have a cheapy all band antenna for just over a $100
Buy the telescopic fishing poles on EBay and get the aluminum foil from
your kitchen or buy the adhesive foil from your hardware store.
,By the way send all your money savings to me !, have fun
Cheers
Art

Brilliant! Why didn't I think aboutit?
Can you picture stupid hams paying crazy money for bunch of fiberglass
fishing poles, some metal tape and stepping motors with controller that
could be replaced by the strings. I was going to put up 6 stepIR, now I will
save hugh money.
Where do I send the money?

bada BUm

"art" wrote in message
ups.com...
Before I started on my present project I looked at the IR antenna
allband
Wow I couldnt believe the price and why are hams not building it
themselves.
You know you could buy telescopic fishing poles and stick aluminum foil
along its outside length
and at particular points take off some foil and push some finger stock
into
the inner of the pole It is then an easy job to switch these gaps
closed or open
depending on the band you are using. If you are not using high power
just a simple tubular solenoid inside the pole will do the trick though
if you are using power I would widen the gap by having a central dowel
rod placed inside the pole with a aluminum tube covering at the ideal
points where they can rub the finger stock to close the gap. Pushing
the dowel rod is quite easy,, just take the belt and step motor off a
printing machine and fix the dowel on both sides of the element to the
belt and bingo you have a cheapy all band antenna for just over a $100
Buy the telescopic fishing poles on EBay and get the aluminum foil from
your kitchen or buy the adhesive foil from your hardware store.
,By the way send all your money savings to me !, have fun
Cheers
Art

I always looked at the SteppIR's and thought they were pretty much
exactly worth the money.

By the time you worked up your own SteppIR-like control system and
actually got the sliding contacts to work in a low loss, reliable
fashion, you'd easily be up to the price of those antennas.

Dan

Don't really need a control box, apply the frequency as you turn the
motor and stop when the SWR meter takes a dive. YThink positive


wrote:
I always looked at the SteppIR's and thought they were pretty much
exactly worth the money.

By the time you worked up your own SteppIR-like control system and
actually got the sliding contacts to work in a low loss, reliable
fashion, you'd easily be up to the price of those antennas.

Dan

I've done something similar but simpler.

I took two 20' Bream poles & mounted them on a 1"x 2"x 8' with clamps.
I left a 4' gap between the ends of the poles. Total extended length =
44'.

I then strung #16 wire along the outside of the entire length, feed it
with ladder line thru a tuner & mounted it on a 30' tower.

Walla, a rotatable dipole for 40 meters thru 6 meters (75 meters is a
push but it loads).

It has gain & directivity on 20 - 6.

Total cost - less then $40

Terry
W8EJO

Art displays his "out of the box genius" again.
Describing his "cheap" version of StepIR antenna is like comparing
wheelbarrow to Mack truck.
Sure is cheaper and "simpler" and you can transport one brick with both, but
when it comes to loading serious load, the difference is obvious even to
bl?*&% idiot. :-)
Can you get that or is too complicated that it would need explanation with
polarized bubbles?

bada BUm

"art" wrote in message
oups.com...
Don't really need a control box, apply the frequency as you turn the
motor and stop when the SWR meter takes a dive. YThink positive


wrote:
I always looked at the SteppIR's and thought they were pretty much
exactly worth the money.

By the time you worked up your own SteppIR-like control system and
actually got the sliding contacts to work in a low loss, reliable
fashion, you'd easily be up to the price of those antennas.

Dan

Why are you being so abusive?

Yuri Blanarovich wrote:
Art displays his "out of the box genius" again.
Describing his "cheap" version of StepIR antenna is like comparing
wheelbarrow to Mack truck.
Sure is cheaper and "simpler" and you can transport one brick with both, but
when it comes to loading serious load, the difference is obvious even to
bl?*&% idiot. :-)
Can you get that or is too complicated that it would need explanation with
polarized bubbles?

bada BUm

"art" wrote in message
oups.com...
Don't really need a control box, apply the frequency as you turn the
motor and stop when the SWR meter takes a dive. YThink positive


wrote:
I always looked at the SteppIR's and thought they were pretty much
exactly worth the money.

By the time you worked up your own SteppIR-like control system and
actually got the sliding contacts to work in a low loss, reliable
fashion, you'd easily be up to the price of those antennas.

Dan

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On 5 Dec 2006 18:59:59 -0800, "art" wrote:


Before I started on my present project I looked at the IR antenna
allband
Wow I couldnt believe the price and why are hams not building it
themselves.
You know you could buy telescopic fishing poles and stick aluminum foil
along its outside length
and at particular points take off some foil and push some finger stock
into
the inner of the pole It is then an easy job to switch these gaps
closed or open
depending on the band you are using.

------------ REPLY FOLLOWS ------------

This has to be a troll. Nobody in their right mind would ever build
such a kludge.

Bill, W6WRT

Bill Turner wrote:

This has to be a troll. Nobody in their right mind would ever build
such a kludge.

Bill, W6WRT

Bill:

I can tell, you never seen my "Beer Can Antenna." (made with REAL beer
cans!--they were steel back then.) Seemed to work best the first day I
built it, and had to empty the cans ...

Regards,
JS

art" wrote in message
ps.com...
Why are you being so abusive?

Steppir Fanboy

They consider everyone who doesn't pay the exorbitant prices of the steppirs
NON-HAMS.