Steppir Vertical and K-2

[John Wiener]

I just discovered the Steppir Vertical on the web.  An interesting  
design: using a copper tape and step motor to vary the height of the  
vertical element.  This can be controlled directly by interface with  
a transceiver.

Does anyone have experience with this antenna and the K-2?  Is the  
K-2 capable of controlling the step motor so that vertical length is  
correctly (and automatically) varied based upon operating frequency?

Thanks!

John
AB8WH
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[Howard W. Ashcraft]

I have Steppir 40 meter vertical and I am very pleased with it.  My
worst match in any of the bands is 1.4:1 and most matches are around 1.1
or 1.2.  I do not use an antenna tuner, although I have considered
building a tuner since I have heard you can work 80m with a tuner,
although obviously not as well as if you had a proper 80 meter antenna.
My installation is on my roof, so I have two radials/counterpoises per
band on a steeply sloping roof.  If you can't put in a directional
antenna, the Steppir is a very good choice.

It "should" be completely configurable from the K2 and I believe that
others have done so.  If you look at Larry Phipps site,
www.telepostinc.com he has additional software utilities he uses with
his K2 and a Steppir antenna.  I seem to recall that either Eric or
Wayne has a Steppir vertical, so they might be able to comment as well.
You use the Kenwood command set to control the Steppir from a K2.

However, I started to configure the automatic tuning and decided not to.
First, you pick up extra noise while the antenna is moving, obscuring
weak signals.  It can take some time to go from 10 meters to 40 meters.
Yet the antenna works reasonably well on receive even if wildly off
tune.  So I often will hunt around for where I want to work without
moving the antenna and then tune the antenna to my chosen frequency
before transmitting.  This seems to be quicker than having the antenna
tune all of the time, and saves significant time when you are jumping
around between bands. If I'm not jumping between bands, I'm generally in
the lower CW segments where tuning the antenna to 7050, for instance,
covers everywhere I want to go on 40 meter CW.  (The resolution is only
50 khz, so your choices would be 7000 or 7100)  So, although I have all
of the options to allow automatic tuning, I don't use the feature.

I strongly endorse the antenna, but am ambivalent about the automatic
tuning feature.

My two bits (Ok, more like 4 bits...)

73,

Howard Ashcraft, W1WF

-----Original Message-----
From: John Wiener [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 8:46 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] Steppir Vertical and K-2

I just discovered the Steppir Vertical on the web.  An interesting
design: using a copper tape and step motor to vary the height of the
vertical element.  This can be controlled directly by interface with a
transceiver.

Does anyone have experience with this antenna and the K-2?  Is the
K-2 capable of controlling the step motor so that vertical length is
correctly (and automatically) varied based upon operating frequency?

Thanks!

John
AB8WH





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