Tech Support: www.steppir.com/support Tel: 425.891.6134 support@steppir.com
Page 8
OK - - - NOW WHAT? (continued)
(Sage advise from Jim Streible, K4DLI—SteppIR Technical Support Guru)
PREAMBLE
Your Antenna Has Arrived!
What is the first thing to do?
(continued)
5. When you have finished working with the controller be sure the display indicates “Elements
Home” and the controller has been turned OFF. When the controller is connected to the anten-
na and the controller is turned back on the next time, it will immediately tune to whatever po-
sition the controller was left in last time you were using it, so you want to be sure that position
is HOME.
6. Once the antenna is completely assembled and ready to mount on the antenna tower, use an
antenna analyzer, if you have one, to test resonance of the antenna.. If you don’t have an an-
alyzer, try to borrow one. It will save you a lot of time and worry. Check the antenna on each
band for some sign of resonance within the frequency range. Leave the antenna on the default
frequency and tune the analyzer to see where the dip occurs. It will be somewhere below the
lower band edge on each band with the antenna 3 or 4 feet above the ground on horsesAlso,
don’t expect to see a 1:1 SWR here, just look for a good indication of resonance.
Once it has been determined this part of the antenna is working correctly do the following: Se-
lect the lowest band and establish the dip condition by tuning the analyzer. Do not touch the
analyzer again. Retract the elements and then reselect the same band. The antenna should
come back the very near the same setting. Do this 2 or 3 times on each band. Also, try going
from the band being tested to any other band and back again and observe that the antenna
comes back to the same resonant point. Now you know the antenna is tuning correctly from
band to band and is consistent.
7. When you are ready to use the antenna, be sure to “enable” the DB18E in the controller menu,
or your antenna will not work properly on 40m and 30m. If you purchased the 6m option, be
sure to enable that as well. When done enabling, save and then turn the controller off, and
back on again.
8. Enjoy the antenna!
73
Jim Streible—K4DLI
To Next Page
Loading...
