SteppIR Installation

Background

After countless months of trying to figure out what I was going to do about getting a better antenna put up for the 10-20 Meter bands, I finally decided on a 4 element SteppIR Yagi.

When I called SteppIR to see how long it would take to get one, I found out that it would take 8-10 weeks. This was a big problem because the 2004-2005 contest season was going to begin with CQ WW SSB in less than five weeks or so, and I couldn't wait that long. Also, this timeframe meant that I would need to put up the antenna in December or January, and that's not the best time to be doing this sort of work in New England.

As luck would have it, the next night I was scanning my email when I ran across a message from a HAM out west who had two brand new 4 element SteppIR antennas that he offered to sell to another HAM who needed a new antenna. I jumped on this chance and sent him an email right away saying that if the other HAM didn't want the antennas, I did. A week later they arrived by motor freight! (I kept one, and the other one wound up with K1TWF.)

The next big thing was how I was going to get the antenna in the air! I considered three options carefully: 1) A house-bracketed tower, 2) A free-standing tower, 3) A roof-top tower. In the end, primarily for cost reasons, I decided on option #3. (N1IW, N1ICE, WA1LY, KC2LT, and many others will tell you a different story about how I came to this decision. Apparently, I was not as decisive as I should have been. HI HI).

I was able to obtain a W9IIX "Quad Pod" roof-top tower from my friend David, KC2LT, and with a little re-work, it was ready to go. This is a seriously beefy roof tower. It will stand the test of time.

Below are a series of pictures of the installation and some text explaining each one. You can click on any picture to enlarge it, or click here for a slide show of the installation process.

	Chip & Gary Chip (left) and Gary (right, owner) of New England Antenna Service arrived at the house at 8:45 AM, as promised. I've used this company now to install DirecTV dishes on three houses. They are great guys, and do quality work, so I called them for this project. (Slide Show)
	Preparation of Tower Base Chip and Gary prepare the wood for the base of the tower. The installation technique is to sandwich the rafters of the roof with two pieces of 2x8 wood. Pressure Treated wood outside, regular wood inside. The whole thing is held together with two 3/8's threaded galvanized rods per pad, for a total of eight rods. This is how they installed hundreds of those 10' satellite dishes on roofs in the past, so the method is proven to work. (Slide Show)
	Hauling Tower Up Chip hauls the tower up the lower roof. What isn't shown is how hard it was to get the tower up the ladder. It was so heavy it took three of us to bring it up. Chip pulled on a rope from the top, Gary guided the tower and took some weight as he climbed the ladder with it, and I pulled on a rope from the bottom, using the top rung on the ladder as a pulley. I was so nervous watching the guys move the tower around the roof, but they didn't seem to mind. (Slide Show)
	One More Level Once the tower was up on the North roof of the house, the guys easily got it up to the main roof. I wish I had a shot of Gary holding the tower, alone, walking along the ridge of the North roof. Man... He knows his stuff. (Slide Show)
	Tower In Place The tower is in place, as Chip gets ready to climb off the roof. I ran over and footed the ladder for him as he got on it. (Slide Show)
	Preparing Tower Next, the guys put the mast in, and secured the tower to the roof. This took a little while, but since it is the most important part, I was glad to see them taking their time and doing it right. (Slide Show)
	Boom Is Up The boom is in place! This was exciting, and also a little funny because the antenna looked VERY big on the house at this point. I started thinking about my neighbors and how they would react. Well, there's one strange person in every neighborhood, and I guess this will make me that person in mine. Anyway, the guys were really impressed with how the EZ-Hang system made securing the boom to the mast so simple. (Slide Show)
	Control Box One custom thing I did was to install a weather tight control box to allow the SteppIR control line and coax cable to be disconnected at the tower in case I ever need to take the antenna down for maintenance or repairs. You can't see it, but inside the box there are two terminal strips epoxied to the back where the control lines are spliced. I used N connectors at this splice as that's how the antenna came. (Slide Show)
	Adding the Elements The big bonus, I think, of the SteppIR design in this sort of installation is that you can easily add the fiberglass elements when the boom is mounted to the mast. Two down, six to go! (Slide Show)
	Adding More Elements Each of the elements went on next. A few of them were hard to fit, but with two men, one holding the boom, and the other twisting the element, each one was set. (Slide Show)
	Adjusting the Truss The final step on the roof was adjusting the truss. I had dry-fitted the entire antenna on the ground and set the truss clamp on the mast to the right spot, so it was simple for Gary to make the boom level. I was making Q's on the antenna an hour after this shot was taken. 80% of the DX I worked said, "BIG signal!". This is exciting! I have gain! I have directivity! (Slide Show)
	Inside Job The inside of the mounting system shown here. Sandwich anyone? (Slide Show)