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SteppIR BigIR, Assembly Manual

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13406 SE 32nd St. Bellevue, WA 98005 | consumer.steppir.com | 425.453.1910  |  [email protected]

 

BigIR Antenna

 

Assembly Manual

 

REV 5.1 09/30/2021

 

Summary of Contents for BigIR

Page 1: ...13406 SE 32nd St Bellevue WA 98005 consumer steppir com 425 453 1910 sales steppir com BigIR Antenna Assembly Manual REV 5 1 09 30 2021 ...

Page 2: ...Overview 10 Section 1 Wiring and EHU Coil assembly 11 Section 2 EHU Coil wiring test 21 Section 3 Prepare the telescoping pole 22 Section 4 Prepare the CPVC liner 24 Section 5 Prepare the EST Extension assembly 25 Section 6 Mounting the BigIR 29 Counterpoise Radial system overview Ground mounted or elevated 32 How to tune your vertical mandatory 37 Product warranty claim 40 TABLE OF CONTENTS ...

Page 3: ...n length while in the air would solve the frequency prob lem and in addition would have vastly improved performance over existing fixed length yagis The ability to tune the antenna to a specific frequency without regard for bandwidth results in excellent gain and front to back at every frequency The SteppIR design was made possible by the convergence of determination and high tech materials The av...

Page 4: ...to use the anti seize compound supplied to prevent the galling of the stainless steel fasten ers If you do not use the anti seize count on issues with the stainless steel hardware galling Heat is one of the primary culprits with galling so if you use a ratchet steady speed as you tighten will help minimize galling We have found that when the anti seize is applied to the bolt portion of the hardwar...

Page 5: ...0 5m Weight 15lbs 6 8kg Wind load 1 9 sq ft 0 17 sq m Wind rating 100mph w two guys Adjustable elements 1 2 Power rating 3 0 KW 1000W limit on 60 80m bands Feed points 1 Frequency coverage 3 4 55 MHz with loading coil 7 0 54MHz without Control cable 2 x 4 conductor with coil 1x without ANTENNA SPECIFICATIONS ...

Page 6: ...her protection for the inner portion At the topmost end of the EST a special rain cap ensures that air can move in and out of the EST as the tape is retracted or extended and that rain and moisture is prevented from entering the EST If the 80 meter coil accessory has been purchased it attaches to the EHU and provides a tapped in ductor at the EHU feed point allowing the antenna to be made resonant...

Page 7: ...Mark IV Hardware Heat Shrink 1 72 0044 11 Kit BigIR EHU Wind Reinforcing Kit Mark IV Hardware 2 72 0046 01 Kit BigIR MK III IV Guy 1 70 6010 01 Adapter 25pin Dsub Field Splice 1 10 1013 02 Telescoping Pole 18 foot 4 section 1 70 2019 01 BigIR EST extension with aluminum coupler Lower 1 70 2020 01 BigIR EST extension with aluminum coupler and ring Upper 1 70 2021 01 CPVC Liner for BigIR 89 x3 4 wit...

Page 8: ...rtical Pole Rain Cap PARTS CHECKLIST 72 0044 11 Kit BigIR EHU Wind Reinforcing Kit Mark IV Hardware QTY PART DESCRIPTION 8 09 1022 Coax Seal 12 x 1 2 1 10 1021 54 Reinforcing Plate for High wind kit EHU 10 7 16 x 4 1 4 x 1 4 1 10 1028 01 Anti seize single packets TMP 1 2 10 1601 03 Saddle 1 3 4 x 3 4 2 10 1601 22 Saddle 2 x 3 4 4 10 1613 11 AL Spacer 1 4 X 5 16 ID X 3 4 OD 4 60 0017 Screw 10 32 x ...

Page 9: ...Link 3 16 S S 06021 80M Base loading Coil for the BigIR QTY PART DESCRIPTION 1 70 2101 01 Coil 80m BigIR 1 72 0044 20 Kit BigIR Mark IV 80m Coil Hardware 72 0044 20 Kit BigIR Mark IV 80m Coil Hardware QTY PART DESCRIPTION 4 60 0095 Screw 10 32 x 2 Panhead Phillips S S 4 60 0019 Nut 10 32 Nylock S S 4 60 0018 Washer 10 32 Flat S S 4 60 1004 01 Spacer 1 2 Nylon 2 10 1613 11 AL Spacer 1 4 X 5 16 ID X...

Page 10: ...gure 1 provides an overview of a SteppIR EHU the specific model shown is a 20m driven EHU terminal header Spool with copper tape Element Support Tube EST Balun yagi driven EHU only SO 239 driven EHU only Sprocket Stepper motor Platen Control cable routing tray EHU OVERVIEW Figure 1 ...

Page 11: ...ike 6 The terminal header assembly consists of the terminal header and the terminal plug as shown in The plug is shipped loosely attached to the header Remove this plug when wiring and firmly plug back in when completed use dielectric grease on this terminal plug to prevent moisture ingress corrosion 7 Follow the wire sequence in figure 1 13 Be careful to ensure that there are no bare wires protru...

Page 12: ... the EHU The remainder can be used to seal the driven element loading coil SO239 connector and 4 conductor control cable 10 Lay the control cable wire inside the wire tray of the EHU as shown in figure 1 17 It is a good idea to leave a small amount of slack between the plug and the point which the tray starts as shown in the circled region of figure 1 17 11 Wrap the coax seal around the control ca...

Page 13: ...Description A 1 EHU BigIR with control cable coax seal B 1 10 1501 22 Cover for EHU no drain hole C 1 10 1502 12 EHU Gasket D 4 60 0017 Pan Screw 10 32 x 3 4 E 1 60 0017 10 Flat Head Screw 10 32 F 5 60 0019 Nut 10 32 Nylock G 4 60 0018 Washer 10 32 Flat A B C D E F G Use anti seize on all SS hardware Do not install if using 80m coil ...

Page 14: ...igh wind kit EHU D 2 60 0066 Bolt 5 16 x 4 S S E 2 60 0114 Bolt 5 16 x 3 3 4 S S F 10 60 0033 Washer 5 16 Flat S S G 4 10 1613 11 AL Spacer 1 4 X 5 16 ID X 3 4 OD H 4 60 0046 Nut 5 16 18 Nylock S S I 5 60 0071 Screw 10 32 x 1 Panhead Phillips S S J 5 60 0018 Washer 10 32 Flat K 5 60 0019 Nut 10 32 Nylock A B C D E F G H I J K Use anti seize on all SS hardware Leave 2 saddles loose until EST extens...

Page 15: ...ation skip if 80m coil is not purchased ASSEMBLY Key QTY Part Number Description A 4 60 0095 Screw 10 32 x 2 Panhead Phillips S S B 4 60 1004 01 Spacer 1 2 Nylon C 2 10 1613 11 AL Spacer 1 4 X 5 16 ID X 3 4 OD D 4 60 0018 Washer 10 32 Flat E 4 60 0019 Nut 10 32 Nylock Use anti seize on all SS hardware A B C D E ...

Page 16: ...453 1910 support steppir com 16 Section 1 3 continued 80M Base Coil Installation skip if 80m coil is not pur chased ASSEMBLY Use a dielectric grease on the center conductor and threads and coax seal for the exterior of the connection EHU ground lug ...

Page 17: ...damage the insulation of the inner 22awg wires figure 1 41 Trim off the foil shield support thread and shield wire 2 Strip 0 25 inches of insulation off of the 22awg wires and place heat shrink over the wires figure 1 42 3 Using the provided ring terminals PN 20 6043 01 crimp and solder them to the ends of the control cable figure 1 43 4 You may now use the provided heat shrink PN 30 5008 to weath...

Page 18: ...rtant Notes Do NOT jumper the radial grounds between the EHU and coil the EHU radial ground lug should be completely disconnected from anything Once the antenna is mounted and your radial set up is prepared the radials can then be attached to the ground lug on the coil and coax seal can be applied to all external electrical connections on the EHU coil Coil ground lug ...

Page 19: ...losed by default If so turn the terminal screw ccw 10 turns to open it before inserting the wires 2 Connect each wire to the appropriate terminal and tighten using a flat head screwdriver 3 Consult the table on the next page for the correct wiring sequence 4 Position the control cable between the cable clamp halves as shown in figure 1 31 Electrical tape can be wrapped around the cables to increas...

Page 20: ... 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 G B R G W Red Black White Green Red Black White Green To Coil Attach ring terminals to wire ends To EHU Shield EHU Coil Ensure that the shield wire for both the EHU and loading coil connect to the G terminal on the DB25 connector and trim them at the EHU coil so they are not connected to anything ...

Page 21: ...MENTS ARE CLEAR OF ANY OBSTRUCTIONS The copper tape will be extended into the cpvc stub of the EHU 5 Go into Setup mode by pressing the SETUP button and navigate to the Motors Test menu 6 Ensure that the driven element is selected DE DVR driven then select out to extend the copper from the CPVC stub of the EHU see figure 2 For the OptimizIR controller this will stick out approximate ly 3 75 inches...

Page 22: ... to the telescoping pole joints The telescoping pole uses 3 polyolefin heat shrink pieces PN 10 1059 01 Once finished the seal is se cure and waterproof This product requires a heat gun for activation of the adhesive When positioning the heat shrink place it so that the joint of the telescoping pole is centered in the middle of the heat shrink Figure 4 10 below shows how this is done Using a heat ...

Page 23: ...s shown in figure 3 2 The fit of the plastic housing on the pole tip is purposely very tight so that the rain cap assembly will stay in place Before attaching the plastic housing spread a small amount of dish soap or isopropyl alcohol around the inside edge of the plastic housing as shown in figure 3 2 This helps the housing slide on easily and the soap will eventually evaporate leaving you with a...

Page 24: ...ot spread into the inner diameter ID of the tube before inserting into the coupler and twisting Work quickly as the glue will dry quickly and become less effective Be sure to save some glue for later as this will be used to install the CPVC liner onto the BigIR EHU during final as sembly Key QTY Part Number Description A 1 70 2021 01 CPVC Liner for BigIR 89 x3 4 with coupler B 1 70 2022 01 CPVC Li...

Page 25: ...ion A 1 Telescoping Pole Assembly B 1 70 2019 01 BigIR EST Extension Lower C 1 70 2020 01 BigIR EST Extension Upper D 3 10 1059 11 Polyolefin Heat Shrink 2 05 x 4 E 3 10 1104 11 O ring 1 3 4 x 2 F 1 60 6000 20 Hose Clamp 1 16 to 2 ID SS G 1 60 1006 22 Quick Disconnect 1 1 2 to 1 1 4 H 1 10 1105 11 Vertical Pole Rain Cap I 2 72 0046 01 BigIR Guy Kit A B C D E F G H I ...

Page 26: ...O ring in preparation for sealing Now the hose clamp can be slid over the pole about halfway down Follow with the final piece of heat shrink tubing as well as the final O ring On the upper EST PN 70 2020 01 Slide one O ring from the end opposite to the aluminum coupler and butt it against the coupler to make a seal on the joint Slide one piece of Polyolefin heat shrink tubing directly behind the O...

Page 27: ... well Figure 5 2 Figure 5 3 Now the polyolefin heat shrink tubing can be slid over the joints and heated in order to make a firm seal on the joints Figure 5 4 Figure 5 5 The hose clamp PN 60 6000 20 can now be slid into position shown circled in red in figure 5 6 and tightened to further support the EST extension assembly Figure 5 6 The completed assembly should look like figure 5 7 below Figure 5...

Page 28: ...A 2 10 1429 21 Element Truss Guy Clamp BigIR B 4 60 0027 Bolt 1 4 20 x 1 S S C 4 60 0030 Nut 1 4 20 Nylock S S D 2 60 0094 Quick Link 3 16 S S A B C D Warning A 11 ft radius and an even spread 120 deg are the minimum dimensions required when positioning the guy anchors to achieve the stated wind ratings Anchor Anchor Anchor Antenna 1 guy kit 70mph wind rating Guy mounted at 10ft above the bottom o...

Page 29: ...he ground are common methods IF YOU ARE USING A RADIAL PLATE YOU MUST KEEP THE PLATE ELECTRICALLY DISCONNECTED FROM THE VERTICAL MOUNTING POST TO PREVENT ARCING ALSO DO NOT USE THE COAX PASS THROUGH ON THE PLATE EITHER IF ONE IS PROVIDED Elevated mounting Since there are numerous configurations in which one could mount the antenna for those who are experienced with tuning elevated vertical antenna...

Page 30: ...EHU Multiple things will happen simultaneously as the guy lines should already be attached to the guy clamps and will be raised during install the CPVC will have to be installed into the EHU and the EST assembly will have to be clamped to the high wind kit 1 Use the provided glue kit PN 72 0039 to bond the CPVC liner to the BigIR EHUs CPVC stub Apply the glue to the OD ONLY before inserting into t...

Page 31: ... BigIR EHU Coil Assembly D 10 1109 21 Antenna Support 1 1 2 Vertical E 60 1006 22 QUICK DISCONNECT 1 1 2 to 1 1 4 Fernco A B 72 0039 CPVC Glue Kit C D E Apply glue to the OD ONLY Note If using radial distribution plate be sure to use a thick braided or solid ground strap between the EHU Coil ground lug and radial plate coil ground lug shown on page 18 EHU ground lug ...

Page 32: ...l antennas mounted on the ground or elevated above the ground There are a number of verticals available that say no radials required but they do have radials in the form of a shortened tuned counterpoise system As you might expect you pay a price for such a small counterpoise system less efficiency As you will see in the following pages you can get fairly high efficiency with a relatively modest r...

Page 33: ... results in much lower losses even on 80m so 5 feet is just fine for 80m Ground Mounting If you choose to ground mount the vertical pick a spot that will allow you the best chance of spreading your radials evenly around the antenna and away from trees and other objects if possible Mount the antenna within one foot of ground if possible the closer to ground the better Next you will need to de termi...

Page 34: ...ow good your earth is Most of us have poor earth conditions so the radial system is paramount The worse the earth is the more can be gained with additional radials Graph 2 shows a graph produced by Brian Edward N2MF that illustrates the relative signal gain you get with the radials and varying length over poor earth With better earth the gain difference between 4 radi als and 120 radials will be a...

Page 35: ...With one radial the antenna is no longer omni directional the side with no radial is down by 4 dB that ener gy now appears at high elevation angles on the radial side and can be advantageous for close in contacts 0 to 400 miles Once you elevate a vertical two 25 wl radials work very well It is important that you try to keep a 180 angle between the two opposed directly in line for the best pattern ...

Page 36: ...metallic Mounting the vertical in ground flooded by salt water a couple of times per day can be equally effective Proximity to the ocean improves the far field loss of a verti cal and allows very low angle radiation get as close to the water as possible to enhance performance Or you can direct couple to the saltwater Due to the fact that RF does not penetrate more than 2 inches into the water dire...

Page 37: ...ith your connections radials SteppIR antenna tunes are broken up into segments which we use to create an ideal antenna at a specific frequency Each segment consists of a frequency element lengths coil switch command and some miscellaneous display settings like gain F R and beam width To get the element lengths at frequencies in between segments the controller utilizes an algorithm to calculate the...

Page 38: ...er steppir com wp content uploads 2020 10 SDA100 Operators Guide MUSTANG pdf HOW TO TUNE YOUR VERTICAL MANDATORY Segment Frequency KHz Recommended Tune Frequency KHz Untuned SWR SWR Minimum Frequency Tuned SWR 17 50900 53000 16 49500 50500 15 40900 40900 14 34900 34900 13 27900 28900 12 26900 27500 11 24850 24900 10 20900 21200 9 17900 18100 8 13900 14200 7 9900 10100 6 6900 7150 5 5200 5350 4 375...

Page 39: ...izIR Manual Version 1_4 April 17 2018 pdf HOW TO TUNE YOUR VERTICAL MANDATORY Segment Frequency KHz Recommended Tune Frequency KHz Untuned SWR SWR Minimum Frequency Tuned SWR 24 51000 52500 23 49500 50500 22 41000 41000 21 34500 34500 20 29000 29350 19 27500 28500 18 24600 24940 17 20800 21225 16 17850 18120 15 15800 15800 14 13850 14175 13 11300 11300 12 10000 10125 11 8850 8850 10 7850 7850 9 69...

Page 40: ...d the product design specifications SteppIR Communication System s responsibility is strictly limited to repair or replacement of defective components at SteppIR s discretion SteppIR will not be held responsible for any installation or removal costs costs of any ancillary equipment damage or any other costs incurred as a result of the failure of our products In the event of a product failure a ret...

Page 41: ...Tech Support consumer steppir com support 425 453 1910 support steppir com 41 ...

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