2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415
6
RETRACT ELEMENTS
If you ever plan on taking your antenna down, you will first need to retract the elements. In
addition, if you want to protect your antenna during periods of non-use, or during lightning
storms or harsh winter conditions, you can use the retract element feature for this as well.
Don’t confuse “retracting” with “calibration”. Doing a calibrate guarantees the element is
brought home and then extended from a known start point. Retracting assumes the proper
amount of tape is extended and simply reels that much in to home position and leaves it. We
recommend retracting the elements during lightning storms, this greatly reduces the conduc-
tive area of the antenna platform. In ice storms retracting the elements greatly reduces the
potential for loss in case of a catastrophic failure. When you retract the elements, the copper
beryllium conductive strip is “safe and sound” inside the antenna housing, leaving only the
telescoping fiberglass poles extended. These poles are easy to replace so even if you dam-
age the telescoping fiberglass support elements (pole), the most valuable part of the antenna
should be safe!
The controller will ask you if you want to send the elements “home”, which means retracting
the elements inside the antenna housing. To retract the antenna, press the BAND up or
down button once, and YES will start flashing. Press the select button, the display will say
“Home Now? / Homing”. The red TUNING light will be flashing, this means that the antenna
is retracting, when the light stops flashing, the new message will read “Done”, then will return
to the “Retract Elements” menu. The antenna is now safely inside the antenna housings.
When you want to put the antenna back on the air, simply press the antenna segment you
desire, and the controller will adjust to that segment.
CALIBRATE
NOTE:
Whenever your antenna is not acting as it should, we highly recommend that you use the cal-
ibrate function before exploring other potential problems. Always calibrate when in doubt - it
is easy, and doesn’t hurt a thing! It doesn’t matter what frequency you are on when you cali-
brate, when complete the antenna is calibrated at all frequencies.
Calibrating the antenna ensures that the element lengths are exactly what the controller dis-
play says they are. Usually, the only way the antenna can get out of calibration is if the
power is interrupted or the cable is somehow disconnected while the antenna is changing
length. The controller does not “know” where the antenna is adjusted to unless you start at a
known place. The antenna housing sent to you has each element retracted inside to “Home”,
and the controller is set to “Elements Home”. If you power up the controller and it says
“Elements Home”, and you connect the antenna control cable with the elements physically
retracted, system is calibrated and ready to go!
If you need to calibrate, select calibrate in the
SETUP
menu, the antenna will retract all of the
elements, and the stepper motor will continue to over-step for up to 50 seconds after the ele-
ments have retracted. In doing this, the controller is making sure that there is not a shadow
of a doubt that each element is fully retracted, and back to the known starting point. When
calibrating, you will hear a buzzing noise for as much as 50 seconds, this is normal. When
calibration is finished, the antenna will go to the last frequency you were on before you start-
ed the calibration process. The entire process takes less than a minute.