Steppir DB18E and Tower Installation

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Steppir DB18E and Tower Installation | Manualzz

Steppir DB18E and Tower

Installation

By Steve Scoggins

N9HE

Jan 16, 2014

Tower Project Phases

Site preparation

Tower base construction

Rotor selection and installation

Tower installation

Lightning protection

Antenna order and assembly

Antenna testing

On the air operation

Remote operation

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Site Considerations

55Ft Crank-up Free Standing Tower selected due to site limitations

No space for guy wires

Limited lot size

Tower needs to lay over for maintenance

Base construction per tower manufacturer blueprints

Create the base template for anchoring

Use the Tower manufacturer anchor kit

Is the Tower designed maximum antenna wind load?

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Unpacking…

Assembling Seems Easy…

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

But Expect Mistakes…

AD7ND

By Steve Scoggins N9HE http://www.w4gkf.com/steppir/n4dk/

More Pics & Tips

By Steve Scoggins N9HE http://www.w4gkf.com/steppir/n4dk/

Tower Base

ASTM F1554

Grade 55

1” x 36”Bent

Anchor Bolts

Atlantic Bolt

Charlotte, NC http://www.atlanticboltinc.com/anchorbolttypes.htm

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Base Finished

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Tower Winch

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Yaesu G-1000DXA

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Rotor Installation

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Tower Crew

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Boom Assembly

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Antenna Installation

Steppir DB18E

The DB18E Yagi antenna utilizes folded dipole technology for 30m & 40m performance

There are 3 looped elements on the antenna

Two loop elements are active on 40m

All three elements are active on 30m-6m

The singular difference between the DB18E and DB18 are the active elements on 30m:

DB18E there are 3 active elements on 30m

DB18 there are only 2 active elements on 30m

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Specification

Boom Length

Boom

Longest Element

Turning Radius

Weight

Available saddles for mast

(2.0 in / 5.08 cm is standard)

Wind Load

Wind rating

Adjustable elements

Power Rating

Feed points

Frequency coverage

Tuning Rate

Control Cable

DB18E Specifications

DB18E

19 ft / 5.79 m

1.75 – 2 in

4.45 – 5.08 cm

39 ft / 11.9 m

21.58 ft / 6.57 m

110 lb / 50 kg

1.75, 2.0, 2.25, 2.5, 3 inch

4.45, 5.08, 5.72, 6.35, 7.62 cm

12.1 sq ft / 1.12 sq m

100 MPH (EIA-222-C)

3

3 KW

3

6.8 – 54 MHz

1.3 ft/sec

16 wire 22 AWG shielded

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

DB18E Specifications - Gain

Performance for Ham

Bands

40M

30M

20M

17M

15M

12M

10M

6M (without opt. 6m passive)

6M (with optional passive element on 50.0 – 53.3

MHz)

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

DB18E gain, DBi

6.2

7.0

7.4

8.3

8.5

8.8

9.0

6.2

10.1

30

20

15

11

DB18E Front to Rear,

DB

20

20

25

25

4

How Does it Work?

DB18E Elements are copper tapes which are enclosed by hollow fiberglass tubes

Copper “tapes” move inside tubes

3 EHUs are boom mounted

Element Housing Unit contains:

• Stepper Motors which drive the tapes in and out

• Stepper Motors are driven by the SDA-

100A controller

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

SDA100A Controller

The SDA100A controller required of the

Steppir DB18E Antenna

Modes of Operation:

Normal

Bi-Directional

Reverse

Tuning Mode:

Manual or Automatic Tracking

Transceiver Interface:

Auto Track Tuning based on Transceiver CAT commands via RS232 Serial Interface

Remote Control

USB interface for firmware updates

Steppir Troubleshooting Tips

• With the DB-25 connector removed from the back of the controller, measure the voltage between the pin pairs that feed the motor windings. For example, pins 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 when referring to the driven element. The other elements pin pairs are listed in the troubleshooting guide These are the same pairs you use to check the resistance of the motor windings.

• With the controller power plugged in, you should read approximately 3.5

VDC across each pin pair. At this point, change bands using the controllers band change button. As an example, switching from 20m to 10m generally gives a long enough run to get a good reading.

• When measuring the voltages, a suggestion would be to use a bare 25pin dsub to plug into the SteppIR controller and then insert a paper clip to penetrate the pin hole. Again, be careful NOT to short the pins. Even if the controller is turned off, there is always voltage going to the pins with a

SteppIR controller. We do this to “lock” the stepper motors, and minimize the need to calibrate the antenna on a regular basis.

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

DB18E Order

DB-18E Antenna

SDA-100A Controller

Transceiver Interface

Advanced Lightning Protection (ALP)

Control Cable: 16 wire 22 AWG shielded control cable

DB25 Dsub Field Splice

Connection Junction Box

Element Truss Kit

Boom Truss Kit

6M passive element

33v Power Supply

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Flex 6700

SmartSDR for Windows

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Green Heron RT-21

•USB and/or RS-232 control

•High resolution digital display

•Point & Shoot operation

•Digital heading accuracy

•PWM speed control and gradual start'/stop to your system eliminating tower and rotator stresses http://www.greenheronengineering.com

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

Credits, References & Links

Special Thanks:

Bob Mazza AA7BA

Israel Vicente AD7ND

Mark Coker KC7JOG

Alan Downing KD7GC

Rick RJB Concrete

Bart Hasz K7HAZ Steppir Sales

Dudley Hurry WA5QPZ Flex Radio Systems

Greg Jurrens K5GJ Flex Radio Systems

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

By Steve Scoggins N9HE

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