SteppIR SDA 100 Bedienungsanleitung

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

SDA 100 Controller

Operators Manual

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

WARNINGS

The controller has voltage present on the control cable wires, even when the power button

has been pushed to “Off”. Unplug the power supply and disconnect the 25-pin D-sub con-

nector before making any connections or cutting or splicing the cable wires. If the controller

has power and the control cable wires short out, this will damage the driver chips inside the

controller.

We HIGHLY recommend that you ground the chassis of the controller to your station ground.

When operating with over 200 watts, it is important that you do not transmit while the anten-

na is adjusting.

CONNECTING CONTROLLER

Once you have connected the power cord to the controller and plugged the other end of the cord

into the power outlet (the universal power supply can accept 100 - 240 volts AC, 50-60Hz), turn on

the controller and then check that the screen display shows “Manual Mode, Elements Home”. If it

does not display that then go to page 16 and retract elements. Then disconnect the power plug and

then plug the 25 pin control cable connector to the mating connector on the back of the controller.

Plug in the power plug to the controller then turn on the controller. It is then advisable to perform a

“Calibrate” function before using the antenna for the first time. This ensures the controller is in sync

with the antenna.

If the control cable connector comes loose at any time while the antenna is moving the calibrate

function will need to be done.

Also, on the back of the controller, there are two ports - “Data In” and “Data Out”. If you have pur-

chased the transceiver interface option, there will be two 9 pin d-sub male connectors in the ports.

If you have not purchased the interface, there will be a plastic cover over the ports. For more infor-

mation on the transceiver interface refer to the “Transceiver Interface” section.

Other options that are available with the SDA 100 controller are the Tuning Relay, Remote Driver

Board and Advanced Lightning Protection (ALP). These options will have different wiring configura-

tions on the back of the controller. Refer to each options section for more information.

12/12/2008 Rev 2

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

Grounding Stud

Data In plug in for

Transceiver Interface

Data out plug in for

stacking antennas

USB B plug for soft-

ware upload

Remote RJ45 outlet for

Remote driver board option

25 D sub Connector

Power outlet from

power supply Tuning Relay option

3.5mm stereo plug

FRONT

BACK

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

CONTROL BUTTONS

POWER

During power up all 7 LED lights will light and the display will show what antenna software the

controller is programmed with along with the program version,

After 3 seconds the display will change to the last used function and operating frequency.

From the factory the screen will appear as shown below.

The power light will remain lit along with the NORM light or depending on the last mode you

were operating on. example: 180 or BI (3/4) and also AUTOTRACK if you are using a

Transceiver Interface.

NOTE:

Even if your controller is turned off by using the POWER button there is still a holding current

being sent out to the elements on the antenna. This is to hold the antenna element in the

exact position after being used.

FREQUENCY ADJUST

This function gives the user the ability to adjust his/her antenna with great accuracy and

speed. Giving the user the range to move between 59.990Mhz to 6.950Mhz and tunning the

antenna every 50Khz. This is achieved by using three different control buttons, BAND,

COARSE and FINE.

BAND UP / DOWN

This will move the antenna to whatever band the user selects. The factory defaults are as

shown in Figure 1. Whenever the controller is tuning the antenna the tunning light will be

blinking red.

These two up and down buttons also have a duel perpuse by acting as a toggle up and

down for the SET UP function. This will be described in greater detail later in the the manual.

COARSE UP / DOWN

Adjusts the frequency by 100Khz either up or down.

FINE UP / DOWN

Adjusts the frequency by 10Khz either up or down.

Manual Mode

Elements Home

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

RETRACT

With one touch of a button the user can retract all elements to the home position and the con-

troller will power down automatically. The function of retracting the elements through the SET

UP menu is still available and will be described in the SET UP section of the manual.

MODES OF OPERATION

NORMAL

The NORM mode is used when you are manually operating your controller, and the primary

intended use will be in the ham bands (to use the optional transceiver interface, the user

must be in the AUTOTRACK mode). When in the NORM mode, to tune through the bands

simply use the FREQUENCY ADJUST BAND up and down button, and the controller will

simultaneously adjust the length of each element to that frequency that is chosen. Each

time the up or down button is hit the antenna will adjust to the next preset frequency. The

display will show what frequency the antenna is tuning to, plus the tuning light will be blinking

red. By using the COARSE and FINE up / down buttons, it is possible to adjust the antenna

to the nearest 50 KHz. You can also adjust to frequencies outside the ham bands.

When the controller is in the NORM mode the bands that can be toggled through are pre-pro-

gramed to get the antenna close to the desired frequency. Most of our antennas work very

well over a 100 KHz frequency range (minimum except on 80m). The Bandwidth will depend

on which model antenna you have but it will be at least 100 Khz.

180 BUTTON

The 180 degree mode feature is one of the most popular among SteppIR users. The 180

mode allows you to electrically “rotate” the antenna 180 degrees from your current NORM

direction beam heading. This is done by simply pressing a button, and in 2-1/2 seconds

(quicker on higher frequencies, longer on lower) the transformation is complete. The existing

reflector becomes a director and the director becomes a reflector, and you now have a com-

pletely different antenna in the exact opposite direction. With the two element Yagi, the direc-

tor becomes a reflector. In addition to greatly reducing your rotator use, many SteppIR users

report that the 180 function is an excellent tool for short path / long path operation, or for pick-

ing up that elusive multiplier in the heat of a contest! At SteppIR, we think the best use for

this function is when we want to show off the great front to back performance of the antenna!

BI (3/4) BUTTON

The BI (which stands for bi-directional) function operates in a similar manner, except when

enabled, you are now operating with gain in opposite directions. You will have approximately

2 db less gain than normal but now you have gain in both the forward and reverse direction.

This feature can be very handy for those who are involved with net operation or ham contests

where hearing (or sending) signals from two directions can give you an advantage.

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

AUTOTRACK MODE

The AUTOTRACK mode must be toggled if the optional transceiver interface was purchased.

This function must be enabled via the Setup Mode. The antenna will be under the control of

the radio ONLY when in this mode. When under the control of the radio the antenna will be

re-optimized every 50 KHz and will follow the radio to any frequency within the range of the

antenna.

Using the other modes of NORM, 180 and BI can all still be used while in the AUTOTRACK

mode. By pressing the AUTOTRACK button so that the light is not lit is a very quick way to

disable automatic antenna frequency following.

NOTE:

The FREQUENCY ADJUST buttons are active when in this mode and will cause the antenna

to start to change frequency until the controller sees another command from the radio which

could be up to 2 seconds. Therefore you want to avoid accidentally hitting the band buttons

while using the transceiver interface to control the antenna.

The transceiver interface will update the frequency if it is enabled with the radio or computer

on overriding the band buttons almost immediately. If using the RETRACT button to home the

antenna the controller will override the tranciever interface and will go through an automatic

shut down once the elements are completely home.

SETUP MODE

The SETUP menu can be toggled by pressing the button on the front of the controller so that

the amber LED light is lit. This will change the screen so that it shows.

Once this screen appears on the display the BAND button will act as your scrolling button up

and down to select what option to modify. The following options can be selected in the

SETUP menu.

RETRACT ELMENTS

CALIBRATE

CREATE, MODIFY

TRANCEIVER SETUP

FACTORY DEFAULT

TEST MOTORS

OPTIONS MENU

Mode Key to EXIT

Up Dn to SCROLL

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

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.

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

To calibrate the antenna, press the BAND up or down button until “YES” is flashing, and then

press the select button. The screen will now say “Calibrate” with the second line saying

“Calibrating”. Notice that the TUNING red light will be flashing the entire time the antenna is

calibrating. When the controller is done calibrating the antenna, the LCD screen will then dis

play the last antenna segment the controller was on before the calibration. When the red

TUNING light quits flashing, the controller leaves the calibrate mode and returns to the mode

previously set to.

CREATE, MODIFY

The factory default antennas that are programmed into your controller have been modeled

and field tested to provide very good gain, without sacrificing the front to rear performance.

The create, modify menu allows you to change the length of any of the SteppIR elements for

each master antenna segment. You can use this feature to try out your own antenna

designs, or to “tune out” potential objects that are causing interaction or SWR problems with

your antenna.

The driven element can be changed up to +/- 5% in length to obtain a better match with no

appreciable change in gain or front to back performance, so it is always best to just tune the

driven element to correct SWR problems. This feature is especially good for those of you

who experiment with modeling programs such as EZ-NEC or YO PRO.

When you have finished changing the respective lengths, you can save the new antenna to

memory, overriding the factory default antenna for any given ham band or frequency range. If

at any point you want to restore the factory default antennas, you can do so by going to the

“Factory Default” menu in setup which allows you to easily restore either a single ham band

or specific frequency range, or all of them at the same time if desired.

Computer modeling has dramatically simplified antenna design. With this technology (many

modeling programs are available on the internet) the average ham can create his/her own

antennas and have a very accurate idea as to what kind of performance to expect before the

antenna is built.

While the availability of antenna modeling software has been a giant leap forward in antenna

design to fully exploit it you need to be able to modify the elements length with the antenna

mounted in its operational position. We are able to change the elements length in the air

while on an antenna range and determine very closely our electrical element length. Others

must just estimate it, thus leading to less than optimum performance. With the SteppIR

adjustable antenna, we have advanced antenna design technology one step further - now you

can model and build as many different antennas you want, without ever leaving your ham

shack!

Remember, however, modeling programs output the electrical length of the element - not the

physical length. Our controller indicates the physical length, the electrical length is from 2% -

3.5% longer due to the conductor diameter (our strip is equal to .28 in. diameter tube) mount-

ing hardware and dielectric loading due to the telescoping fiberglass poles. We have this

data accounted for and programmed into the factory default antennas.

2112 116TH AVE NE SUITE 1-5, BELLEVUE WA, 98004 WWW.STEPPIR.COM TEL: (425)-453-1910 FAX: (425)-462-4415

The 4 element antennas have two directors, Director 1 and Director 2. See the installation

manual to determine the location of each on the antenna. The 2 element and 3 element

antennas will also display Direct 2 even though they have only one director (Direct 1). Make

sure you select the correct one. We did this to make our software compatible across our

entire product line. D1 = Director 1

D2 = Director 2

DVR = Driven

REF = Reflector

To scroll across through the different elements use the BAND up or down button. Hit the

select button once the desired element is flashing. This will allow for adjustment for each

individual element. Use the BAND up and down arrow to change the lengths of the element.

Note that the TUNING light will flash as you move the element. When you are finished mak-

ing all adjustments, press the up or down arrow until DONE is flashing again, and press the

select button. The screen will read “SAVE? YES NO, with NO flashing. Use the up or down

button to make the proper choice (“YES” or “NO”) and press the select button. If you select-

ed “YES”, the new lengths will be saved into memory for the ham band or frequency range

you are currently on. After saving your new antenna the controller will scale it and use it

throughout the entire ham band or frequency range you created it in. If you create a new

antenna or modify the factory default antenna in any of the range segments the controller will

then scale that antenna throughout the selected frequency range and only the selected

range. Creating and modifying an antenna anywhere (it is best to chose a frequency near the

bottom of the range) in a frequency range will change the entire range.

You can create the antenna at any frequency within the ham band or general frequency seg-

ment. For the very best results model the new antenna in the middle of the band or frequency

segment and set the controller to that frequency before creating the antenna. The frequency

coverage range of each of our antennas is broken up into numerous blocks for each direction

(NORM, 180 degrees, and BI (3/4)), each covered by a different antenna model (Figure 1).

Using the create antenna mode you can modify and save any of the master antennas (Figure

1 & 2). The frequency range is identical for the all three direction modes of the antenna

(NORM, 180 degrees, and BI (3/4)). If you select “NO”, no changes will be made, your

antenna segment will be just as it was before.

6.95 - 7.85 20.80 - 24.85

7.85 - 8.85 24.60 - 27.50

8.85 - 10.0 27.50 - 29.00

10.0 - 11.3 29.00 - 34.50

11.3 - 12.5 34.50 - 41.00

12.5 - 13.95 41.00 - 49.50

13.05 - 15.8 49.50 - 51.00

15.8 - 18.05 51.00 - 54.00

17.85 - 20.80

Yagi Master Antenna Frequency Range (MHz)

Figure 1

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TRANCEIVER SETUP

This menu item is used if you have purchased the optional transceiver interface. To use the

transceiver interface, you need to have a rig that has computer interfacing capability. Rigs

with these options were primarily manufactured from 1990 on. When enabled, the transceiver

interface on the SteppIR controller will “listen” to your rig through its computer port, and will

automatically re-adjust every 50 KHz as you tune through the bands.

If you have the transceiver interface option (2 - 9 Pin connectors on the rear of the controller),

you will also need an optional interface cable for your specific rig, which has a 9 pin d-sub

connector on one end that hooks up to the “Data In” port on the back of the controller. The

other end will go to your rigs interface. There is a second 9 pin D-sub connector below the

first called “data out”, this connector is used in the event you stack two SteppIR Yagi anten-

nas, it allows the two controllers to communicate to each other, so that when any change in

frequency on one of the controllers, the other will follow. It also allows the user to connect

the SteppIR directly to a PC.

NOTE:

We can also supply an optional “Y” cable that allows the user to run a logging program con

currently with the SteppIR controller. (Not required for ICOM radios)

Select the SETUP button, and use the BAND up or down arrow to select “Tranceiver Setup”.

To enter, press the SELECT button. The screen should be as shown below.

The baud rate is the speed in which information is exchanged between the SteppIR controller

and your radio. This setting must be the same as the setting in your radio, or the interface

will not function. To set the baud rate, press the BAND up or down arrow until “Din” (Input)

or “Dout (output)” is flashing, and then press the select button. Depending on the purpose

you can change both input or output to different Baud rates. You can then use the BAND up

or down arrows to adjust to the proper setting. If you are not sure what this setting is, refer to

the users manual for your radio. When the proper baud rate is showing, press the select but-

ton. BAUD will now be flashing again.

Din Dout Mode Done

Up Dn to SCROLL

3.4 - 3.5 17.9 - 20.9

3.5 - 3.6 20.9 - 24.9

3.6 - 3.75 26.9 - 27.9

3.75 - 5.2 27.9 - 34.9

5.2 - 6.9 34.9 - 49.0

6.9 - 9.9 49.0 - 49.5

9.9 - 13.9 49.5 - 50.9

13.9 - 17.9 50.9 - 54.0

BigIR Master Antenna Frequency Range (MHz)

Figure 2

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