Alan, I wonder if your friend Stan would consider, as an alternative or
additional use of his fortunes, the idea of establishing a grant fund in his
name in association with an organization such as HandiHams with the
objective of providing matching grants to people with disabilities with
limited funds to purchase needed ham gear, e.g. transceivers, antennas, etc.
Just think of how much good he could do for other people, and in the
process, achieve a great deal of personal satisfaction knowing that he has
used his wealth, in part, for the good of others who are less fortunate.
Since I, personally, do not believe in "free-stuff handouts," your friend
could make his grant fund a matching grant; that is, recipients of each
grant would have to put up 50% of the cost of whatever they were requesting
the grant for. In that way, each recipient would have a vested interest in
whatever they were purchasing and your friend's funds would assist twice as
many people.  

Ron, K8HSY



-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Alan R. Downing
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2015 12:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: SteppIr reliability

As you all know, I have been working with Stan, KH6CG/W4, to design and
equip his super station in north west Florida.  Among the antennas that are
being installed are a dozen SteppIrs in different models.  Currently, and
for a brief period only, Stan has a DB18E on a 85 foot tower.  By the time
that you add the rotor and mast, the DB18E is up at about 98 feet.  The next
tower to go up in about a month, will be a stacked pair of DB42s, the
largest SteppIr model.  The bottom DB42 will be at 60 feet, and the upper
one at 120 feet.  After that, there will be a stack of 6 three element
SteppIrs going up on a 200 foot rotating tower.  Then there will be several
more SteppIrs, probably DB36es on towers for each of 3 guest bedrooms.  I
will report back on how reliable this sizable group of SteppIrs turns out to
be.  We fully expect the yagis to perform well, and without problems.
However, just in case there are any failures, Stan has purchased spares of
each model which will be fully assembled and ready to go up in a moment's
notice.    Stay tuned.

 

Alan - N7MIT

 

 

Alan R. Downing

Phoenix, AZ