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Hi Brian,
Sorry to hear that you are having problems. You might want to check the following:
- SteppIR’s are heavy antennas. Your thrust bearing should carry the weight of the antenna and mast; not the rotator itself. If the system is putting downward force on the rotator, this could cause binding and will, at a minimum, likely cause premature rotator failure. We adjust our rotators so that there is about a 1/4″ gap between the bottom of the mast and the rotator top plate or bottom stop when the rotator mast clamps are loose.
- This step will help you to determine where the problem is. First, check to see if the bearing is the thing that is binding. This can happen in a number of different ways. Once you have #1 taken care of, loosen the rotator mast bolts that clamp your mast to the rotator and spin the antenna around to see if it turns smoothly for a full +/- 180 degrees from North. If it does, your problem is in the rotator. If it does not, then your problem is in the thrust bearing. You can also run your rotator lock to lock with the rotator mast clamp bolts loose and confirm that the rotator does not bind up.
- The mast must be centered in the thrust bearing. If it’s not, Binding will occur. The best way to check for this problem is to loosen ONLY the bolts that fasten the thrust bearing to the tower top plate and see if the binding goes away. If this is the problem, first check that your rotator is centered on its mounting plate in the tower. Then check that your thrust bearing is properly centered relative to the rotator and top plate. With these steps done, you’ll need to check that the mast is centered in the thrust bearing. All three of these points must be concentrically aligned with the tower. Make sure that your thrust bearing, not the rotator carries the weight of the mast and antenna.
Good luck solving your problems. If you get a chance, let us know what the problem was here so that others can learn.
The latest round of upgrades is now complete and it’s OK to create content on n1fd.org again. Create away!
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Hello Randall,
We only have ground wave propagation on 10m right now. This means that hills and other obstructions can play a factor in which stations you can hear. Getting your antenna higher up would probably help the most. Beyond this, a directional antenna like a yagi can help too if most of the stations that you are trying to hear are in the same general direction.
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