I just dropped $200 at the Wireman this week.
Coax is already crazy expensive. 2x?? ouch
Jeff n1kdo
On Fri, Jan 21, 2022 at 2:34 PM Huel Halliburton < seafury777@...> wrote:
FYI I just talked to the Wireman folks and coax and rotor cable is going to double in price in the next few weeks? They still have some cable at the old prices so you may want to stock up on your cable needs.
On Wednesday, January 5, 2022, 12:02:46 PM CST, Joe Schippert via <joe_schippert= [email protected]> wrote:
Hey Dave,
It must be nice to have three elements on 20M on up!
Good assessment of how problems show up. I had not thought about for the Steppir. Good luck with your controller!
Joe, to try and research the steppir controller issue I joined the steppir group. Now I get multiple messages daily from folks with controller issues. That prompted me to look at eham reviews, and much the same there.?
It¡¯s hard to get a read on what percentage of steppir owners are having issues. Many/most with problems will vent about it. Many/most with no issues are quiet about it. So maybe 20 percent have issues, or maybe 1/20th of one percent. Who knows. But lots of folks have problems. It sure is great when it¡¯s working though.?
Hi Dave,
Glad you and Margaret dodged that darn Covid, and hope your tribe is soon back at 100%.?
I have not heard that level of problems with the Steppir from anybody else. Do you think maybe a call with a senior guy at Steppir would yield some results?? I can¡¯t imagine they would accept that performance in their own stations. Did you buy it new?? I don¡¯t think I know, but regardless, I hate to see you entering this phase of Cycle 25 with your antenna keeping you off the higher bands.?
Let us know when you want to pull it down and fix, or whatever.?
OK, here¡¯s the photo.? Sorry, I forgot it last time.? ? Pardon the mess on the desk.? This is still very much a work in progress.?? ? UW ? ? ? This has been an interesting week.? We had a few family members exposed to covid.? My daughter Kim managed to catch it from her daughter who brought it home from daycare.? Then my son-in-law Mark (married to my daughter Jenna, and recently moved to the US) and another daughter¡¯s fianc¨¦e decided to go play basketball at the gym a few days before xmas and both apparently brought covid home.? Mark and Jenna and their two toddlers live with us, so we sort of isolated, with Margaret and I staying in the basement, and Mark, Jenna, and the girls staying in the top two floors.? So far, so good.? We tested negative the Thursday before xmas (after possible exposure to Kim), and again on this past Tuesday (after possible exposre to the basketball players, and again this morning.? So it looks like we dodged a bullet.? But Jenna, Mark, and the two girls all tested positive.? All minimal symptoms, thanks, I presume, to the vaccines.? So, what to do when isolated in the basement?? Well, the new Dell arrived (without the monitors), and a bunch of radios and accessories needed setting up, so this was the week.? I took the advice of several and cancelled the order of monitors from Dell and got Asus monitors from Microcenter instead.? Good plan.? I was able to pick them up the same day. It has not exactly been easy for me¡ªyou know computers and I don¡¯t generally get along well.? But after several days of tinkering I have the new computer up and running with Microsoft office, Logic logging software, and WSJT-x on both radios simultaneously.? Yes, I had that all working on the old computer, but there are a lot of little nuggets I had figured out some time in the past that I had to re-figure out.? Remember how to change the RRR message in WSJT-x to RR73?? Remember how to move forms on/off of the Logic main window?? Remember how to adjust font size in Logic, WSJT-x, or Outlook?? Remember how to set up two instances of WSJT-x?? I didn¡¯t, and I¡¯m trying not to pester the world with questions.? Eventually, after hours monkeying with it, I relearned them all.? All but one, really.? Eddie, I tried the instructions you sent to set thing up to download LOTW users into WSJT-x.? Worked perfectly on the old computer.? Didn¡¯t work in the new computer.? So I manually downloaded the csv file into the WSJT-x log directories.? Not ideal, but after hours of fiddling with it, I went with what worked.? It¡¯s on my list to come back to one day.? Oh, and you don¡¯t need to import the WSJT-x log to get the color-coded dupe checking.? It apparently reads the info from the ADIF file, not the log file.? So parking the ADIF I exported from Logic into the WSJT-x log folders was all that was needed.? Sounds easy, but it took me hours to figure it out.? So, slowly making progress.? I have the TS-990 and TS-890 up and running on FT-8 and phone, talking nicely to Logic and WSJT-x.? The TS-2000 is up and running on 2m.? The remote antenna switch is band following on both radios.? Rotor control from the logging software is working.? Next up is the Winkeyer setup, then N1MM for phone and CW.? Then I¡¯ll take another crack at RTTY setup, although that was a dismal failure last attempt.?? The Steppir is again broke.? Control chip error in the SDA controller.? Jeff1 helped me replace the chips, then after working for a short while it went Tango Uniform again.? After I get all the software working (and the rest of the xmas lights put away) I¡¯ll do more troubleshooting again.? That steppir is great when it¡¯s working, but it has been broke about as often as it is working in the three years I¡¯ve had it.? Got to think this thing has some serious design shortcomings.? I¡¯m getting pretty close to punting on steppir forever.? More frustration than fun.? But I¡¯m good on 80, 60, 40, 30, and 2m. Made a few contacts today (9V on 40m was the best).? Feeling almost, but not entirely, back in business.? Here¡¯s a photo of the new rack mount setup.? Not much rats nest of wiring visible from the front.? Back is another thing altogether.? Not visible, but still a rats nest, but the back of the equipment is readily available despite the rats nest.? Went from two 22-inch monitors to three 27-inch monitors¡ªlots of room for logging and digital mode windows.? I think I¡¯m going to like it.? 
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Jeff Otterson n1kdo