Excellent review. I have owned a CrankIR for several years and have used it for many Field Day, portable and back-yard operations. I did not get the extensions for 40 and 80 but it will work well on 40 meters but at less efficiency. The wire wraps around in a "U" shape and gets a low SWR. It helps to have an analyzer to set up but after a few uses you can use the colored shrink tubing to get it close. It can be left out in the rain without issues but it just isn't designed for a permanent installation. For single band operations I often use a pair of pre-cut quarter wave radials. For supporting the ends of the radial I use the plastic insulator posts for electric fences from the farm store. Yes it's expensive but it's very well made and durable and no coils will burn out running digital modes as happened to me at 75 watts with another portable antenna.
I ordered the CrankIR art Dayton last year and it is hands down my best portable antenna I own. I was able to long path on 40M to Perth Australia from NW Ohio. I also brought it to the Toledo Mobile Radio Associations winter field day in January it performed well enough that the club bought two of them for field day (If we have one this year). Good review and great antenna from my personal experience.
This will definitely be one on my list for the future. Currently studying for my General to take at the end of the month. Just ordered a FT-891 and my Elmer is giving me his old Hustler 5BTV for the back yard, but this will be a perfect antenna for those camping weekends and lake house trips. Just another item to save for, in the future. (Hopefully it will go on sale again or I can pick up a good used one)
@@HamRadioCrashCourse, thanks! Great review btw, love the antenna, but as you said it is quite pricey. That said, it is awsome, covering almost all bands and all. I've just got an HT with a Nagoya NA-320A and am working on a 1/4 wave 2m ground plain for my QTH. (thats base station right? Still learning the Q codes)
SoDaftMinecraft How long did you have to wait under the new FCC dormant operating procedures? I passed my test 2 weeks ago and just standing by monitoring while I wait for database post…
Well, I was wrong about the expected price. I thought at the beginning of the presentation, that for the cost of this system, I could likely acquire the IC-9700 that I wish to own someday. Yet *sadly* the street price remains far outside of my budget, because I'm sure its a capable and useful piece of kit, and I'd give it a lot of use. Unless I missed it, you didn't tell us whether YOU would buy the product. That, and I dig your old skool black tee. They were pioneers of their time to advance the music to a wider audience! Props. Nice review man. Thanks!
Very cool antenna for field day! Looks like its really high performance. You mentioned sand bags, Instead of sand in the bag I like to use a bunch of disposable water bottles in my "sand" bags. If your bag gets a tiny tear you don't have to worry about sand spilling out, you then have emergency water on hand, its cheap and you can pick them up at any store while on your way to your POTA location.
Outstanding video! This is a great looking antenna. It would be great for people held hostage in an HOA. I'm going to need to take one of these to the high desert! Big Bear or even Lake Arrowhead would be great locations!
Josh just watched the intro to Raspberry PI. Nice video.Here's an FYI to make sure SSH is enabled after burning image create a blank txt file named ssh on the boot section of the sd card. I've been a Ham since 1995 and be a minor programmer since 1984...relearning linux and various coding languages
A counterpoise is used to bring a station to ground potential if a normal RF ground isn't available. Radials are used to balance an unbalanced antenna. Big difference!
At $1500 to $2000 for these I believe I'll just build my own $50 portable antenna. After having built a 1750 meter antenna with this basic shape (vertical w. counterpoise) it shouldn't be that difficult.
"Not weather resistant" kills it for me, and makes me wonder how you can say it is such a great antenna. Yeah, we get it, California usually has great weather. That's not the case in the rest of the world though and hams often have to operate during adverse weather. This is especially true for emcomm and Field Day use. I've done a lot of emcomms as a ham, and a large portion of it was setting up comms from a Red Cross shelter for hurricanes and tropical storms. And while Field Day is usually during good weather, there have been a few that were rainy, wet and miserable as storms rolled through the area. As you well know if you've ever participated in Field Day with a group or club, antenna locations and types are planned well in advance and can't be changed at the last minute. If I'm supposed to work, say 40m phone and this is the antenna I want to use, having the weekend be a rainy one is probably going to mean zero 40m phone contacts for the club unless I have another antenna with a similar footprint that IS weather-rated that I can use. If I have to choose a portable vertical for an event it's going to be something like my Eagle One or something homebrew, not this. The price of this also leaves a lot to be desired. Honestly, I'm not seeing where its value meets that price, even the sale price. Sure, amateur radio is not an inexpensive hobby. You need some pretty deep pockets if you want to run good quality gear, but generally, that good quality gear is worth the price and has features that lower-priced gear can't match. An antenna system that you can only use on sunny days doesn't meet my definition of "good quality gear" no matter how easy it is to set up and take down or how high the quality of the components used in its construction are.
NOW We Need To Make It Automatic With Buttons OR Rather App On Your Phone To Change Frequencies On It And Programm It At The Right Frequencies, That Would Be THE FIRST IN WORLD Like That
downsides to the antenna, having to go out and retune when you want to switch bands will become annoying faster than a lot of people realize. Tangles, the guidebook with the antenna goes into great detail about disassembling the cranks due to wire jams so obviously it happens and probably at the worst times. Price, there are too many antennas that do the same thing for a lot less AND don't require retuning or can be retuned from the control point. So add that to the upsides and make your choice if it fits your application.
Hey Josh! Great review.. the $780 something price point on the SteppIR website doesn't include any Tripod(s) or tripod bag so it would still come near the $1K price point but still cheaper compared to the Scorpion Dipole Antenna. I wonder if Scorpion would lend you one for a review! :)
Hey Josh, great review on the antenna IR. That look awesome, can you say down rigger reels. That system can be electrifying with that carbon mast if there is static in the air. Love your videos
@@HamRadioCrashCourse I mean there was a lot of discussion after the initial demo describing various issues and in those discussions it was a bit hard to follow without walking through them. No biggie.
As always,, great video. ...but, with practice, it would take 30min to set up the antenna? Most antennas are a compromise between performance, size, and convenience. This seems very complicated for whqt should be a simple vertical antenna with elevated radials/counterpoise, which is likely a safety and tripping hazard. What is your long term opinion of this antenna?
if you had a mast and the top spreader you could just use a peace wire cut to the band you wished to use it would just work the same but with little cost
note to self to change bands you would have to rewire it but on the high band a wire up the pole would work for peanuts and keep the $800 in the bank yep that is it old way just a wire on the pole like ive done for years
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Ask them to send you one. The Long Version in particular. They do not have many videos online to advertise their products, which is definitely worth mentioning, so I think that you have a chance. Greetings from Greece. 73S de SV1SLB
how does the rotating element spools make electrical contact to the feedline? is the counterpoise made of insulated wire, it seems like the radiated wire is not insulated so it doesn't act like a loading coil when on the spool?
"not weather resistant" that comment needs to be verified please. The instructions state it is designed to operate in wet environments including rain, dew and brief water immersion will not cause damage! page 44 of antenna instructions.
I spoke to engineers from SteppIR at Dayton before I got mine and they said they just wanted to discourage guys from thinking of it as a permanent antenna.
If I understand each time I want to change band I must get out the shack, get the wire up or down and adjust the radial after. Once done I come back in and scan the new band. Am I following correctly ? VA2SOB Claude
Thank You. I've heard nothing but good things about this antenna system. I'm wondering how does it compare to my Wolf River Coils YAFI in terms of take off angle and DX ability?
I had a Wolf River Coils vertical. Using it at about 75 watts on FT8, the coill overheated and put a burn spot on the coil. It really can't handle digital modes.
Some of your stated strengths are problematic. For instance, you say it is not designed to be left out. So if I wanted or needed to set this up in the back yard and test for a few days, it is not weather resistant. You have to put up/tear down. How is that going to work in a DXpedition situation? Are you really going to raise/break each day? If it is "tropical" is it ok to leave up in the rain? And something that was not clear in your video, can you still do 2m-40 with the extra section? Or are you restricted on the bands that you are able to use. As someone that camps regularly with my equipment, I would not want to have to reconfigure everything in the evening when I transition to 40. And ya. It is expensive.
What is the performance of this antenna relative to other available verticals on the different bands? Are the 40m and 80m elements full 1/4 wave vertical elements or are they folded down since the length will not accommodate them? What is the length of the pole with the 40m and 80m extensions?
Fun video, but I don't see this for POTA. I've done about 20 activations, and this is waaaaaaay to complicated and finicky to setup in the field. I suppose if you hanging out all day at a park, maybe. I roll in, setup either my ATAS-120 on a tripod with 15 radials, or pop up the buddipole. I'm on the air in 15 minutes. This would never work. However, as someone pointed out, for HOA, maybe not a bad idea. Set it up for the day, take it mostly down at night, but not completely apart. I wonder if you could leave the wires attached and just lower the sections and tuck it in the garage. Then the next day, easier to set up...thanks...w1ip
Ham Radio Crash Course I recall seeing a similar design in the early 2000s at the Ft. Walton, Florida hamfest. Vertical was similar to this SteppIr but used metal bands rather than a wire. It was called the Tune-a-Tenna if I recall rightly. It was selling then for $1500 or so. The Ham who designed it later sold the idea. Perhaps SteppIr modeled theirs after thus earlier design. My memory on this is a bit hazy but I surely wanted to buy it but the price was too steep.
Excellent review. I have owned a CrankIR for several years and have used it for many Field Day, portable and back-yard operations. I did not get the extensions for 40 and 80 but it will work well on 40 meters but at less efficiency. The wire wraps around in a "U" shape and gets a low SWR. It helps to have an analyzer to set up but after a few uses you can use the colored shrink tubing to get it close. It can be left out in the rain without issues but it just isn't designed for a permanent installation. For single band operations I often use a pair of pre-cut quarter wave radials. For supporting the ends of the radial I use the plastic insulator posts for electric fences from the farm store. Yes it's expensive but it's very well made and durable and no coils will burn out running digital modes as happened to me at 75 watts with another portable antenna.
I ordered the CrankIR art Dayton last year and it is hands down my best portable antenna I own. I was able to long path on 40M to Perth Australia from NW Ohio. I also brought it to the Toledo Mobile Radio Associations winter field day in January it performed well enough that the club bought two of them for field day (If we have one this year). Good review and great antenna from my personal experience.
This will definitely be one on my list for the future. Currently studying for my General to take at the end of the month. Just ordered a FT-891 and my Elmer is giving me his old Hustler 5BTV for the back yard, but this will be a perfect antenna for those camping weekends and lake house trips. Just another item to save for, in the future. (Hopefully it will go on sale again or I can pick up a good used one)
It would be good for HOA's, relatively easy set up and tear down great range small foot print. Great for day use
I'll keep mine forever in the event I eventually end up in a house with an HOA.
Hahaha, so glad I live in Europe without any HOA's
Just got my callsign last week, having a great time. 73
Congrats.
Great work!
@@HamRadioCrashCourse, thanks! Great review btw, love the antenna, but as you said it is quite pricey. That said, it is awsome, covering almost all bands and all. I've just got an HT with a Nagoya NA-320A and am working on a 1/4 wave 2m ground plain for my QTH. (thats base station right? Still learning the Q codes)
SoDaftMinecraft How long did you have to wait under the new FCC dormant operating procedures? I passed my test 2 weeks ago and just standing by monitoring while I wait for database post…
Gratz!
Josh at HRCC, I want to personally thank you. I passed my online Tech today and would have never started if I had never seen one of your videos!
Awesome! I’m glad you’ve join the hobby!
Well, I was wrong about the expected price. I thought at the beginning of the presentation, that for the cost of this system, I could likely acquire the IC-9700 that I wish to own someday. Yet *sadly* the street price remains far outside of my budget, because I'm sure its a capable and useful piece of kit, and I'd give it a lot of use.
Unless I missed it, you didn't tell us whether YOU would buy the product. That, and I dig your old skool black tee. They were pioneers of their time to advance the music to a wider audience! Props.
Nice review man. Thanks!
I became interested in this antenna, then I saw the current price and decided to stay with what I have. If on sale in future I will consider it.
Hi Josh it’s a bit like the adjustiwave made by MM0OPX but he as added 160m.
did you answer the question of would you buy it? Have you purchased one?
Thanks Ambassador Josh. Nice antenna.
Great review Josh, thanks for posting.
Very cool antenna for field day! Looks like its really high performance. You mentioned sand bags, Instead of sand in the bag I like to use a bunch of disposable water bottles in my "sand" bags. If your bag gets a tiny tear you don't have to worry about sand spilling out, you then have emergency water on hand, its cheap and you can pick them up at any store while on your way to your POTA location.
Outstanding video! This is a great looking antenna. It would be great for people held hostage in an HOA. I'm going to need to take one of these to the high desert! Big Bear or even Lake Arrowhead would be great locations!
I had to look up the Dry Tortugas. Thanks for the geography lesson. At first I thought it was a skin condition.
Hahahah. It’s a wild place.
Yes, comes after a week of jock itch ointment...
Been there. Incredible history! Dr Mudd (He treated J. W. Booth after Lincoln assassination) was imprisoned there.
Josh just watched the intro to Raspberry PI. Nice video.Here's an FYI to make sure SSH is enabled after burning image create a blank txt file named ssh on the boot section of the sd card. I've been a Ham since 1995 and be a minor programmer since 1984...relearning linux and various coding languages
Excellent review as always! Keep up the good work!
Thank you! And thanks for watching!
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Thank you for always doing your best in answering your viewers comments and questions that they may have. Be safe!
Really appreciate this review, I was just looking at this antenna last week. Great work, thank you
Thanks for watching!
A counterpoise is used to bring a station to ground potential if a normal RF ground isn't available. Radials are used to balance an unbalanced antenna. Big difference!
Another great video. Would love to use something like this in a POTA. SOTA not a real option in the flat land here in Texas haha.
Or not a "reel" option as the case may be... Sorry couldn't resist....
It also seems very HOA friendly! Here in SoCal we’ve got to worry about things like that! Lol
I ordered one due to my HOA issues here in SoCal.
At $1500 to $2000 for these I believe I'll just build my own $50 portable antenna. After having built a 1750 meter antenna with this basic shape (vertical w. counterpoise) it shouldn't be that difficult.
"Not weather resistant" kills it for me, and makes me wonder how you can say it is such a great antenna. Yeah, we get it, California usually has great weather. That's not the case in the rest of the world though and hams often have to operate during adverse weather. This is especially true for emcomm and Field Day use. I've done a lot of emcomms as a ham, and a large portion of it was setting up comms from a Red Cross shelter for hurricanes and tropical storms. And while Field Day is usually during good weather, there have been a few that were rainy, wet and miserable as storms rolled through the area. As you well know if you've ever participated in Field Day with a group or club, antenna locations and types are planned well in advance and can't be changed at the last minute. If I'm supposed to work, say 40m phone and this is the antenna I want to use, having the weekend be a rainy one is probably going to mean zero 40m phone contacts for the club unless I have another antenna with a similar footprint that IS weather-rated that I can use. If I have to choose a portable vertical for an event it's going to be something like my Eagle One or something homebrew, not this.
The price of this also leaves a lot to be desired. Honestly, I'm not seeing where its value meets that price, even the sale price. Sure, amateur radio is not an inexpensive hobby. You need some pretty deep pockets if you want to run good quality gear, but generally, that good quality gear is worth the price and has features that lower-priced gear can't match. An antenna system that you can only use on sunny days doesn't meet my definition of "good quality gear" no matter how easy it is to set up and take down or how high the quality of the components used in its construction are.
This looks interesting, I looks at their website. That is to much money for me.
NOW We Need To Make It Automatic With Buttons OR Rather App On Your Phone To Change Frequencies On It And Programm It At The Right Frequencies, That Would Be THE FIRST IN WORLD Like That
SteppIR do make vertical antennas that do this. Check them out.
downsides to the antenna, having to go out and retune when you want to switch bands will become annoying faster than a lot of people realize. Tangles, the guidebook with the antenna goes into great detail about disassembling the cranks due to wire jams so obviously it happens and probably at the worst times. Price, there are too many antennas that do the same thing for a lot less AND don't require retuning or can be retuned from the control point. So add that to the upsides and make your choice if it fits your application.
Great review! You got me wanting that CrankIR. We travel with an RV, and that would be dandy :-)
Its a good RV choice. They show up at Quartzfest alot.
Wish they did one for permanent usage, weather restistant. Great for us who dont have much room for raising hf antennas
Yes that steppers really nice what's the price on it
Good product video. Thanks for the video.
So you also fish, do you build your own rods and lures? Also try a 20 ft B&M Crappie pole from Cabelas Play radio then fish, or vise versa.
Hey Josh! Great review.. the $780 something price point on the SteppIR website doesn't include any Tripod(s) or tripod bag so it would still come near the $1K price point but still cheaper compared to the Scorpion Dipole Antenna. I wonder if Scorpion would lend you one for a review! :)
Hey Josh, great review on the antenna IR. That look awesome, can you say down rigger reels. That system can be electrifying with that carbon mast if there is static in the air. Love your videos
This is a great concept.
Great description but actual demo while being discussed would be even more great.
I included two demos of it in use? What do you mean?
@@HamRadioCrashCourse I mean there was a lot of discussion after the initial demo describing various issues and in those discussions it was a bit hard to follow without walking through them. No biggie.
Check out the assembly video if you have not and let me know what you think.
As always,, great video. ...but, with practice, it would take 30min to set up the antenna? Most antennas are a compromise between performance, size, and convenience. This seems very complicated for whqt should be a simple vertical antenna with elevated radials/counterpoise, which is likely a safety and tripping hazard. What is your long term opinion of this antenna?
It’s great for a weekend activation.
Top notch review great Chanel vy 73 Ilan
Excellent review. Cheers Josh.....
Great review Josh, on my vertical antenna base I welded metal tags with holes in them to peg it to the ground, no sand bags needed.. VK3HJW
Pretty good mod!
Josh, do you have any comparison between this and other verticals for urban noise?
No, I didn’t do a noise comparison. Idk how much worse or better other vertical antennas would be tbh.
if you had a mast and the top spreader you could just use a peace wire cut to the band you wished to use it would just work the same but with little cost
note to self to change bands you would have to rewire it but on the high band a wire up the pole would work for peanuts and keep the $800 in the bank yep that is it old way just a wire on the pole like ive done for years
Now it,s time to make a review on the "Buddipole" and then a comparison between the two.
I don’t have one... yet.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Ask them to send you one. The Long Version in particular. They do not have many videos online to advertise their products, which is definitely worth mentioning, so I think that you have a chance. Greetings from Greece. 73S de SV1SLB
Great to know about excellent equipment. Which was the yeasu that you said had really good receive capabilities for a $500 device?
The ft-891?
how does the rotating element spools make electrical contact to the feedline? is the counterpoise made of insulated wire, it seems like the radiated wire is not insulated so it doesn't act like a loading coil when on the spool?
The connection is made inside the box it all connects to.
I’ve had my eye on this antenna. Thank you for an excellent explanation 73’s W1FYG
Thoughts on this vs Dx Commander?
It’s great!
"not weather resistant" that comment needs to be verified please. The instructions state it is designed to operate in wet environments including rain, dew and brief water immersion will not cause damage! page 44 of antenna instructions.
Yes I think you’re right about that! Let me see what I can do about that.
I spoke to engineers from SteppIR at Dayton before I got mine and they said they just wanted to discourage guys from thinking of it as a permanent antenna.
If I understand each time I want to change band I must get out the shack, get the wire up or down and adjust the radial after. Once done I come back in and scan the new band. Am I following correctly ? VA2SOB Claude
Yes. When you change the band crank the two reels to the band you want.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Totally different question did you do a review of the RFinder B1 HT ?
Thank You. I've heard nothing but good things about this antenna system. I'm wondering how does it compare to my Wolf River Coils YAFI in terms of take off angle and DX ability?
It will likely do better since it doesn't use a coil. But I might be able to A and B test it.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Thank you. That would be great.
I had a Wolf River Coils vertical. Using it at about 75 watts on FT8, the coill overheated and put a burn spot on the coil. It really can't handle digital modes.
@@traveller-nl hi it will not act like a coil because all on the spool is shorted together its bare wire so will be fine
Some of your stated strengths are problematic. For instance, you say it is not designed to be left out. So if I wanted or needed to set this up in the back yard and test for a few days, it is not weather resistant. You have to put up/tear down. How is that going to work in a DXpedition situation? Are you really going to raise/break each day? If it is "tropical" is it ok to leave up in the rain? And something that was not clear in your video, can you still do 2m-40 with the extra section? Or are you restricted on the bands that you are able to use. As someone that camps regularly with my equipment, I would not want to have to reconfigure everything in the evening when I transition to 40. And ya. It is expensive.
Hey Josh I was wondering if you have made a video for great Ham radio antenna for mounting on vehicles?
What is the performance of this antenna relative to other available verticals on the different bands? Are the 40m and 80m elements full 1/4 wave vertical elements or are they folded down since the length will not accommodate them?
What is the length of the pole with the 40m and 80m extensions?
Top notch Chanel as well nice guy vy 73 Ilan btw it can run 2kw power ? Thank you g0uut
And it comes out right when stimulation check s come out lol I'm not doing it!!! Lol. It is nice though
Love the fact you are a cogi owner. I am too. 73 K04EGN
Another splendid video! 73 - Julia, The Mom Ham / kf8jbb
Curious if you where able to make any DX contacts with this. Like over an Ocean
Fun video, but I don't see this for POTA. I've done about 20 activations, and this is waaaaaaay to complicated and finicky to setup in the field. I suppose if you hanging out all day at a park, maybe. I roll in, setup either my ATAS-120 on a tripod with 15 radials, or pop up the buddipole. I'm on the air in 15 minutes. This would never work. However, as someone pointed out, for HOA, maybe not a bad idea. Set it up for the day, take it mostly down at night, but not completely apart. I wonder if you could leave the wires attached and just lower the sections and tuck it in the garage. Then the next day, easier to set up...thanks...w1ip
I actually saw one at Lake Chelan State Park in spring, the first POTA I’ve seen, dude said he loved it
So on 80 and 40 is the radiating element on both sides of the T?
On the vertical, yes.
Very nice.
Much does it cost?
cool product, waaaaaaaay out of price, 1500$CA here... all they make is crazy expensive...
What kind of power can you push thru this?
Legal limit.
Just key down full power and have the wife crank it til the radio is happy. Right?
When you unloosen a thing, you make it tight. Do you mean untighten a nut?
Let's talk about price?
yeah, at $1k (usd presumably), I don't know why you'd even bother watching a review. For that, it could come with a built in radio.
Wow, great antenna and only ~ $800
Fred Flintstone hehehe yea... lame overpriced
This a rip on adjustiwave? I mean 700-800 for a vertical potable antenna. They had most of the r and d done for them.
Pretty sure crankir came first. Crankir 2014, adjustiwave 2019
Ham Radio Crash Course I recall seeing a similar design in the early 2000s at the Ft. Walton, Florida hamfest. Vertical was similar to this SteppIr but used metal bands rather than a wire. It was called the Tune-a-Tenna if I recall rightly. It was selling then for $1500 or so. The Ham who designed it later sold the idea. Perhaps SteppIr modeled theirs after thus earlier design. My memory on this is a bit hazy but I surely wanted to buy it but the price was too steep.
nice design built one for 60 bucks
Watch2End&Comment
Why am I thinking Rube Goldberg?
Ok....mr
Its cool, but its a little out of my price range lol
Sorry the price is a bit much
Another ad. Hope ppl realize that you are being paid to say those things, sure it is going to be great.