On Oct 18, 2023, at 4:53 AM, Hans Summers <hans.summers@...> wrote:

Hi all

Thanks to Muhsin TA1MHS for sending me the attached page 9 advertisement from the latest Nov 2023 QST magazine.?

Since some of you guys love a good story, pending the maybe-someday-forthcoming QRP Labs memoirs...?

Long long ago, May 2022 in fact, I was standing at my QRP Labs booth in the Dayton hamvention. We had a guy in the next booth selling 2kW Linears and I had already tried to strike a deal with him, a swap involving his most modestly priced linear and my QCX-mini, but that didn't work out...

On the last day (Sunday) when things were quieter, Brian Moran, QRP Labs customer, and maybe even here, came to my table and he was looking at the QCX-mini. Before I knew he was Brian, I saw he had a SteppIR logo on his T-shirt, and not just a SteppIR logo (he could be a fanboy) but also a "SteppIR exhibitor" label on the exhibition ticket hanging around his neck.?

Brian was looking at the QCX-mini and I had been a long term admirer of the SteppIR antenna concept, where the elements of the multi-element beam are copper tape inside fibreglass tubes, with stepper motors winding them in and out to exactly tune the elements to resonance, no traps, or compromises. So Brain pulling up in front of the QRP Labs booth was like a lamborghini pulling up outside the front of my house and revving the engine. Awesome!

So I started another bad joke, quite closely related to the one that failed to work on the 2kW linear guys next door; I said to Brian, hey, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse, how about you take one of my QCX-minis free and you give me one of your beam antennas? So you know a QCX-mini with case is somewhat under $80 and a SteppIR beam comes in something of the order of 100 times that. So I thought it was a great deal. Brain just laughed and gave me the $80 and off he went happily with his new QCX-mini kit. And again, making deals just somehow wasn't working for me.?

About 20 minutes later, back came Brain, this time with another man in tow, and he came up and introduced me to the SteppIR president, he said, he wants to talk about your SteppIR antenna! We chatted an hour and then some more later when I was back home.?

That's why, here we are, my SteppIR DB18E 3-ele beam antenna parts are all in 5 boxes behind me, here in the vaulted heights of the R&D department penthouse suite at QRP Labs global HQ, Summers' Towers... and a Yaesu G-2800 rotator I got from Friedrichshafen hamfest, and some time this winter, I hope to get a tower, and put the beam on top - and all without being killed by the XYL, neighbours, municipality, police, jandarma, secret services, etc.?

Roll on a terribly busy year, and alongside the QMX design and production, I have also redesigned the OptimizIR front panel controller to change to the STM32 series processor and added various improvements to the code; the firmware can now be updated via USB using the same crypto bootloader we know and love on QDX, QMX etc QRP Labs products using STM32. QRP Labs is now producing for SteppIR the whole improved OptimizIR2 front panel assembly including PCB assembly, code and the front panel production. The ongoing development will help evolve the controller functionality forward.?

It's been great fun working with the SteppIR guys, and I have lots of admiration for their amazing antennas!

73 Hans G0UPL

<Stepp IR QRP Labs.jpeg>

On Oct 18, 2023, at 08:34, William Smith <w_smith@...> wrote:

?Spectacular! ?I enjoy Hans stories at least as much as his products!

73, Willie N1JBJ

On Oct 18, 2023, at 4:53 AM, Hans Summers <hans.summers@...> wrote:

Hi all

Thanks to Muhsin TA1MHS for sending me the attached page 9 advertisement from the latest Nov 2023 QST magazine.?

Since some of you guys love a good story, pending the maybe-someday-forthcoming QRP Labs memoirs...?

Long long ago, May 2022 in fact, I was standing at my QRP Labs booth in the Dayton hamvention. We had a guy in the next booth selling 2kW Linears and I had already tried to strike a deal with him, a swap involving his most modestly priced linear and my QCX-mini, but that didn't work out...

On the last day (Sunday) when things were quieter, Brian Moran, QRP Labs customer, and maybe even here, came to my table and he was looking at the QCX-mini. Before I knew he was Brian, I saw he had a SteppIR logo on his T-shirt, and not just a SteppIR logo (he could be a fanboy) but also a "SteppIR exhibitor" label on the exhibition ticket hanging around his neck.?

Brian was looking at the QCX-mini and I had been a long term admirer of the SteppIR antenna concept, where the elements of the multi-element beam are copper tape inside fibreglass tubes, with stepper motors winding them in and out to exactly tune the elements to resonance, no traps, or compromises. So Brain pulling up in front of the QRP Labs booth was like a lamborghini pulling up outside the front of my house and revving the engine. Awesome!

So I started another bad joke, quite closely related to the one that failed to work on the 2kW linear guys next door; I said to Brian, hey, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse, how about you take one of my QCX-minis free and you give me one of your beam antennas? So you know a QCX-mini with case is somewhat under $80 and a SteppIR beam comes in something of the order of 100 times that. So I thought it was a great deal. Brain just laughed and gave me the $80 and off he went happily with his new QCX-mini kit. And again, making deals just somehow wasn't working for me.?

About 20 minutes later, back came Brain, this time with another man in tow, and he came up and introduced me to the SteppIR president, he said, he wants to talk about your SteppIR antenna! We chatted an hour and then some more later when I was back home.?

That's why, here we are, my SteppIR DB18E 3-ele beam antenna parts are all in 5 boxes behind me, here in the vaulted heights of the R&D department penthouse suite at QRP Labs global HQ, Summers' Towers... and a Yaesu G-2800 rotator I got from Friedrichshafen hamfest, and some time this winter, I hope to get a tower, and put the beam on top - and all without being killed by the XYL, neighbours, municipality, police, jandarma, secret services, etc.?

Roll on a terribly busy year, and alongside the QMX design and production, I have also redesigned the OptimizIR front panel controller to change to the STM32 series processor and added various improvements to the code; the firmware can now be updated via USB using the same crypto bootloader we know and love on QDX, QMX etc QRP Labs products using STM32. QRP Labs is now producing for SteppIR the whole improved OptimizIR2 front panel assembly including PCB assembly, code and the front panel production. The ongoing development will help evolve the controller functionality forward.?

It's been great fun working with the SteppIR guys, and I have lots of admiration for their amazing antennas!

73 Hans G0UPL

<Stepp IR QRP Labs.jpeg>