| Author |
Message |
    
Cobra
| | Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 5:55 pm: | 
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what do think of a maco 2elelbent y quard beam |
Taz
| | Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 9:03 pm: |
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Nice beam, any beam is better than any omni directional antenna.
Its pretty easy to put up too.
The first big jump with beams in my opinion are from 2 elements to 4 emements.
So a shooting star would be an excellent choice if you wanted somthing bigger.
http://www.copperelectronics.com/cgi-bin/checkitout/checkitout.cgi?catalogSTORE:CKIE:prodM00-05124+
So...
1.) Its a good beam.
2.) Its easy to put up.
3.) Its not too big.
4.) The price is right.
5.) Easy to assemble.
I think its an over all good beam. |
Hillbilly_Hippy
| | Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 9:59 pm: |
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I had one 20 years ago replaced it with a ground plane. |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 11:20 pm: |
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If you want a good gainy antenna get a moonraker 4 or if you can find one(LOL!) a moonraker 6. Both awesome beams and they work great!;-) |
cobra
| | Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 1:02 am: |
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did you like it? |
Taz
| | Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 3:55 am: |
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what ever floats your boat. If you want a beam take at least a 4 element. |
bullet/151 southern Indiana
| | Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 1:14 pm: |
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cobra,
1st think of what do you want from this beam?
and how much room do you have to put one up! single or dual polarity?
how much are you looking to spend?
after those questions are answered youve aready got it narrowed down to a select few.
73's bullet |
cobra
| | Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 3:58 pm: |
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LOL i want it to talk skip and maul sombody i hate LOL i want to spend no more then 260 |
Taz
| | Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 7:34 pm: |
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for just a little more cobra you could get that moonraker 4 from copper. 299.99 + shipping. thats a pretty good deal plus you need a rotator. did you think of that? |
Don123
| | Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 4:31 am: |
|
Hi Cobra:
The Y-Quad is a good beam with modest gain but the big advantage is its size...one can mount this on a tripod on the roof, or a pole so cost of mounting is cheap since wind resisteance is low and the type rotor you will need will save you too as a cheap TV rotor will do the trick. Now if you are wanting more gain then adding more elements for sure is a plus if you can do so..do you have the room or tower for proper mounting? IF so then putting out another 30 bucks would get you a 3 element Comet and you still could use a small rotor....if you want more gain a 5 element is even better but around 200 bucks and you will need a bigger rotor for the wind resistance..it could be mounted horz or vert depending if you want local or distant contacts.....and of course the moonrakers speak for themselfs. Lots of choices!
Don123 |
cobra
| | Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 6:54 pm: |
|
Don,
I have a tower its 23 ft about but im not so sure what antenna to get i want to get a radio shack rotor but im not sure i may go with the y quad |
Don123
| | Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 11:53 pm: |
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Hi again Cobra:
Good you have a tower! My feeling on a beam is that having one will improve your tx an rx siganls both so I would suggest put up as big a Beam as you possibly can! Again of course the longer the boom and number of elements the better the gain and pattern on the antenna. I think the Y-Quad would be a good start..but a Comet or maybe a Moonraker/Shooting Star or a Maco 5 element would be a better one! Also if you can get your antenna at least 36 feet to the boom (one wave length) that would help too! As far as the Radio Shack rotor goes....well if you are in an area with lots of wind a heavier rotor would be a plus....I think you will pay about 80 bucks or so for a Radio Shack one...you might try looking on the used market (qth.om, EBAY, rotordoctor etc) for a heavier rotor..like a CDE45 or a HamII or maybe and old M series....most go from 120 to 200 bucks and well worth it for handling bigger loads and wind.
Good Luck on your beam hunting but really I think any beam will be an improvement over a omni groundplane antenna......so jump in...you can always change your mind later but just get one and get started! 73 Don123 |
cobra
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 08, 2002 - 11:18 pm: |
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Don Hi Again,
Ya im going to get a comet maybe in teh next few weeks and get like a radioshack rotor. thanks for the advise
Cobra |
bullet/151 southern Indiana
| | Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2002 - 3:15 pm: |
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cobra,
your not gonna maul much with a comet...
takes lots of db's to do that, and a comet dont have alot of them. unless your going to add some desk top db's to the mix.
i always recomend buying the best antenna you can as this is the most important part of the station! this is what gets yah heard and what makes you hear others as well.
this is also why guys with small antennas need to run pre-amps and more power to hear and be herd as well as those that run high/large beams. unless you just dont have the room,(some dont)
i seen a heck of a differance from a 2 element to a four element quad. when i built the 2 element i took down the 4 and put the 2 up on the tower.
and bam that quick i could see the differance, it cant talk or hear 1/2 as well as the 4 element could "literally".
just something to consider, |
cobra
| | Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2002 - 6:27 pm: |
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oh ya alot of desk db's alot Like 400 |
Taz
| | Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2002 - 8:42 pm: |
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Try a shooting star if you can, find one use on ebay and fing a used rotator |
Galileo
| | Posted on Friday, May 10, 2002 - 7:23 pm: |
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Beams have their place, as do omni's..for some people beams just arent practical...I prefer to have an omni, and a beam, that way you get the best of both worlds..Beams are a real pain if you want to talk to 4 or 5 friends at the same time in different directions..As a second antenna beams are great....Now if you talk in only one direction at a time, no problem...But to each his own.....just my 2 cents worth....Tom |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Friday, May 10, 2002 - 8:13 pm: |
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I have both because of that exact reason! If im talking to a local that is to my east and then someone to my west then ill switch to the sigma 4. Then to talk long distance i ususally use the moonrakers. The best of both worlds. Most guys that run beams use the G/P to listen off of then switch to the beams to narrow the guy in they are talking to but in my instance i use both! |
bullet
| | Posted on Saturday, May 11, 2002 - 11:01 am: |
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i like useing both for those reasons as well. |
Znut
| | Posted on Monday, May 13, 2002 - 5:40 pm: |
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Hey Taz,
I was just looking at your profile, top 5 DX contacts. I didn't see Central Georgia!
J/K!
Randy/Znut |
Taz
| | Posted on Saturday, May 25, 2002 - 3:45 am: |
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Hahaha, lol |
