| Author |
Message |
    
Lumper Al
| | Posted on Thursday, July 18, 2002 - 11:30 am: | 
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Hi - I am looking for a new antenna that is not that big and does not get strange looks from neibhors. I have seen pictures of this antenna and it looks small for a 5/8 wave. Will it perform as good as the maco 5/8 or the Imax 2000? Any other suggestions on a small but good antenna?
THANKS,
Lumper Al |
Tech833
| | Posted on Thursday, July 18, 2002 - 11:52 pm: |
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If you plan on mounting your antenna high above the ground, the Imax or Maco will provide slightly better range. However, if your mounting plans are below 20 or 30 feet, the CTE Astroplane copy will give you better range. |
Lumper Al
| | Posted on Friday, July 19, 2002 - 4:32 pm: |
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Tech - I am going to mount the antenna base at 30'. What should I get?
THANKS |
Mocassion
| | Posted on Friday, July 19, 2002 - 6:27 pm: |
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Lumper Al,
I think you should stick with a Shakespheare Big Stick 5/8 wave. I Used to have one but something was wrong with it and I through it away but anyway The big stick is a excelent antenna I know many people who have one... They are very good and not tacky at all..
Mocassion 45 |
Tech833
| | Posted on Saturday, July 20, 2002 - 1:16 pm: |
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With the antenna base at 30 feet, it is a push. The Maco, Imax, and CTE will all perform about the same. |
555
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - 6:48 pm: |
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Can the astroplane really get out as good as the larger 5/8? It is only 11' tall. At 34' will it do a good job? I am using a a-99 and want a new antenna. Is it worth upgrading to a astroplane?
THANKS
555 |
Marconi
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - 7:59 pm: |
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If you had the AstroPlane up beside the A99 at about the same height, I don't think you would see a lot of difference. On the other hand the horizontal response in the AP is very good and I personally think they work DX very well due to this factor. You may not see quite as much signal locally, but that little difference should not mean much either.
In order to really know, you have to have the antennas up near the same height and connected thru a switch box so you can get rapid results.
Signal is not always the deciding factor on RX signals. Noise is also a factor to consider in this evalutaion. My experience with A99's is that they tend to have a little static noise when some others may not. You would only notice this when it is dead quite so even this factor doesn't mean much. Sometimes the TX signal does not mean a lot either, unless there is a big difference and all those mentioned here should produce about the same TX signal to a given local point. There could be noticable differences noted when DX is running good, however. I like them all. I love my Starduster the best though.
Marconi |
Tech833
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 24, 2002 - 3:12 am: |
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Hi 555.
The Astroplane copy made by CTE actually resembles a center fed folded dipole more than anything else. By center feeding the antenna and moving the current node away from the ground, the radiation angle is lowered and ground losses are minimized when compared to an end fed antenna.
Therefore, at lower elevations, the CTE would outperform an A99. However, if you can mount the base of the A99 at 40 feet AGL or higher, the A99 would almost certainly outperform the CTE under similar circumstances.
I have run the Astroplane copy and an A99 from the same tower and found that the ground effect is almost a non-issue with the CTE, even at just 6 feet from the lower ring to ground. |
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