| Author |
Message |
    
bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 2:58 pm: | 
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back in the 60's i had stacked 7 elm HIPAR beams. they were ch 7 yagies cut for 2 meters made out of seamed tubing very poorly made BUT worked as good as anything any one got a good story ????? |
Taz
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 7:36 pm: |
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Starduster |
Chris142
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 8:01 pm: |
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I had a hustler HQ-27 on the driverside mirror on my Peterbilt. Best talking antenna I have ever had.I could hear and be heard 10 miles on the highway easy. Even talked to a guy in South Whales,Australia from Baker,Ca at 65mph.
I had a Galaxy 99 but no linier.
Another antenna that suprized me was a bottom loaded Rat shack one. It had about a 5 inch coil on the bottom and about a 5 ft stainless steel whip sticking out of it. I think they still sell it. I could talk to base stations 60 miles away on ssb over a 8k tall mountain!
Used a barefoof 959 with this setup.
The worst antenna was a 4 ft firestick. Even with a 1.2 match and 200watts I couldn't talk 1/2 mile. |
123upmichigan
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 8:53 pm: |
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the worst... a shakespere pogo stick the only think it was good for was to jump on..lol. it bled, preformed poorly compared to the antron and it collected ice on the gamma match.... the best antenna? good old 102 hard to beat this little beast |
Galaxyraider
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 9:01 pm: |
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In 1964 a friend Joe mounted a 18ft 1/2 wave stick on a tiltable mount on the back bumper of his dads pickup. Took his girl to the beach put it up, threw 50 or 60 ft of bare cable out in the ocean and talked everywhere on 3W. BIGGEST GROUND PLANE IN THE WORLD.
When it was stowed tilted over on the cab propped up with a pillow it talked pretty good driving down the road
To this day I still cant figure how it worked so good |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 9:41 pm: |
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Wilson 1000 as for best,that 8"solarcon adjustable second,and worst a center loaded k-mart,spark-o-matic;1.5-1 on 19 infinity on 1 and 40,1/4 mile range,baaad,bleh. |
cobra
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 9:57 pm: |
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IMAX 2000
- SORRY MR TAZ
So many people love this and the Antron 99. I do not understand why people on CH.6 think A-99 are gold. Maybe they have never used anything else.
Nothing beats a alummuim antenna..
Cobra in the B Y U |
Taz
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 10:31 pm: |
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Channel 6?
Uhh no....
Most people on 6 use beams 
And My IMAX beat my Starduster in my tests. SO to each his own. |
707
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 10:58 am: |
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worst - Ringo
best - dual Super Scanners (not the most powerful, but all things considered, no maintenance, good gain, easy to use and versatile setup)
mediocre- stacked horizontal 3el Rad Shacks |
Rob_Usa
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 11:23 am: |
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Best Base - Homemade J-Pole, Second - Maco V.
Best Mobile - Solarcon 8" Adjustable.
Worst Base - Old off-brand 1/4 wave vertical, even though it was aluminum - wasn't worth a darn on TX or RX.
Worst Mobile - Rat Shack Thru-glass CB antenna. Just didn't work very well. |
Ill41
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 12:31 pm: |
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Worst base antenna: Saturn 39" this comes in diffrent names but they proform the same.The swr might look good but it can't get across the street. |
bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 12:45 pm: |
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707
Agreed the ringo not ringo ranger is a flop no doubt. The best 2 meter ant i ever used was quad stacked 17 elm KLM beams stacked 2 wave apart for moodbounce..... as for beams the worst a cushcraft 7 elm 432 beam it was so badly made is showed a LOSS.....to be fair they make a much better antenna today.......I made a 52.5 mhz super scanner for 6 fm your right its a fine antenna.
Bruce |
Kb5lpa
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 1:42 pm: |
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Best hf antenna was a random length dipole fed with ladder line. Worked everywhere. Best 2 meter was a homebrew "Low Cost 4 Element Loop Quad". Put it up 30 feet,"Armstrong"rotor and did lots of 2 meter work all around the Beaumont,Tx area. Worked a tropospheric duct across the Gulf of Mexico with that antenna and a handi talkie at 2 watts. Way fun. CB antenna...worst was an old Archer 1/2 wave vertical.Noisy antenna. When it began to wear,lots of static would appear. Best cb antenna is my A-99.
73 de KB5LPA |
Crafter
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 6:49 pm: |
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Worst laser 400 good antenna but to much trouble for ice and wind,last but not least BIGSTICK the older ones that the top broke off of all the time till you put a steel whip on it.
Best moonraker 4, PDL2, antron, ar2x ringo ranger, and last but not least 13b2 cushcraft. |
bullet
| | Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 11:05 am: |
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worst mobile: was a 12"rubber ducky,then as bigbob stated the sparkomatic magnet mount types.
best mobile: was a tie between a homemade antenna with a large (2liter bottle sized) coil toward the top of the shaft with a stinger from there up it was just under 6 ft long. the other antenna was a flatline dual coil job from storm communications.
2nd place goes to a 7ft firestick
3rd to a 102ss whip
4th to a wilson 5000 trucker
5th wilson 1000
bases worst: army big stick 5/8th wave for some reason did very poorly for me. might have got a bad one?
bases best: omni= to date would go to a pair of antrons stacked vertically beats anything ive ever tried yet hands down.
beams: my 2,4 and 6 element quads,moonraker beams are also great! |
Galileo
| | Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 8:06 pm: |
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Best base Maco 5/8th's |
Czar
| | Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 8:16 pm: |
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worse ??? shakespear PIG stick,got out like a pig stuck in thick mud!!! The best,stacked moonraker 6 1980, WOW !!!!! what a signal those put out !!!!!! I still wish I had those !!!! |
CM 3885
| | Posted on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 2:34 pm: |
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worst. Antron 99 bled all over HE**!!!
Best my moonrakers 4s and my avanti astrobeam. The astro beam is one of the tightest beams made!
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Mr_Rf
| | Posted on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 10:32 pm: |
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The best I ever had: Stacked 5 element Long Johns
The worst: Homebrew helical wound 2 element beam from a Popular Communications article in the 60/70's. |
Tech833
| | Posted on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 12:04 pm: |
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I was going to stay out of this, however.....
Best HF base I ever had: GAP Titan DX.
Worst HF base I ever had: Ringo.
Best HF mobile I ever had: Van Ordt (sp?) 5.5 foot 'PowRStick'.
Worst HF mobile I ever had: Antenna Specialists 'Motorcycle' whip.
Now, I wish to return to my neutral stance despite my utter hatred for the Ringo. |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 6:41 pm: |
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Tech833 .....
I have owned every ringo from 11 meters to 440 meg and ringo rangers for 6 2 220 440 the ringo ranger works just fine the ringo how ever is a leaky dummy load! On the gap i agree i had the chance to use one here till the owner got into his house about 2 weeks it walked circles over the MFJ. Right now im building my 6 meter FM antenna and as soon as its debuged a stacked home made squailo ant for 6 SSB .... they dont make them anymore. |
Tech833
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 11:06 am: |
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I had nothing but trouble with the Ringo. Of course, I was 16 years old and did not have the test gear I do now.
I could not get any bandwidth out of it, and it did not work well. I have had a Ringo on the test range, and it has a very high takeoff angle, even in free space. That would explain the poor performance. Adding ground planes does help, but not much. Stacking (as in the Ringo Ranger) makes a big difference, but for HF is impractical.
That Ringo is still laying on the ground at my parents' house. And there it will stay. Last Christmas when I was over there and happened to be in the back where the old stuff is stored, I saw the Ringo laying in the mud. It looked like the boat trailer had rolled over it a time or two. I actually felt some relief.... |
Buck
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 11:38 am: |
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LOL.... I sense a little pent up anger in you Tech 833 |
Buck
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 11:42 am: |
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I guess while im at it I might as well through my 2 cents in...
Best base ant...Imax 2000
I owned a Super big stick for almost 15 yrs. that did really well for me but the I2K smokes it on DX
Best mobile.....102" whip hands down |
bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 12:25 pm: |
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HA HA HA poor ringo ...... I had the same results we tried ringos for 11, 10, 6, 2 and 440 they showed a loss !!! but the ranger is a great antenna for the money! I put one up for MURS and it worked great as did the one i used for FRS ... The BEST antenna for 6 meter fm i ever used was the ringo ranger for 6 it was 25 foot tall and had 2 5/8 wave stacked it was super at 45 foot and i could hear repeaters out of orlando more than 100 miles away. Another very good antenna is the Mosley DI-6 no longer made but a fine very sturdy antenna mine suvived 3 lighting hits! Hey has anyone tried to use the copper skylab antenna on 6 ???
Bruce |
Fdirsh
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 1:43 pm: |
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Worst Base antenna BEAM = JoGunn 3-Star
Worst Base ground plane = Radio Shack stick
Best Base Antenna Beam = JoGunn 8-Star
Best Base Antenna GP = JoGunn pistol (2) A-99GP
Worst Mobile = 4 ft fire stick
Best Mobile Antenna = Haven't found it yet |
bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 6:56 pm: |
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$1100 bucks for a 8 elm antenna
This is one wave long real gain about 12 DBD
JOGUNN said....
TYPE: Horz. & Vert. Polarization Twin Feed
GAIN: 21.5 DB
FRONT TO BACK RATIO: 60 DB True
SIDE REJECTION: 70 DB True
BACK REJECTION: 60 DB True
WEIGHT: 73 lbs.
LENGTH: 36 feet, 6 inches
SWR: 1.1
HORZ. to VERT. SEPARATION: 25-30 DB
WIND SURVIVAL: 100 MPH
POWER MULTIPLICATION: 125X (.... WHAT !!!!! )
AUDIO GAIN: 30 DB ( SHOW ME ! )
WIND LOAD: 12.5
I would love to see jogunn PROVE this antenna on a controled range! I had a widespaced 17 elm beam on 2 meters its gain was 15 DB !
Bruce |
bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 8:29 pm: |
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THIS is the beam i had note it is 4,5 waves long on cb thats more than 130 foot! FACT no beam made today for HF or VHF has 21 DB gain!
Cushcraft Model 17B2
3dB Beamwidth, Degrees E-Plane 2x 14.5
3dB Beamwidth, Degrees H-Plane 2x 15
Boom Lenght ft.(m) 31(9.45)
Electrical Wavelenght 4.5
Forward Gain, dBi 18.0 (15 DBD )
Frequency, MHz 144-148
Front to Back Ratio, dB 26
Longest Element 40.75(103.5
Mast size range, in.(cm) 1.5-2(3.8-5.1)
No. Elements 17
Power Rating, Watts PEP 2000
Side Lobe Atten., dB, E-Plane >60
SWR 1.2:1 Typical 2:1 Bandwidth, MHz >2
Turning Radius ft(m) 17.25(5.26)
Weight, lb(kg) 15.75(7.14)
Wind load ft (m) sq 3.9(.36)
This is REAL world gain on a big beam! |
CM 3885
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 8:38 pm: |
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LOL!!!!!!! Bruce please dont get me started on Jo Gunns!!! |
bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 10:25 pm: |
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I dont like LIES Jogunn is lieing about EVERYTHING SHOW ME AUDIO GAIN PLEASE! if jogunn's antenna is THAT good dont you think they would have the 2, 6, 440, 1200 mhz market too?????
CM ... be my guest HE HE HE
Bruce |
fdirsh
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 6:58 am: |
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I buy JoGunn antennas because they are made strong. Once you buy them you dont have to replace elements and wire. They are made tough. I know not all specs are possible and opinions are not always free. I pay to see insult all the time especially in some forums. Thanks but JoGunn rules dude. And I aint just another CBer.
GOD BLESS AMERICA ! |
bruce
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 11:12 am: |
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Fdirsh
So are hygain, Cushcraft and mosley well made. There is no such thing as audio gain and there is no 21 db gain HV/VHF beam. The REASON I pick on them is BECAUSE they in 20 years have made no efford to clean up the lies they continue to tell. Jogunn prays on people who do not know what is real and what is hype. Again everyone if free to buy as they please but buyer beware go look at all the products being sold and think before you drop your money. By the way to get 21 DBD of RF gain you would need 4 stacked 17 element beams .... and still you would have 0DB audio gain! |
bruce
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 1:25 pm: |
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This is a well writen story on building a antenna worth your reading if you are thinking of buying a yagi-uda antenna
http://www.jm1szy.com/ant1_e.html
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CM 3885
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 4:19 pm: |
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Some guy love them but most of them talk on CH 6. I had a set and they were awful! I couldnt get the SWRs down below a 2.1! The directions were horrible. Plus the gain claims are a joke. AUDIO GAIN!! LOL whats that!!! I called the company and they said the antenna could boost the modulation level over 100% because of the audio gain. LOLLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
ryan
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 4:38 pm: |
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best antenna, 1/2~ dipole for cb up in a 30' high tree strung up vertical. i used 10 guage wire so it was nice and wideband too.
worst base was a small loaded whip from from radshack which i put ground radials on and make it useable for covert operation. got a 1:1.7 across the band where i had it set up i still got the whip but the ground radials are shot.
for mobile, the wilson 1k has worked best. i also have one of those center loaded short antennas which have a thicker guage whip. it tunes better than the one i used for a covert base.
the worst mobile antenna i ever had was a newer radio shack 3' mag mount. it did not get an swr lower than 1:4. except that one time i parked just the right length away from a building. somehow i inductively loaded into the building or somethin. all in all it was a horrible antenna.
another bad one is the short diesel mag mount. |
bruce
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 10:12 pm: |
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EVERYONE
FACT there is a lmit to how much gain you can get from a beam .... first 3 elms = 6 DBD and add 3 db everytime you double the number of elements and boom lengh. From a 1/2 wave about 2 DBD and a 5/8 wave about 3 db. I dont care WHAT someone said or how much it costs that it! |
707
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 5:16 pm: |
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I had a 2m HOMEMEADE Ringo that a local OM built. He gave it to me swearing it would be just as good as any "store bought" 2m Ringo.
Soon...I was swearing.
I probably climbed up and down the tower to adjust that stupid ring about 20 times before I finally just left it sitting at 2:1 at 145.1mc. The next day I built a J-pole out of PVC and #10 solid copper wire that not only matched up better, but actually worked better for the particular applicationm, a packet digi.
The Ersatz Ringo came down, lost it's gamma match, got an attitude adjustment, and went back up as a vertical SW whip on a short tower.
I did eventually buy a Ringo Ranger, and was quite pleased with it on packet til it got hit by lightning one day. The tip of the antenna was melted on one side, the rectangular phasing stub was diamond shaped and the coax blew out of the connector, plus it turned my KLM VHF amp with machined aluminum body into a smoking football shaped chunk of aluminum with some wires sticking out. It also fused the gas arrestor in my window patch panel. |
Mr_Rf
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 7:32 pm: |
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Come on Bruce...simple math:
8 element Jogunn = 21.5 dB gain, so:
If a 4 element beam has 10.75dB gain then another 4 elements must mean another 10.75dB! 10.75 + 10.75 = 21.5 Right? lol
Someone should teach the fly-by-night antenna guru's the difference between Log and linear measurements! |
bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 9:01 pm: |
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HA HA HA you supose they also ADD vert and horz gain???? You know 10.75 vert + 10.75 Horz gain !
Well there goes 40 years of doing THIS for a living! |
