| Author |
Message |
    
Skilletlicker
| | Posted on Friday, February 14, 2003 - 11:07 am: | 
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i would like to know more about the top one ground plane -can it be tuned to 11 meters
what kind of antenna connection does it have |
bruce
| | Posted on Friday, February 14, 2003 - 12:21 pm: |
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copper web site said ...
Similar to the old Astro Plane antenna
10 Meter 26-30Mhz
2000 watt max power
Easy Assembly
Height : 11.5'
It should work fine and has a so-239 connector |
Tech833
| | Posted on Friday, February 14, 2003 - 1:55 pm: |
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It's more like 13 feet tall.
It is a good performing antenna if you can't mount your antenna very high above ground. |
Skilletlicker
| | Posted on Friday, February 14, 2003 - 3:15 pm: |
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thanks for the info. looks like it is just what i need as i am unable to go very high and might solve some rf problems |
Jyd
| | Posted on Friday, February 14, 2003 - 4:25 pm: |
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yeah,but the performance is not as good as a i-max 2000.i put one up recieve not as good and i lost a couple of db in signal,and they bleed bad.its just sitting in the back yard now i-max still up. |
Tech833
| | Posted on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 12:26 pm: |
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An Imax mounted 40 feet above ground will outperform a Top One at 40 feet. However, a Top One at 10 feet will outperform an Imax at 10 feet.
'Bleeding' is NOT a byproduct of antenna design. Either you had some poor electrical connections on the antenna or the radio has spurious emissions. |
Jimmy396
| | Posted on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 4:56 pm: |
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How wide is Ant at the bottom of ring. going to put it on a 10 Ft mast it back yard.I like to talk DX all over the world how will it perform?Also i now use a Isotron ant will it perform better .Thanks Jimmy |
applejack
| | Posted on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 10:22 pm: |
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i had an astro plane in about '76 or '77, then went to a 3 el. beam. got another one for my garage in the early '80s. took it down went to a 4 el. beam for garage for about 5 years then took it down and put astro plane back up.its up there now but the years and wind finally got the better of the joint at the center where the plastic cross over is. come good weather im going to replace it with an antron. |
Crafter
| | Posted on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 1:09 am: |
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Wonder if you take a beam and make a astro beam there would be some history! Loved my sigma IV.
JYD modulation causes most TVI Bleeding in my experience not the output power but have noticed with the groundplane on the antron it is more prone to TVI like the Star Duster was but probally caused due to the way they radiate. |
Tech833
| | Posted on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 11:47 am: |
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The Top One will outperform an Isotron handily. The ring is about 2 feet in diameter (eyeball estimate). |
CM 3885
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 18, 2003 - 4:33 pm: |
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Crafter
I have an astrobeam that was made back in the mid 1970s it is basically new and i only have had it up once to see how well it worked.. |
Crafter
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 12:26 am: |
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I friend of mine has on in oklahoma and he loves that thing I was a sigma guy I loved my snowcone antenna and it was great for dx and local. I'm looking at a copy cat right now just pondering. |
Midnitexpress
| | Posted on Saturday, February 22, 2003 - 10:09 am: |
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I have always heard that the Astro Plane, now called Top One was the best ever made as far as 5/8 wave anyways. What is the DB gain on this. Im going to purchase one soon. Will it out talk an Antron. |
CM 3885
| | Posted on Saturday, February 22, 2003 - 3:20 pm: |
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I say get it!! I have one and love it. If you dont have much height to play with the astroplane will work for you! I knew an old timer that ran a astroplane up on his house in a small town i live near and he always could talk wereever he wanted to with no problems. It alsmot worked as well as his wilson shooting stars!!!! |
Tech833
| | Posted on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 12:19 pm: |
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The Top One will outperform an A99 when both are mounted low to the ground. If you can get the base of the antenna up over 30 feet and ground it well, the A99 will perform slightly better than the Top One. |
mikefromms
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 1:19 pm: |
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It appears that the Astro plane will do some major skip talking. My situtation is one where I can't get anything up in the air more than 30 feets.
Tech883, what do you think would be the optimum height for the Top one Astro plane?
Mikefromms |
mikefromms
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 1:29 pm: |
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I was just wondering something. This should spark a good discussion.
Years ago, a man showed me how to improve the performance of a StarDuster by using a lead pipe to set the antenna on. I was wondering what effect a lead pipe would have on an Astro plane if you mounted it on the lead pipe?
Mikefromms |
Tech833
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 9:52 pm: |
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The optimum height for the Top One is as high as possible. The higher the better. In a situation where you are limited to 30 feet, the Top One will work MUCH better than an A99 at the same height.
As far as the lead pipe, nothing. No difference. If you know anything about metalurgy, you will quickly find that various metals react with RF in different ways, but only slightly. You see, the ONLY effect metal has on RF is the velocity factor. RF is 'skin effect' in that it does not travel through the metal, but over it. Changing metal changes how fast RF flows over it. In other words, a lead pipe might 'look' a little longer than a steel pipe, but that will not have ANY effect on performance unless the antenna was made out of it. Even then, the velocity factor would simply change the length of the element needed to get a low SWR.
There are a lot of 'wonder' stories out there. Do yourself a favor when you hear one, go see if there are any commercial broadcasters doing that 'trick' on their stations. Commercial broadcasters want all the signal they can get and money is no object. Also, the most talented engineers in the world design and build their stuff. |
mikefroms
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 7:09 pm: |
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Good point. I appreciate the insightful answers here. Sorry if I appear to be wearing a subject out. Getting back into a hobby means relearning a lot that was lost.
Thanks,
Mikefromms |
Tech833
| | Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 12:15 pm: |
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Please don't be sorry. We need to get everything out! I'm glad you brought it up. |
