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288
| | Posted on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 8:02 pm: | 
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I Am putting up A Signal Engineering beam. White lighting. Alot of people in my area say that these beams are a peice Of cra$. What do yall think about these beams. I bought one already so no turning back. A Friend Of Mine with Jo Gunn 3+3 Says his beams are a heck of alot better then those 4 element signal engineering beam. Is this True?
Thanks for any feedback
288
shady1070@yahoo.com |
Marlboro_Man
| | Posted on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 10:10 pm: |
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I don't know anything about the signal engineering beams but personally I think the JO GUNN beams are WAY OVERRATED!! just look at the specs on them, the db gain the power x factor those can't be right. |
Ca346
| | Posted on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 10:35 pm: |
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I have the Lightning 4+ (18ft Boom). I can compare it to my other antenna's. One is a GAP Challenger VIII. It's an 8 band vertical that sits on the ground and has 3 counterpoises each 25ft long. The difference between those two antenna's are the difference between night and day. Switching between the two antenna's when making a contact, the received signal would jump from a S7 on my meter to a +30! It seems to be very broad in it's beam width tho. I pick up alot of stations I never heard before.
I usually transmit using an ICOM706MKIIG (5-100W) through those two antenna's. I am getting signal reports of S7-S9.
Overall I am very happy with the SE Lightning4+, but it was a pain in the neck to put together. It's extremely light (18#) and was easy to put up on my tower.
I recently bought an IMAX2000 from COPPER and will be able to compare the 3 antenna's before too long. I'm running a second radio (President HR2510 (Lincoln)) from the shop/garage through the IMAX.
I have heard the JoGunn antenna, but never used one.
Hope this helps. |
Tech808
| | Posted on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 10:49 pm: |
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Well I have had the 3+3 and now have the White Lightning 4's up now, No compairison. The SE 100% Better.
When you get ready to assemble them drop me a note maybe two days before you are ready, my e-mail address is in my profile.
I will give you some Helpful tips on assembly to make it easier for you.
You can also use the search area and find out more on them as several of the Forum member's have the SE Antennas.
Lon
Tech808 |
Bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 11:21 pm: |
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DID I HEAR JO GUNN ????????? 288 you made a good choice Signal Engineering is a good ant .... tell your JOGUNN buddy to email me if he thinks im wrong .......
wa4gch@yahoo.com |
Bullet
| | Posted on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 11:37 pm: |
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watt for watt and station conditions being equal that sig eng 4 element quad will smoke that jo junk 3x3! |
Pig040
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 9:50 am: |
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Bruce,
Behave, I see the JoGunn bashers are out again! Most of the guys that bash them have never owned them because they are overpriced. But they are a sturdy antenna, and do perform well. I mean be real, if any of us really wanted an antenna to out perform those commercially available with a little time and effort we probably could make one that was tailored for our needs, and it would outperform them. The commercial made antennas are trying to be all things to all people and that is not possible. By the way Bruce, loved the sea to sea thing. You sounded good on the net yesterday. |
Ca346
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 10:26 am: |
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One more thing. The SE Lightning 4+ is almost INVISIBLE! The only thing that really stands out are the fiberglass 'spreaders' (14ft) and the boom...
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Bullet
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 11:04 am: |
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pig040,
i agree they are a very sturdy antenna,probably one of the best in that department.
i dont feel they perform any better than any other antenna of compareable size though.
over priced...oh heck yea, way over!
and i fully agree with you about homebrewed vs commercially made antennas.
i think antenna minded people would not bash jo gunn if they didnt make such wild claimes on thier performance.
kinda like the buddy thats always talking about the 20 pound blue gill that he caught, that no one ever seen!
later man have a great day! |
mikefromms
| | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 6:55 pm: |
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I have the signal engineering thunder8xb and I think it is a great antenna. But I also believe it is way overpriced. But if you are willing to pay--you get what you pay for--quality.
mikefromms |
Pig040
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 9:20 am: |
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Bullet,
Who told you about my 20 pound bluegill?? You know in this hobby you run across a lot of things from other people in the hobby. I had eyed a JoGunn for a long time, wouldnt spend the money. Then I ran across a guy selling out and got a good deal on it. I was sick of the hose clamp, wimpy elements, and all that from other beams so I really liked the sturdiness of the JoGunn. I did have a pdl2 that held together and worked well for a two element beam. |
Scrapiron63
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 12:51 pm: |
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Like we've discussed before, the JoGunn beams are overrated like lots of the others, they're highpriced also, but no doubt they are well built, everyone i've known that has owned one, liked it, and thats what counts. The White Lightning 4 looks like a good beam, but I wonder if it would stand up to even one of our moderate ice storms here where I live. That thing has what, almost 150 feet of wire, plus the fiberglass spreaders and boom, can you imagine what a 1 or 2 inch layer of ice would weight on all that area. I know you guys in the north have lots of ice and snow, but here in North Arkansas we really have ice, it starts building from slow rain falling at night, just right below the freezing point, and it does get thick. It breaks timber, power lines and of course antennas. We have some ice every year and I will hear about a few antennas breaking, but this past winter was extra bad, and I know of a dozen or so that lost beams and groundplanes that had been up for years. A couple had the Maco 5/8 GP's, the top element just broke right over. Two or three Moonrakers were just destroyed, along with several long element vertical and flat beams. I believe my 3 element Maco would have broke if I hadn't shot some of the ice off, and it's built from a bigger beam, it has the larger boom. If I can remember how, I'll post a picture of the beam right before I started blasting. scrapiron |
Scrapiron63
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 12:52 pm: |
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C:\WINDOWS\Desktop  ice2
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kevin crauswell
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 1:06 pm: |
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Kevin,
You need to remember to use your password when making post's to the forum so they can be approved.
Thanks,
Lon
Tech808
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Ca346
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 5:58 pm: |
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Ya know, .... There's nothing prettier than a good tall tower with a big antenna on top and guy wires running all over the place. Brings tears to my eyes...
I have to take another picture now, since I added the COPPER IMAX 2000 to the group... |
Alsworld
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 7:52 pm: |
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That sure is a nice tower and setup Scrapiron63. Now I know what I'm talking to.
Good luck with those ice storms. Man those bring things down for sure. I'll take snow anyday over that ice.
Alsworld |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 8:31 pm: |
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Hey Scrap,why is it leaning or is the pic crooked?Try this get a cyclotron from a micro wave cooker, make a txer from it and using wave guide and a horn point it at your antenna during next ice storm and KEY DOWN,NO MORE ICE just steam. .Bigbob |
mikefromms
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 11:27 pm: |
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CA346, it sure was nice to talk to you today even though the conditions were not that great. You were blowing smoke most of the time on that IMAX 2000 and 2510. I was surprised you could hear me at all on my directional mobile antenna. Heard you mention the signal engineering beam. If they are anything like the thunder8xb they have to be winners.
mikefromms #171 |
Scrapiron63
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 9:22 am: |
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Hey Bigbob, it does look like its leaning in that picture, probably the camera operator, man it was cold and slick that day. Yeah that microwave deal might work. My old shotgun got most of the ice off, now I might have some holes in my coax, but it hasn't caused any problem yet. |
Ca346
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 10:28 am: |
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Hey there Mike:
Great connecting with you also. Thanks for the feedback on the IMAX 2000. Hope to connect again on channel 38 (27.385)when conditions are better for us. Your signal was about a S2/3 but, since we were on an in-between freq. (.380) I was able to hear you on that 2950 of your's. |
Scrapiron63
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 11:00 am: |
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C:\WINDOWS\Desktop  ant
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Scrapiron63
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 11:09 am: |
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Well if that pic goes thur, that was made after the ice melted on a foggy morning. The top was in the clouds. Those pine trees are over 60 feet tall, so you can see the height of the beam, and the elevation is 1200 feet here. That one big tree is leaning toward my doghouse pretty good, need to take it out, but its been like that for at least 13 years now. Alsword, its pointed at you and the west coast in this picture, cq-cq. |
Peddler
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 7:18 pm: |
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Nice pics. Anyone have any comments on their Superhawk 2 element? |
Tech808
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 9:04 pm: |
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Peddler,
Look to the left of this area and you will see "Search"
click on "By Keyword"
Then type in: Super Hawk
You will have plenty to read.
Hope this helps.
Lon
Tech808 |
Bullet
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 12:03 am: |
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how did ya post that pic?
ive never learned to do this yet! |
Scrapiron63
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 9:13 am: |
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Bullet, in the column to the left under "documentation", read the "formatting" information, it tells how to post pictures. |
Bullet
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 1:30 pm: |
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cool beans....
thanks scrapiron63! |
Bullet
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 1:38 pm: |
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cool beans....
thanks scrapiron63!
/image{rakerquad} |
Bullet
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 1:49 pm: |
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i guess i didnt do it right.lol
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