| Author |
Message |
    
Bulldog
| | Posted on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 11:42 am: | 
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Has anybody ever tried any of the Hustler ground mount HF antennas. (4-btv 5-btv or the 6-btv)Never used a ground mount but they look interesting enough to try one. |
bruce
| | Posted on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 7:58 pm: |
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bulldog i ran one ( the 80-10 one ) for years with several ground radiles burried around it They work although bandwith is narrow. I also ran the MFJ 40-2 meter one again worked ok but very narrow Now unless your a ham to be honest any of these would be worse that any cb ant made and more money. |
Kirk
| | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 9:41 pm: |
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Bulldog,
Havent read up on the Hustler, but I've had 2 GP verticals. One was a Cuscraft R-7, the other a GAP Titan. By far, I liked the GAP better. Expensive tho.--Kirk |
Tech833
| | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 11:04 pm: |
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Bulldog.
My dad ran a Hustler trap antenna for years. He was never happy with it. Mostly because the badwidth was so narrow that he had to use the tuner almost all the time. Also, it had SWR fluctuations with wind and rain and was useless when covered with snow.
I assembled and installed a GAP Titan DX for him year before last and have not heard a word since. Even the 3KW amp won't blow it up. He's tried. I should have only built him a 1 KW amp. |
Kc0gxz
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 2:01 am: |
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Tech833
You just described the same complaints I hear from customers about the Cushcraft R-7. Man is that one heavy antenna or what?
Jeff, kc0gxz. |
bulldog
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 7:29 pm: |
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Bruce, I forgot to say that I was going to use it for 10-80 meters. Not just for cb |
Tech833
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 10:37 pm: |
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I have not played with many Cushcraft antennas. I always viewed them as inferior. I choose to not waste my time with inferior products. Life is too short. |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 12:42 am: |
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833 Cushcraft INFERIOR?
Not that they are Decible Products but there newer products are FAR better than 30 years ago.
I have owned MANY of there antennas from HF to 440 and i can honestly say they work fine... and with the stainless they are now using last much longer. The ringo rangers are a industry standard for a inexpensive gain vert on VHF/UHF.... not that they would compeat against a station master but $60 vers $400 is a big diffrence in price. The OLD beams were so-so with scailed down gama matches and the 440 ones had little gain even for a 11 elm one the newer ones however were adapts from the NBS field test of the late 70's and have much improved matching. I have had no luck with end fed traped verticals on HF and put up a traped dipole for 40-10 meters even though its has a poorer match it is much wider in bandwith... mine is only 15 foot off the ground which is way too low for 40 meters. By the way i have a 6 meter cushcraft squailo that was bought in the late 60's it is sill being used by me on 6 meter SSB .... i changed the hardwhere to stainless back then and 30 years later its still ticking! |
Tech833
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 9:10 pm: |
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Bruce,
I am happy that you have had good luck with your Cushcraft products. To each his/her own.
I stand by my words. |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 10:53 pm: |
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833....
I FULLY understand your point remember everything i work with is PUBLIC SAEFTY and cushcraft will not cut it there either however There newer products do work well enough for the ham market.
Inferior is a open turm if two antennas cost the same money and one has 3 db more gain and 1.3/1 vswr while the other is 2/1 vswr at best then inferior is a fair word to use. I dont disagree with your thinking if your compairing say a ringo ranger with a DB STATION MASTER type antenna thats like a YUGO against a BMW. All that said i do not like the CC traped verticals at all but i did not have any luck with any of them and went back to a simple traped dypole. Cushcraft does make " comercial " antennas ive used one on a 440 machine at best it was just thicker that the ham ones and a small end fed colineal cleaned its clock gain wise. Your right to each his own but for the money they an't bad! |
Kirk
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 02, 2003 - 5:24 pm: |
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I will side with Tech 833 on Cushcraft. Although I do like their VHF/UHF antennas, the R-7 (I still own but is in the garage) is junk IMOP. The GAP simply blows it away. This comes from an owner of both. |
bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 02, 2003 - 9:45 pm: |
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Kirk
I said the hf vert was junk but having owned many of their antennas they are fine for the market they were made for. 833 condemed all their antennas which is like saying all of anything is no good .... well maby JOGUNN . As for the gap i know of a few owners and they are happy. AGAIN CUSHCRAFT MAKES A GOOD ANTENNA FOT THE MARKET just like DB does fot the public safety market. |
Kirk
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 9:22 pm: |
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I agree Bruce that not all Cushcraft is junk. I like some of their products. But only speaking with my personal experience, the Cushcraft R-7 is a son of a pup to tune. At Least mine was. The GAP was a challenge to put togetheir (per manual) but once it was togetheir, it worked circles around the R-7. BTW, I paid more for the R-7 than I did the Titan. Some people (I have read) love the R-7 and good for them. Whatever works. But in my case, it did not. Only 20 meters ended up somewhat useable within a tight bandwidth. 10 was ok, 40...not even close. Couple that with traps on the R-7 and...you get the picture. The GAP has no traps and an elevated feedpoint which made it a sell for me. Nothing better than a dipole in most cases, but for those who cant put up one, the GAP, again IMO, is the best purchase for a working antenna. |
Bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 11:09 pm: |
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OK on gap like i said thoes who have them like them .... thoes of us who bought MFJ or cushcraft wish they had one. All day i work with public safety stuff im use to dealing with good antennas and radios but a 3db gain vert cost $300 for 460 mhz and a cushcraft runs about $40 bucks. UNLIKE JOGUNN they do not make noncense clames and there prices are as good as amy in town. It's YUGO VERS BMW both get you to work but you get no respect on one of them..... |
Ca346
| | Posted on Friday, September 05, 2003 - 2:44 pm: |
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I have a GAP Challenger VIII. It's 32 Ft high and sits on the ground. 3 radials lying (laying?) on the ground with tent stakes to keep it flat. I mow right over it. It was my first HF antenna and is amazingly quiet. I still use it for 11 meters when talking to someone close, but I don't use it much anymore for DX. I also have a 4 element Quad (Signal Engineering) on an 18 ft boom. There is NO comparison. While the powerline noise is higher on the quad, the incoming signals jump from S7-S9 to +10 +20.
7 Ft above the Quad I mounted a Cushcraft 2M/70CM and removed the 6M elements. I was concerned with any potential interference between the 6M and the Quad. |
