| Author |
Message |
    
Sinker
Intermediate Member
Username: Sinker
Post Number: 443
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 3:22 pm: | 
|
I'm running a Maco V58 I got from Coppers. Been doing great for me considering my location is anything but ideal.
Sinker
CEF634
"The Smallest Station In The Nation"
|
Applejack
Intermediate Member
Username: Applejack
Post Number: 287
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 2:54 pm: |
|
i put one up in november to replace 12 year old a99. put it up 10' less than a99 and new coax. have GREAT EARS. will scan freqs w/2950 on it, then use washington on beam to contact distant signals. i think its GREAT. dindin and troublemaker seem to get along fine with theirs. did i mention that its GREAT? aj |
Johhn
Intermediate Member
Username: Johhn
Post Number: 107
Registered: 8-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - 10:42 am: |
|
Got a Maco V-5/8 12-19-07,It works Great!
50 mile contacts A.M..With NO power on a -
Rci 2950 dx, Man it's Very big, over 20'ft-
Tall. Grounds are 9'ft wide each.
The Gama ring is 18" around .it looks like a tower on the roof .S.W.R.0.2 on a.m.ch 37.
lowers is 0.9 on ch 37. uppers is same. |
Johhn
Intermediate Member
Username: Johhn
Post Number: 108
Registered: 8-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - 11:50 am: |
|
This is a very Good antenna. No ground noise .
Yes it comes with it's own ground plane..
It is made with some of the toughest alunimum,
I've ever seen. When I drilled in to the radials for final placement of screws ,Man it was tough. I donot blead over channels.It handels 50+winds.I give it a 10/10 johhn |
Walterb
Junior Member
Username: Walterb
Post Number: 12
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 09, 2008 - 11:51 pm: |
|
Ive only have my MACO 5/8 up at 18ft to the base but I like it a lot better than the antenna it replaced, very good signal to noise ratio hooked to my Cobra 2000GTL, it hears stations ground wave a long ways away and thats a plus. Talked to the boss from my mobile on a New Cobra 148GTL with 4 watts output with a 3ft K30 antenna, 25 miles away and she heard me ok. She was loud and clear with the MACO 5/8. |
Airplane1
Senior Member
Username: Airplane1
Post Number: 1029
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 - 6:56 am: |
|
I got one from copper about three years ago and it survived 60 mph gusts and over 1/2 inch of ice. I was useing it on 11 meters but now that I got my ham ticket I tuned it for 10 meter and it works great with swr at 1.1-1.2. |
Johhn
Intermediate Member
Username: Johhn
Post Number: 142
Registered: 8-2007
| | Posted on Monday, May 19, 2008 - 9:27 pm: |
|
Use a antenna tuner,and you can do,
10; 11&12 meters. No re tunning needed.. |
Airplane1
Senior Member
Username: Airplane1
Post Number: 1050
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 7:09 am: |
|
I got the LDG7000 auto tunner to go with my IC-7000 and it tunes the Maco very well on 6-20 meters no problem. I believe it will tune other bands as well. |
Patzerozero
Senior Member
Username: Patzerozero
Post Number: 4330
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 6:43 pm: |
|
the internal tuner on my ic746pro matches up perfectly on 6-20 just like airplane's! without aid of the tuner, swr is 1.1:1 on 27.300, and under 1.5:1 on 28.400. at 24.975 it is 3:1 however. i've made plenty of contacts with the v5/8 on all bands between 10-20m. 22 some odd years old, bent & rebent, it doesn't neccessarily point in all the right directions at the same time, but it sure as heck works!!! |
Canal_digger
Junior Member
Username: Canal_digger
Post Number: 25
Registered: 1-2008
| | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008 - 2:02 pm: |
|
What's the exact height for the Alpha V58 & V-5000? I thought they were both about 20' long for 10/11 band. Other than the power rating, any other technical advantages of one over the other? I had one person tell me the V-5000 was put together better than the Alpha V58 and weighed about 1 lb more. Can that be? Are the guts that much different? |
Patzerozero
Senior Member
Username: Patzerozero
Post Number: 4340
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008 - 6:56 pm: |
|
from what i remember, the 'wire' from the connector was a heavier guage....hardly worth the extra $. unless you plan on running more then 600 watts, the v5/8 is FINE. i did change the connector & wire when i put it up, but nothing else. NO NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER in the v5/8 & my friends' $350 i10k, performance-wise. mine has withstood numerous blizzards & 75mph+ winds....the only reason it is bent is because the mount failed. where in NY are you digger? i'm 1/4 mile from the water south shore LI, probably no harsher conditions anywhere in NY, even in the adirondacks. |
Canal_digger
Junior Member
Username: Canal_digger
Post Number: 26
Registered: 1-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - 5:03 pm: |
|
Thanks for the reply! I'm just outside of Rochester, NY near Lake Ontario where we have so much fun in the winter, which runs from Thanksgiving to Easter. So far, my Imax2000 is doing OK, but I've always been partial to aluminum ever since my first real base antenna-a beat up, 2nd hand 1/2 wave I got in '77. I upgraded to an Archer .64 wave in 1980-81? and still think that may have been the best base available around then. I could easily talk to anyone in a 60+ mile radius and DX was a breeze, even to the Gold Coast. Anyways, maybe this fall I try alum. again w/ either a Maco or the Sigma Mantova Turbo if available. Just got the itch for a change. |
Airplane1
Senior Member
Username: Airplane1
Post Number: 1052
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 8:25 am: |
|
Could a Archer .64 be built from the instruction manual and buying the parts? I did hear often that they were one heck of a ground plane. |
Starface
Senior Member
Username: Starface
Post Number: 2002
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 1:29 pm: |
|
Roger, with instruction manual and parts you could build anything there is.. good luck and if you do let us all here know how it turned out.
Take pictures along the way, remember a picture is worth a 1000 works.
George
CEF#Ø476
KI4NBE Amateur Extra
HAM#Ø181
CVC#ØØ14
|
Canal_digger
Junior Member
Username: Canal_digger
Post Number: 27
Registered: 1-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 5:42 pm: |
|
If I could get my hands on either the original Archer .64 wave or even the 5/8 wave from the Rat Shack I would buy again (new). I recall the alum. was tough and the reception was great (and quiet). Please share the instructions if you get a copy for old times sake? |
Patzerozero
Senior Member
Username: Patzerozero
Post Number: 4342
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 7:37 pm: |
|
you will need to use the same outside diameter of each tube as the original (& to make the instructions for the original 'work') get performance as close to that of the original as possible. using thinner OD tubes will narrow bandwidth and effect length vs resonance to some degree-how measurable depends on 'everything'. also, feed would need to be duplicated exactly.
i said to 'duplicate original performance'. that is not to say 'whatever you use' just may outperform your maco v5/8, may be better then the original, or may not. BUT you'll never know unless you try, and whether you're a CBer, ham or both, experimenting with antennas can be BOTH FUN and a nightmare. but go ahead & let us know how you make out! |
Izzzzzz6
New member
Username: Izzzzzz6
Post Number: 1
Registered: 9-2024
| | Posted on Thursday, September 19, 2024 - 3:51 am: |
|
Does anybody know by how much the lower top section overlaps into the lowest base section?
I'm trying to convert a 5/8 sirio. I am buying Teflon (PTFE) pipe as the insulator. (as used in the V5000).
I have made the ring from copper pipe.
Having overlap in the insulator should create some capacitance which possiblt acts like a gamma match. This might be why Maco say that adjusting the tuning ring does not do much. I think the ring itself is a fairly critical size. The one I made has just over a 1 foot diameter. For the ground planes I will initially use stainless steel telescopic antenna which have M10 threads. I will purchase an aluminium ring and tap the holes into it. Eventually I would like to use alloy radials but these telescopic antenna are cheap and lightweight You can by 2.5M and add a small extension or you can just use the 5.8M ones and set them to length.
One advantage if you use a hoist up mast is that you can extend any radials as you hoist up so they don't impact with the ground while you are putting everything together. The 5.6M telescopic antenna are stronger than the 2.5M ones (which measure closer to 2.6M.
For the pl259 I will order copper strip 3mm x 25mm x100mm. I will cut the length required around 50mm cut a slot into my ring where it runs back towards the base section and solder / braise the pieces together. I learned yesterday that the V58 was originally made by Maco but Tagra also made one and so did a few other companies. There is a really nice / expensive looking version on youtube but it appears to use more stainless steel.
I receive the donor antenna soon and will post updates if I get it working. Was mainly keen to know if there is an overlap inside the insulator as some other brands appear to not overlap inside the insulator. Perhaps they have a strengthening tube that is not connected to either element? |
