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Rumblefish
Junior Member
Username: Rumblefish
Post Number: 41
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 3:55 pm: | 
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I put up a used and abused a99 to replace my parts missing "top one". the a99 finally bit the dust, top ferrel of middle sections threads are no longer recognizable. I decided to get this antenna to replace the other stuff. hoping it will do as well as the maco 5/8ths on transmit and receive on cb frequencies. thanx steve |
Rumblefish
Junior Member
Username: Rumblefish
Post Number: 42
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Monday, March 22, 2010 - 2:00 pm: |
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its been a bad winter here in the north east. record snowfalls high winds and power outages. the sirio gpe27 5/8ths is still in the air and working great. I've noticed an improvement in the 30 plus mile range. It does have a minimal ground plane. only three 4ft. radials. they do however work. I've tried the antenna without the radials and experienced more static during the day especially.I'm not sure if the egg beater at the very top of the antenna helps reduce static or is some sort of a capacitance hat. overall quite pleased with its performance. |
Dale
Senior Member
Username: Dale
Post Number: 1562
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Monday, March 22, 2010 - 9:08 pm: |
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i gotta sirio 2016 from coppers love it
dale/a.k.a.hotrod
cef426
cvc#64
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Drifter_8291
Junior Member
Username: Drifter_8291
Post Number: 37
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, October 02, 2010 - 12:17 am: |
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I just got the Sirio Gpe 27 5/8 a couple of weeks ago and I am impressed with it. I have an Imax 2000 which I always got noise on even had the radial kit and still the noise so I took the Imax down the day before the Sirio was to arrive. The Sirio was easy to assmble and also easier to put up as it is lighter. I have it at the same height I had the Imax. I have less noise on the Sirio and my receive is better as I am hearing people I couldnt hear before as for the TX it is about the same.
I am very happy with my purchase of the Sirio. I paid total price including shipping $78 for it. much cheaper then the Imax and not as noisy. I doubt I will ever go back to fiberglass. I'll keep the Imax stored for an emergency but prob never buy another one. BTW the Imax was an upgrade from an Antron which I would reccomend the Imax over. |
Mikefromms
Senior Member
Username: Mikefromms
Post Number: 1089
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, October 02, 2010 - 11:01 am: |
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Wow, Drifter, report back in a couple of weeks and let us know more about the Sirio. There is something to be said about reducing the noise. Anyway, glad it working good for you and thanks for letting us know. I appreciate your unbiase remarks. I always liked the Astroplane and Imax 2000. One day might get a chance to put up a Sirio, who knows. |
Drifter_8291
Junior Member
Username: Drifter_8291
Post Number: 38
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 06, 2010 - 1:53 pm: |
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One thing though about this antenna it is not rated for high wattage. They list it as 250 Watts continuous 750 Watts short time. So for someone wanting to run alot it prob wouldne be a good match for them.For my situation 32 pep tops it works great.
I have looked on their website and another antenna which is comparable price wise would be their Sirio Tornado 5/8 which they rate as 1000 Watts
continuous 3000 Watts short time. I have seen it from the same dealer I got my sirio gpe 27 off of. They are selling the Sirio Tornado 5/8 $75 + 13 shipping so basically 10 more than my antenna.
So far so good on the testing for the gpe 27. Will have to see how well it stands up this winter under ice and wind etc we have here in Indiana. The receive is great and less static over what I was using in the Imax 2000. So far I am happy with it. |
Drifter_8291
Junior Member
Username: Drifter_8291
Post Number: 39
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, October 07, 2010 - 2:45 am: |
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One thing I forgot to mention the Sirio gpe 27 is not as broadbanded as the Imax. But for the area I am using it 26.000 - 27.850 it works just fine. The antenna can be tuned though to cover 10 meters by adjusting its top section. |
Dale
Senior Member
Username: Dale
Post Number: 1627
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 4:29 pm: |
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having just re-read your 1st post ya said you hoped it was as good as the maco 5/8. have ya tried a maco?if so which one ya like. i completely agree the sirio definately beats the imax.i noticed improvments over 30 miles plus
recieve is much quieter and swrs were right on by following instructions
dale/a.k.a.hotrod
cef426
cvc#64
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Drifter_8291
Junior Member
Username: Drifter_8291
Post Number: 40
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, October 09, 2010 - 10:28 am: |
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Dale
I am not the same poster as the original starter of this topic. Not sure if you were asking me thinking I was the same poster?
I too have noticed improvement in reception in the 25 -30 mile range.
As for the Maco 5/8 ..never tried one here but I imagine it might be better just by the longer radials alone?
My very first antenna years ago was a archer .64 wave That one had great receive, I wish I had another one. |
Drifter_8291
Junior Member
Username: Drifter_8291
Post Number: 41
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, October 16, 2010 - 7:42 pm: |
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Antenna performing nicely. I did do one thing though. I took it down and replaced the cheap "plastic jointing sleeves" over each telescoping section. These jointing sleeves are supposed to keep rain out of the antenna over the sections and screws. No Way these will seal each section.
I did what I used to do with other aluminum antennas I wrapped each section along with the screws (down then up then down again) with elescrical tape. I also sealed where the top section (where u set for SWR) along with the coax with coax seal. ....
I wish I had done all this when I first put it up but I was impatient and excited to get it up and try it out lol. Well its all set up for winter now and will see how well it holds up against Zero and below Temps, Snow, Wind and freezing rain and hofefully Santa wont hit it when he comes around lol. |
Drifter_8291
Junior Member
Username: Drifter_8291
Post Number: 45
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - 7:00 pm: |
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Well we had a bad stom here today with wind gusts 65 Mph and 30mph sustained. The Sirio GPE 27 is sill up there and straight with 1.12 standing wave  |
Dale
Senior Member
Username: Dale
Post Number: 1633
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - 8:36 pm: |
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good deal.im still thinking maybe i should,ve
got the maco. cause it does have longer radials
and it probaly has a higher Q ,which equals
better effiency. over a narrower band of channels.from what ive been reading. glad you
like your sirio.how high is yours?
dale/a.k.a.hotrod
cef426
cvc#64
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Drifter_8291
Junior Member
Username: Drifter_8291
Post Number: 46
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - 10:33 pm: |
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I have it on a 25' pole. 3 guy wires each broken (insulated) at 2' from the pole |
Rumblefish
Junior Member
Username: Rumblefish
Post Number: 43
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, December 05, 2010 - 11:35 am: |
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hey folks, just a follow up on the gpe 27 5/8ths wave. the initial reason I decided on the gpe was price. it was the least expensive 5/8ths wave i could find. I know its not the most broad banded antenna on the market and it wont put up with more than the maco with input wattage. that being said I'll probably never put more than 200 watts rms through the antenna. bottom line is I'm very happy with the performance of this antenna.72 dollars shipped to my door!! the performance is on par with the old .64 archer I had. seems to me the best bang for the buck out there unless you plan on running over 1000 watts.Its going into its second east coast winter still running like a champ! |
Drifter_8291
Member
Username: Drifter_8291
Post Number: 50
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2013 - 10:24 pm: |
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Well its been 2 years and 5 months and lots of storms and bad weather here in Indiana. The gpe 27 5/8ths wave is still up and going strong no problems at all. |
Dale
Senior Member
Username: Dale
Post Number: 1931
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2013 - 4:01 pm: |
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good 2 hear drifter. i got my 2016 from coppers
in 2009 and has seen it all snow,sleet,rain,
winds exceeding 50mph. these sirios seem
like decent made antennas to me. my decision
with the 2016 is cause its the only sirio
base antenna they carried at the time. i wrote a
short review i the order page section. if this
sirio antenna ever fails me i will replace it
with another sirio
dale/a.k.a.hotrod
cef426
cvc#64
454 [dx numbers]
38lsb
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Revpo
Advanced Member
Username: Revpo
Post Number: 696
Registered: 7-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 09, 2014 - 10:30 am: |
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I have a gp27...5/8..for a while I had poor reception on it but noticed in the instructions it is dc ground, I run it through an antenna tuner for 10 and 11 meters, anyhow I put a ground on the antenna tuner and it has come alive and tunes and works great now.
CEF795
73
REVPO/DOCTOR/CEF 795
Wavin a hand from the cornfields of INDIANA
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Possum_lodge
Junior Member
Username: Possum_lodge
Post Number: 48
Registered: 5-2014
| | Posted on Friday, July 11, 2014 - 1:17 pm: |
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I never liked being the naysayer on an internet forum, it usually doesn't accomplish much except to make enemies and to get me thrown off the forum.
A friend of mine recently got into amateur radio, having been involved briefly with the CB in the late 70's - early 80's - when the bands were open and you could practically hold the coax out the window and make contacts.
The amateur radio exam, which has been reduced to almost nothing, teaches nothing and leaves people believing that they know something about radio and that they are qualified to build a station and operate a radio. Its no wonder why so many of the new hams gravitates towards a handheld radio - that takes no intelligence to operate.
A transmitted radio wave is made up of a magnetic and a electrical component.
A simple Marconian antenna is a half wave dipole.
A half wave dipole antenna works because the current on the antenna alternates between being positively charged and negatively charged across the two poles. When one side is positively charged, the other side is negative and vs versa.
A antenna's performance is measured against the performance of a dipole antenna - since we know what to expect from a dipole antenna, it's performance is a constant.
When you shorten the length of the antenna from a half wave length center fed to a half wavelength end fed, most of the power is down near the feed point and there is a null at the tip.
The little ball on top of a radio antenna is called a Coronal Ball.
A Coronal Ball is used to control static...
We hear static because electrical discharges by their nature have very fast rise times. In basic terms, it is nature's version of high frequency interference.
Radio waves travels up and down the coax and they will stop at any multiple of half wavelengths, so it stands to reason that the radio waves also travels back and forth across the antenna at multiples of half wavelengths and that if the antenna is shorter or longer then a half wavelength that it becomes unbalanced.
Where does the offset power go? My guess is back down the feed line - which makes it reactive, or down the mast pipe into the ground.
If you are going to cut ground radials, the ground radials themselves needs to be resonant - hence they would need to be at least 9' long and evenly spaced around the mast. The ground radials would need to be at or near the surface of the earth, not buried. The earth itself is a poor conductor.
You can cheat on this if you use 3 or 4 elevated radials - directly underneath the antenna and inclined at a 45* angle. The Solorcon's radial kit could work if the radials were made out of aluminum.
So comparing the Solorcon A99 - with no egg beater - as you like to call it, and the GPE27 isn't comparing apples to apples.
What we need to look at is the power radiated vs the power applied. If one shows a stronger signal than the other, within a one half hour period of time, using the same coax and the same tower or mast pole - then you have a more accurate comparison.
I heard mention of power and I have to believe that some of the forum members doesn't understand power. I can't help but think that the FCC and the Hams involved with giving 11 meters to the public, had to have known what they were doing when they made the rules.
A simple statement - QRP Works!
If you want to allow as many people as possible to operate on a limited amount of frequencies available and you want to space those frequencies out equally, you need to limit the amount of bandwidth of the transmitter to about 6 KC's ( Kilocycles) AM ( Amplitude Modulation, and about 3 KC's - SSB ( Single Side Band).. This gives a guard band of about 2.5 KC's AM between channels - taking into account all the spatter boxes out there today.
Given 3 watts, maybe 5 when the tubes were new, this would give you a local range with a good vertical antenna of about 35 air miles - to another base station antenna with a similar situation - radio and antenna wise.
This would also limit your abilities to work DX to about 155 air miles with a good beam antenna and Single Side Band.
Just increasing the transmit power, does nothing to increase the range, since you can't work them unless you can hear them.. This is probably the number one mistake made by most hams on the amateur bands today.. They think that in order to be able to be heard, they automatically have to turn on their amplifier and use 600 - 1500 watts.
This is also the purpose of the signal report.
If I am 5/9 with 100 watts, I should either maintain my power or reduce my power, according to whom I want to talk to and how well they are receiving my signal.
At S-5, increasing transmit power from 100 watts to 600 watts only gets you 1 S Unit of gain into the other persons receiver.
At S-9, you need to increase power 10X in order to move the needle one S unit.
So if you are running 100 watts and are 10/9 - you would need to increase your transmit power to 1000 watts to be 20/9..
And to be 30/9 you would need 10,000 watts and to be 40/9 you would need 100,000 watts...
There are better gains to be had by just using a more efficient antenna then by increasing power.
A good beam could get you 12 Db of gain - with no cost in electricity and no spatter or distorted audio.
You can make a 3 watt signal appear to the other persons receiver as being 120 watts by just using a HY Gain Long John Beam antenna and about 100 watts using a Avanti Moonraker IV...
100 watts is enough to talk to Europe or anything in north or south America when the band conditions are right. Most simple vertical antenna's are only rated for about 200 watts and no more. |
Tech833
Moderator
Username: Tech833
Post Number: 2292
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, July 26, 2014 - 3:51 pm: |
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A few comments to your post:
"A antenna's performance is measured against the performance of a dipole antenna - since we know what to expect from a dipole antenna, it's performance is a constant."
That is called "dBd", or dB compared to a dipole. There is also dbi, dB/m, etc.
"When you shorten the length of the antenna from a half wave length center fed to a half wavelength end fed, most of the power is down near the feed point and there is a null at the tip. "
Nope. An end fed 1/2 wave antenna like the A99 or the Ringo have current maxima in the middle and current nulls at top AND bottom. Consequently, there are voltage maximas at the top and bottom with a current minima in the middle.
Now, if you're talking about a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna, then there is a current maxima at the feedpoint.
"Radio waves travels up and down the coax and they will stop at any multiple of half wavelengths, so it stands to reason that the radio waves also travels back and forth across the antenna at multiples of half wavelengths and that if the antenna is shorter or longer then a half wavelength that it becomes unbalanced. "
Nope. Current never stops on the coax feedline. It's either flowing away from or toward the source (transmitter).
As for radio waves traveling (or stopping) at half wave points on an antenna itself, that is also wrong. How do you explain a 1/4 wave ground plane? Current along a radiator is a constant with changing (alternating) phase. The phase along the radiating element depends upon where it is fed and the feedpoint impedance.
"Where does the offset power go? My guess is back down the feed line - which makes it reactive,"
No. Reactance is when the antenna, feedline, or whatever becomes capacitive or inductive and is no longer purely resistive.
"If you are going to cut ground radials, the ground radials themselves needs to be resonant "
Nope. Not unless you are confusing radials and counterpoise. In a 1/4 wave ground plane, the counterpoise elements should be the same length as the radiating element. In the case of ground radials, they just need to be longer than 1/4 wavelength.
"The ground radials would need to be at or near the surface of the earth, not buried. The earth itself is a poor conductor. "
You're confused. The earth is a fairly good conductor, but it isn't being used to conduct, it is being used to couple RF current into the earth as the other half of an unbalanced antenna system. In this case, the ideal situation is for a counterpoise above ground AND radials in the ground near the surface. The radials will help lower the RF takeoff angle. That is achieved through coupling to earth.
"You can cheat on this if you use 3 or 4 elevated radials - directly underneath the antenna and inclined at a 45* angle. The Solorcon's radial kit could work if the radials were made out of aluminum. "
You can do this with any conductor. Solarcon's radial kit is actually copper wire inside fiberglass, plenty conductive. Changing them to aluminum tubing would make NO difference. However, changing the length of them would.
"At S-5, increasing transmit power from 100 watts to 600 watts only gets you 1 S Unit of gain into the other persons receiver. "
Nope, increasing from 100 watts to 400 watts will give a 1 S-unit increase. It's simple inverse square calculation. However, an S-meter really isn't a calibrated instrument in the first place.
"At S-9, you need to increase power 10X in order to move the needle one S unit."
Well.... Not really. See comment above.
"There are better gains to be had by just using a more efficient antenna then by increasing power.
A good beam could get you 12 Db of gain - with no cost in electricity and no spatter or distorted audio. "
Now, there is some good truth.
"100 watts is enough to talk to Europe or anything in north or south America when the band conditions are right. Most simple vertical antenna's are only rated for about 200 watts and no more."
The QRPP crowd does it with less than 1 watt all the time. Some of the 20 mW (that's MILLIwatt) 10m beacons from Italy are heard all over the world.
Your radio 'Mythbuster' since 1998
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