| Author |
Message |
    
mikefromms
| | Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 5:51 pm: | 
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The A-99's are good inexpensive antenna. I was wondering if anyone here ever co-phased A-99's and how much improvement did you see?
If you could get another s-unit on transmit and receive it would make more sense to co-phase these $40 a piece antennas than to spend $275 on the most expensive groundplane.
Mikefromms |
Tech808
| | Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 7:01 pm: |
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Mikefromms,
You can get "1" Imax 2000 & GP Kit or Maco V 5/8 or V 5/8 5000 and it will save you the headaches & trouble of putting up Two antennas, Double Coax, Co-phasing, and having two Antennas sticking up in the air.
And the Imax 2000 w/GP kit and the either of the Maco's will run you less $110.00.
http://www.copperelectronics.com/cgi-bin/checkitout/checkitout.cgi?catalogSTORE:CKIE:prodM00-05140+
http://www.copperelectronics.com/cgi-bin/checkitout/checkitout.cgi?catalogSTORE:CKIE:prodM00-05172+
http://www.copperelectronics.com/cgi-bin/checkitout/checkitout.cgi?catalogSTORE:CKIE:prodA65-00001+
http://www.copperelectronics.com/cgi-bin/checkitout/checkitout.cgi?catalogSTORE:CKIE:prodA65-00005+
Just my thought's
Lon
Tech808 
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bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 10:15 pm: |
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if your interested on cophasing vert antennas i have some data on that
e-mail
wa4gch@yahoo.com |
mikefromms
| | Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 10:56 pm: |
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Lon, is the I-max that much better than an A-99? Another thing I'm wondering about, why is the new nbs 2010 big stick $10 higher than the I-max 2000?
Mikefromms |
Tech808
| | Posted on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 12:02 am: |
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Mike,
My suggestion would be the MACO ALPHA V 5/8 or the MACO V-5000 then the IMAX 2000.
Best deal for the money and very good all around performance.
As for the Big Stick I have no idea why the difference in price. I would guess that Shakespere charges there dealers more.
As for the IMAX being better than the A-99 I would suggest that you read Tech 833's Reviews of the "A-99 EXPOSED" and the "IMAX 2000 EXPOSED" they are both in the Subscriber Preview Section.
He spent a lot of his time Testing and Writing these Reviews and they will answer all of your questions you may have on both of them.
Lon
Tech808 |
mikefromms
| | Posted on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 7:15 am: |
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I have read the articles and they are very good. It's just it's hard to believe any ground plane could be "that much better" than the A-99. To justify cost it would have to be a 2 or 3 s-units difference (at least in my mind). Is that possible from ground planes put at equal heights?
mikefromms |
Arcangelny
| | Posted on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 9:46 am: |
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I had a friend that co-phased 2 Shakespeare Big stick antennas years ago. I helped him set it up. It improved noticeably but only in the front to back areas. The "sides" of the pattern remained the same. But considerations were:
1. SWR's never were acceptable. Endeds up with a h`igh quality antenna matcher.
2. When researching we found antennas had to be far apart to work well... Don't remmeber the distance... but you need lots of room.
3. The directional effect worked but was not worth the effort.
4. Making a co phase harness that worked was a hit and miss affair. Getting it just right so the SWR's were as low as possible was time consuming.
Later he got a beam. When we first did this he didn't have the money for the beam, so co-phasing was his attempt at a cheap directional system. This gave him directional power in any chosen direction! I suggest you do the same. If you are on a low budget, there are lots of free beam plans out there on the net. Get a used rotor and you will have a superior setup.
He moved about fifteen years ago and I still have the two big sticks in the basement! |
mikefromms
| | Posted on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 8:22 pm: |
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Thanks for the information. If I wanted a beam bad enough I could get it. It is interesting what you can do with antennas. I guess I like to keep conversation going. In a few months I might just buy a I-max 2000 just to compare it with the AP, then keep the best one!
mikefromms |
Kc0gxz
| | Posted on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 11:43 pm: |
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mikefromms
I think you may have missed a few very important points here.
The 3 antennas that Tech808 is suggesting are very long antennas. The more metal in the air, and the higher that metal is, the farther away that antenna is going to be heard. AND, the very most important fact of all, the 3 mentioned antennas are 5/8 wave. Any 3 of them CAN easily out-perform the A-99 or any other 1/4 or 1/2 wave CB antenna just for that reason alone.
For those nonbelievers out there, as Tech808 suggested, please read Tech 833's reviews of the "A-99 EXPOSED" and the "I-MAX 2KW EXPOSED". Both of them are are in the Subscriber Preview Section. EXCELLENT READING AND VERY WELL WRITTEN. And when you're done with that, you might want to read the artical on the GPK (ground plane kit). Those 3 articals are real eye-openers.
I could be wrong but I believe one of the reasons why Tech808 would take the MACO ALPHA V 5/8 or the MACO V-5000 over the I-Max, is probably because the I-Max (like the 99) does not have a direct path to ground. They can handle a lightning hit better than the 99 or the Max.
The I-Max and the 99 rarely survive a lightning hit because of their capacitance grounding. I can attest to that. But, no one has yet to build a PERFECT antenna. They all have their flaws.
Unlike Tech808, I personally prefer the I-Max over the others for the fact that the I-Max has a bandpass that leaves all others in the dust. No radials to worry about, and a length of 24 feet. We get some nasty, nasty winds out here on the plains of Nebraska but I have NEVER lost one due to wind. You don't want to look at a I-Max during a storm with high winds. It's scarry.
Jeff, kc0gxz. |
bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 9:17 pm: |
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this might be of interest
http://www.bellscb.com/cb_radio_hobby/antennas/antarray.html
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bullet 151 southern indiana
| | Posted on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 3:33 pm: |
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hey mike,
in short yes i have, mines omni directional and has 5db gain.
ive compared them to single a99's and 5/8 wave omni's as well, and thier not coming down for anything on the cb market. yet anyway....
im rxing/txing to stations my bud's cant on thier imax2000,army bigsticks, antrons, starduster clones ect. ive also noticed it's performance is a bit under that of a 2 element quad like a PDL-2.
if you would like more info on this 2 element colinear array you can email me at
blackhawk454@hotmail.com
i have another colinear in the works that employs
a single vertical thats also omni directional and has 6 db gain in a package thats around 36 feet long. im curantly working on beefing up it's matching section to withstand more rf power. |
Kc0gxz
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 08, 2003 - 10:58 pm: |
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Bruce
In reference to your Tuesday, July 01, 2003 posting, I finally got around to reading it. That was a very interesting and informative piece.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
Jeff, kc0gxz. |
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