[50mhz] Re: Antenna Suggestions

[Ron Calhoun]

Thank you to everyone who responded to my "Antenna Suggestions" post.

I was out of ham radio for 33 years, and have been back on 6m for 
about a year.  Lots of new stuff to learn and old stuff to re-learn. 
I was on 6m in San Antonio from 1962 -1966, when I joined the Coast 
Guard. My first 6m contact this time around was November 18, 2001 
with VK4BLK on SSB with 100w from the Icom 746 to a 17m Hamstick 
dipole... First time DX sent ME a green stamp with QSL :) The 3 el 
Cushcraft went up shortly after that. I have learned a bit from it 
and now it is time to upgrade as far as my QTH and finances allow.

 From the replies, it is evident that many of you have quite a lot of 
6m experience. I will summarize the responses as you may find them 
interesting.

My favorite reply was from Mike, KA5CVH - "Tell her its not 
logging...its careful forestry management..."

Recommendations were:

M2   2 each
C3i  1 each
Cushcraft  A505S  1 each
Cushcraft  A505S with KM1H mods  1 each
Cushcraft  A503S  1 each (stack another with the existing one)
Quad   1 each
and three positive comments about HyGain

As a result of this input, I went back to each manufacturer's web 
site, the eham.net reviews, and did a Google search on each antenna 
for additional info.

Also put together a database with all the specs, so the data was in a 
format for easy comparison.

Several of the manufacturer's web sites could be improved by showing 
photos of boom-to-element mounting methods and hardware. HyGain and 
Cushcraft are to be commended for making manuals available for 
download containing specs and construction info.


I did not want to stack another 3 element Cushcraft, as I could only 
get about five feet of separation with the materials available to me. 
I did consider buying another 3 element Cushcraft to use for parts to 
convert my present 3 element into a 5 element, incorporating the KM1H 
mods. I'm still a bit disappointed with Cushcraft for not replying to 
my e-mail.

HyGain got another look as well. I don't care for the element-to-boom 
mounting method. I'm not saying it isn't any good, I just don't care 
for it. Also, I feel a bit of a "taint" with HyGain being a part of 
MFJ. Just my opinion...

M2's products look very good, but their 5 element has an 18' boom, 
and so that ruled it out.

The C3i C5-50 was a strong contender. It's specs compare very closely 
to the Cushcraft A505S with the KM1H mods.

The Cubex 4LMVQ quad looked pretty good, but I didn't care for their 
method of fastening spreaders to boom.

Last is the Lightning Bolt 6MCQ-4 4-element quad. This is the one I decided on.

The final two contenders were the C3i/A505S-KM1H and the Lightning 
Bolt Quad. The Lightning Bolt's turn radius was a big factor - 6' 8", 
as opposed to 8' for the C3i. Gain was similar, the C3i a bit better 
on Front-to-Back. The Quad has less surface area than the C3i. Each 
antenna had one "5" review on eham.net. Lightning Bolt Quads in the 
HF review section had 2 pages of reviews, every one a "5".

The Quad was $45 less than the C3i. Lightning Bolt was willing to 
ship Priority Mail versus UPS, so that saved me $30. I'll use the $$ 
difference to buy some 9913/equal to replace the Mini-8X feeding the 
Cushcraft, and that should help out a bit.

Another factor is my curiosity about the Quad. I like my 80m 
horizontal loop and 20m vertical loop.

This has been an interesting exercise. My 3 el Cushcraft has been a 
part of my learning experience. The Quad will be the next teacher - 
and, I hope, a fine performer.

As far as I can determine, I am the only ham in CO27 on 6m. There is 
a Tech+ here who just bought a house and has a tower he wants to put 
up. Seems to me that would be a good home for the 3 el Cushcraft. 
Now, to get him excited about the Magic Band!

Thanks again for your input.

73

Ron KL7XL