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Maco Shooting Star

airplane1

W9WDX Amateur Radio Club Member
Apr 15, 2005
1,051
32
58
Lebanon county PA
Hi,

I am getting a maco shooting star from an operator who is not in good health and needs every thing taken down so he can sell his home.

I was wondering if anyone ever used one on 10 meter and if it would work good there?

thanks,
AP
 

After a little re-structuring, shortening things here-n-there, it ought to work as well on 10 meters as it does on 11 meters.
- 'Doc
 
with a tuner you can have that worrkin on 10 I use my Gizmotchy on 10 with a tuner also ofcourse. I actually have a shooting star heer I am going to rebuild soon here when the weathers better Im not sure if Im gonna keep it or not I need to start thinning everything out here Im @$$ high in antennas I have 4 superscanners and extra parts aswell along with some older 5/8 wave vertical antennas I believe they are CLR 2 antennas I will take pics when I start going through all these maybe someone can help me identify some of these Ive picked up through the years.

That shooting star is a good antenna you will like it Im sure of that dual polarity Vertical and Horizontal its fun to play with that option sometimes you find them stations while switching to Hoizontal you didnt know existed when on Vertical.
 
Hi,

I am getting a maco shooting star from an operator who is not in good health and needs every thing taken down so he can sell his home.

I was wondering if anyone ever used one on 10 meter and if it would work good there?

thanks,
AP

i don't think maco ever made an m104hv, just 3 & 5 element versions. BUT, i'd compare the standard SUGGESTED m103 & m105 measurments to the 103hv & 105hv, and if they are consistant, remove the 'glas spreader ends from the relector & replace with aluminum & make them full length yagi reflectors.
NOW, for the kicker.....what i'd do is build the VERTICAL tuned to 27.400 or so. past experience has shown the m104 to tune to around 1.3:1 vertically polarized due to the mast interacting with the driver & 1st director. a decent tuner & you should still have real gain over 7dbd on 11m, and pretty near 6dbd on 28.400. heck, even if you show 3:1 swr on 24.950, matched with the tuner, you will have noticeable F/S & F/B rejection, and 'noticeable' gain over a dipole. highly unlikely you'll ever miss anything by NOT being horizontally polarized on 10m, 11m, & 12m.
so, what to do with the horizontal elements? a couple of choices. you could make a real nice 5 element 6 meter yagi. you could make a real nice 3 element 15 meter yagi. or you could make a nice 2 element 20 meter yagi. i've seen several short-boom 3 element 20m yagis, but not sure how much difference you'd see performance -wise vs a full size 2 element.
i should only have so much free time on my hands. or enough space to do it :)
 
The Shooting Star was a remnant of Wilson Antenna that Maco bought out years ago. Maco continued to produce the antenna until they closed the doors. It is basically the same design as a Moonraker 4 without the hubs for element mounting. If I remember correctly the element spacing and lengths were included in the assembly manual for use on 10 meters. It takes a little bit more time to get all the elements lined up but it is a good antenna.
 
"until they closed the doors" Maco may be gone, but the antennas are still being produced by Gizmothcy. He bought them out.
Rich
 

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