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maco V-58 vs. workman W-58

B

BOOTY MONSTER

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so im surfing around looking at base antennas and at CB Radio Antennas at Discount Prices - Palco Electronics i find what may be a good deal .
they have a workman W-58 omni. for $60 plus 17 S&H to va. .
the also have the maco V-58 for $77 plus 17 S&H to va. .

ive got so many crappy old wires comming to the back of my house that im not even sure i can put up anything with radials . i may have to go with a 2000 or a 99 . but if i find a way is the workman a decent antenna ? is it the same as the maco , just sold under a different brand name ?
 

I called Palco yesterday and had this exact same question.

The guy that answered the phone transferred me to Tony, the owner of Palco. He was a great guy to talk with with a few funny stories to boot.

He told me that he knows the Maco Antennas are made in the state of Illinois, right here in the Good Ol' U S of A.. but he can not say they he knows where the Workman W58 is made. Basically, the Workman is a clone of a V58, and the V58 is a clone of an Avanti Sigma 5/8...

I ordered a Maco V58, it was a Total of $95 ($76.99 for the antenna, $18.01 UPS Ground), mainly because I have heard that Maco's Customer Service is quite good.

I'll have it Friday.
 
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Which would be the best deal? The quick-n-dirty answer would be the cheaper of the two.
Is one just a copy of the other? Yes and no. I would think they are similar because they are the same basic type antenna, a 5/8 wave ground plane. Lots of ways they can be the same thing and be different, no idea in this particular comparison.
Another terrible way to make a comparison is which one weighs the most? I would assume that would mean it's a little heavier-duty than the other one (yeah, I know, big stretch there).
Something else to think about is that mess of wires going to your house. If the 'groundplane' is above those wires, then they shouldn't make much difference. Key work there is 'much', which opens up a whole 'nuther can of worms, sort of. Shouldn't make any more difference with an A99 or Imax though.
So, which to get? Beats me, you gotta decide that.
- 'Doc
 
If its about money go with the cheapest it will work ok. If its about performance and the bottom of the antennas are at the same level, the longest one wins, if both antennas are at the same height at the top its a tossup. If your looking for an antenna that is broud banned an A99 is a good choice and it has a small wind loud so you can put it up higher than one of those big metal antennas that require lots of guy wires to stay up there...................walterb
 
The Workman model is the same as the Maco model only sold cheaper, Think of it like the Cobra 29LTD classic and the Uniden PC78xl after all they are the same basic radio only different names and the faceplate that lights up. Inside same board same parts only different names on the parts.
 
Which would be the best deal? The quick-n-dirty answer would be the cheaper of the two.
Is one just a copy of the other? Yes and no. I would think they are similar because they are the same basic type antenna, a 5/8 wave ground plane. Lots of ways they can be the same thing and be different, no idea in this particular comparison.
Another terrible way to make a comparison is which one weighs the most? I would assume that would mean it's a little heavier-duty than the other one (yeah, I know, big stretch there).
Something else to think about is that mess of wires going to your house. If the 'groundplane' is above those wires, then they shouldn't make much difference. Key work there is 'much', which opens up a whole 'nuther can of worms, sort of. Shouldn't make any more difference with an A99 or Imax though.
So, which to get? Beats me, you gotta decide that.
- 'Doc
w5lz as usual you hit the nail on the head alluminum is alluminum copper is copper a watt is a watt if it looks the same it probably is.73s w5lz 1342 ny just got down.
 
If its about money go with the cheapest it will work ok. If its about performance and the bottom of the antennas are at the same level, the longest one wins, if both antennas are at the same height at the top its a tossup. If your looking for an antenna that is broud banned an A99 is a good choice and it has a small wind loud so you can put it up higher than one of those big metal antennas that require lots of guy wires to stay up there...................walterb
no no no if your looking for broadband and your considering a a99 forget about it and get a imax 2000 i had both and i will never ever own another a99!if i want to get out like a a99 i will build a vertical dipole and hang it from a tree however the imax 2000 is much better and if you want to improve on the imax do as i did and mount a 102 inch whip on the top and take the whip with the headphone wire off lol.
 
as far as i am concerned this speaker wire dipole i hung worked as good if not better than my a99.no baluns no tuners just speaker wire to coax.homemade 8 bay bowtie in backround for hd channels. or this horizontal 33 foot loop works quite well also.
 

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i moved and i wound up building my own antenna . i picked marconi and W5LZ's and BOB85's as well as CDX007's minds (and a few others) and bugged them with questions and ideas , hehehehe . thanks for putting up with me guys ;) .

i basically built a open circuit copy of the starduster with 12 gauge stranded wire , but i used 4 ground elements/wires instead of the 3 on the starduster . its works better than i thought it would once i got it up in the air a little bit (27ish feet to the feedpoint) .it also tuned nicely too . i still would like to get a maco , but i want to change the main radiator to a 1 inch aluminum element so i can see for myself what if any difference there is . from what i understand it should tune acceptably flat over a wider frequency range , not realy a big deal for the range i use . i want to see if the larger surface area makes for a quiter or better recieve , it may help with tx a lil , but im not really expecting it . i also dont expect a larger surface area to make me louder or change the tone of my voice .

thanks to the folks that did help me as well as the new posters offering their comments too . ;)
 
i moved and i wound up building my own antenna . i picked marconi and W5LZ's and BOB85's as well as CDX007's minds (and a few others) and bugged them with questions and ideas , hehehehe . thanks for putting up with me guys ;) .

i basically built a open circuit copy of the starduster with 12 gauge stranded wire , but i used 4 ground elements/wires instead of the 3 on the starduster . its works better than i thought it would once i got it up in the air a little bit (27ish feet to the feedpoint) .it also tuned nicely too . i still would like to get a maco , but i want to change the main radiator to a 1 inch aluminum element so i can see for myself what if any difference there is . from what i understand it should tune acceptably flat over a wider frequency range , not realy a big deal for the range i use . i want to see if the larger surface area makes for a quiter or better recieve , it may help with tx a lil , but im not really expecting it . i also dont expect a larger surface area to make me louder or change the tone of my voice .

thanks to the folks that did help me as well as the new posters offering their comments too . ;)
ih booty i have a maco 5/8 up now and it is pretty broadbanded now at first my dip was a 1.3 and it was only workable on 1 band of 40 channels however after some tuning and tap adjustments i was able to find the flatline and that opened up the antenna a whole bunch.now the antenna is workable from about 26.850 to about 28.515.i recently made a top hat for it to 19 inch sections for the tap and will be adding some radiator elements from a old midland 5/8 to increase its length to a .64 wave 23 feet. i think the old .64 rat shack and super penetrator 500 were some of the best old antennas and would like to try to achieve there performance out of this maco v58.good luck on your projects is well i would love to here your outcome when you get that far.
 
have any of you guys heard of filling the aluminum sections with expanding foam to increase the rigidity/ strength?

im wondering if there is a pro vs. con thing going on with this practice.

like, yes, you make the antenna less prone to bending in the wind, but you have also increased the weight of the antenna substantially.

advice?
LC

PS- i think booty's question has to do with the thickness of aluminum used in these two antennas.

does the maco use a thicker gauge of aluminum than the workman?
 
have any of you guys heard of filling the aluminum sections with expanding foam to increase the rigidity/ strength?

im wondering if there is a pro vs. con thing going on with this practice.

like, yes, you make the antenna less prone to bending in the wind, but you have also increased the weight of the antenna substantially.

advice?
LC

PS- i think booty's question has to do with the thickness of aluminum used in these two antennas.

does the maco use a thicker gauge of aluminum than the workman?
i have heard of this a few times i dont think the added weight would be an issue and i could not imagine it would amount to more than 1/2 a lb.the issue would be if you ever wanted to tune the antenna for another frequency then you would have to dig some of it out.so far my maco has held up to about 60 mph winds.on the thickness i dont know if the workman is different but bigger thicker radiator should be more broadbanded however the maco is suprisingly broadbanded if you get that tap point right.
 
have any of you guys heard of filling the aluminum sections with expanding foam to increase the rigidity/ strength?

im wondering if there is a pro vs. con thing going on with this practice.

like, yes, you make the antenna less prone to bending in the wind, but you have also increased the weight of the antenna substantially.

advice?
LC

PS- i think booty's question has to do with the thickness of aluminum used in these two antennas.

does the maco use a thicker gauge of aluminum than the workman?

LC, you have to use a lot of imagination to believe that filler can really add anything of value to your aluminum tubing on a Maco beam. If you could make a length of that stuff the length of your element and the same diameter, it would not even support is own weight horizontally.

It might mess it up, as I think 1342 correctly noted. Don't do it, buy a stronger beam if you have too, or wait until Jay in the Mojave finally comes out with his beam.
 

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