The Hy-gain Penetrator 500 Matching Rod

[jwschuler]

I hear a lot about the Penetrator 500 5/8 ground plane antenna. I have been using mine for about 15 years; it has been a very user friendly devise, not much to do as far as maintenance but a lot of gain in the transmit and receive department. A lot of talk I see about the changes in measurements with the change from 23 channel and 40 channel radios. The only measurement I have not seen and I understand it has not changed, is the length of the Matching Rod (part #170774) and the Beta Rod (part #170775) I believe this could be important to the ones trying to achieve a good SWR on 27 MHz. I myself would appreciate an answer, my antenna was hit by lightening taking out the matching rod like a built in fuse. I have manufactured two of the rods and have not been successful; I only have the picture in the Installation & Operation Instruction manual to go by. Does anyone have these rod lengths? Thanks

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

pm CDX-007 here . he rebuilds them and has found a few ways to improve them . maybe he will share his secret recipie with you . hell probally respond here though later on .

 

[kb6led]

I have hand bent a few matching networks now using 1/8" alum rod. I use a vise and a piece of PVC pipe it takes me about 15 minutes to bend one up, and all have worked fine.

 

[mrgumby]

"Penetrator" - CB Radio Base Station Antenna Parts - eBay (item 230346852964 end time Jul-02-09 13:13:24 PDT)

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

Looks like mrgumby got it for you..
can also check out jay's ..
i recall he had to update your type of antenna...so he could learn to improve and ultimately build his Interceptor I-10K

Home of the Interceptor 10K Antenna

 

[CDX-007]

I have hand bent a few matching networks now using 1/8" alum rod. I use a vise and a piece of PVC pipe it takes me about 15 minutes to bend one up, and all have worked fine.

A Subaru Outback oil filter also works well for getting the curve bent correctly.

For the Beta match the overall length of 12g copper you'll need is 41".

That includes enough for the loop you'll need to make on each end.

Since you have a Penetrator to measure by, simply attach one end to the very bottom connection coming through the insulator cup, and bring it up and over the radials with the Outback oil filter curve, plus another 3", then bend it across at a 90* for a 1" spacing, then back down to the connection at the base of the radiator.

If you bent & curved it right you should have just enough left to make the loop to reach the hole at the bottom of the radiator.

You might want to get 20' of 12ga just in case you need to practice 2-3 times.

The shunt is most likely what took the brunt of the energy and I'll bet it's toast, so, cut another piece of 12ga copper, 16" long, which will include the 5/8" or so required for the loop on each end.

The length measures 10 5/8", bend to bend.

The top extension is 1 3/8" from the bend to the center of the loop.

The bottom extension is 2 3/4" bend to center of loop.

If you don't get it absolutely perfect you might lose 5 words out of every 100 from a mobile 40miles away, instead of only 4 words.