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Save The Penetrator #500 antenna!

kb6led

Member
Apr 11, 2009
92
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With regular dx openings happening on 10/11 meters I got interested in putting up a dedicated mono band antenna and found the Penetrator to be a great vertical performer. I have been able to find antenna(s) in older neighborhoods that the owner(s) where happy to see them off there roofs for $20.00 or even free. I can’t help to wonder the fate of how many of these great antennas have ended up in the landfill.

For those looking to restore/rebuild a Penetrator antenna for 10/11-meter use. Here is a parts list I put together after rebuilding a couple antennas myself. A lot of the parts are still available through Hy-gain and are used on some of there current Ham antennas the part numbers are different than the original penetrator parts list.

The base insulator will have to be drilled and tapped but that’s easy if you have a drill press or have a steady hand to drill it with a hand drill. Use M1 to mark where your hole needs to be and use a #25 bit and a 10-24 tap. The matching network(s) you will have to hand bend but if you still have your original one use that as your guide. I use a vise and some PVC to make the bends once I got the hang of it I can bend up a set in about 15 minutes. The aluminum rod I got from a local scrapper and it was cheap $3.00 for a 10’ Copper will work to and it is easy to mold but it’s not as ridged as the aluminum rod.

There are people out there selling replacement parts and have a very nice product, but for those who prefer to do there own work this maybe helpful.



“Hy-Gain parts for penetrator #500 rebuilding”

Top hat radials (4) # 173499 $.57 ea
Top Insulator (1) # 463056 $3.12 ea
Base Insulator (1) # 863427 $6.90 ea
Base bracket (1) # 160043 $7.32 ea
U-Bolts (2) # 543792 $2.37 ea
Insulator rod support(s) (2) # 463642 .55ea

S0-239 Connector (1) Radio shack or online

1/8” Alum rod or #10-12ga solid cu wire (Use to make your matching network and beta matcher)

Hy-Gain 662-323-9538

All the nuts, bolts and hose clamps can be purchased at an Orchard supply hardware store. I used scotch brite to clean up the aluminum tubing and a dermal tool to clean up the inside of the mating tube sections. If you are looking for Aluminum tubing to replace missing or damaged parts try dx engineering, Texas towers or Hy-gain as they may have tubing used on current antennas. I upgraded the antennas I rebuilt using all stainless steel and brass hardware and used noalox/pentrox on the joints to keep oxidation to a minimum. if your antenna is complete you can rebuild it to good as new condition for less than 30 bucks! And have the satisfaction of doing the work your self.





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For those who dont have the matching network anymore this may be helpful
 

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Here is a finished product that I put together for a friend
 

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When I restored mine I also used ALL stainless steel hardware and I also shot expanding foam inside the tubing to prevent the SWR from going up from rain/condensation/icing. Before that the SWR would always go high when it rained and/or then froze. No more after the expanding foam trick! This idea also worked on the good ol MoonRakers too! It's a pain in the a$$ but well worth it. It will also give the elements a little bit more strength/rigidity against the weather,like icing! I'll be putting my trusty ol Penetrator 500 back up here shortly and using it for 10/11 mtr both with a re-configured 4 element
Maco Horizontal about 3' underneath it for my 10 mtr use. Now to get the sunspots back on the roll again!!!!
Slim.
 
A couple I was working on this evening
 

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Hello KD6LED:

Good going rebuilding the Penetrator 500, an exellent antenna. An exellent job.

The older metal base assembles are reusable, and thicker and stronger then the newer Aluminum Brackets sold. I woulder why Hy-Gain did that?

Hy-Gain came out with Golden Colinear Penetrator in the eary 1960's. It had a really heavy duty base support and insulator. That broke trying to support the vertical element with ony a few inches of support at the bottom of the Insulator. Just try to hold up a 18 or 21 foor long vetical element with two hands at the bootom, not doable.

Then Hy-Gain came out with a CLR-2 that had a two point mount that was a much better mechanical design that proved to work very well. The base insulator had a circuit boad as a matching coil that was burned out quit a few times causing Hy-Gain some bad press.

The Penetrator 500 was the first CB Antenna advertised to take 1500 watts, as that was the advertised power of most Amateur Linear Amplifiers in the day. The guys at Hy-Gain were also hams, so they had their ear to the ground.

Jay in the Mojave
 
i hate spining that thang aroung to talk local..... Now maybe i can hear you guys... my beam is up 28ft and my Penetrator will be at 40ft so i should be able to hear ya
 
i know this has been a while since posted. but i have ran across a couple of these im going to rebuild. my first question is the ring terminal from the center of the coax connector attaches to the pin coming from the center of the base insulator mount correct? the pic dont show the inside of the base connector. also is total length of the matching device 16"? are the beta insulators still available? they dont show them on their website. will call tommorow to order parts.
thanks
 
i know this has been a while since posted. but i have ran across a couple of these im going to rebuild. my first question is the ring terminal from the center of the coax connector attaches to the pin coming from the center of the base insulator mount correct? the pic dont show the inside of the base connector. also is total length of the matching device 16"? are the beta insulators still available? they dont show them on their website. will call tommorow to order parts.
thanks

This should help...
 

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