Had some rather high winds last week that managed to break a home-made 'J'-pole. Should'a tied the @#$ feed line down, the wind shaking it broke the SO-239 connector off of the antenna. Needed another 2 meter/70cm antenna anyway, just hadn't done it yet. So, ordered an 'Arrow' 2 meter/70cm 'J'-pole. Heard more good things than bad about them and for the price I figured, 'why not?'.
Got it yesterday and am amazed at the workmanship. All aluminum, solid machined elements mounted on an 'angle' bracket. Couple of nuts and an SO-239 stud to hold things together and that was it. Only adjustment is by changing element length. Certainly doesn't need it on 2 meters (1.3:1 or less) and the 70cm SWR is 'reasonable' (less than 2:1, sort of). It works just fine.
Performance is slightly less than the old 'J'-pole, but the difference is mainly in antenna height. The new one is lower than the old one, which will be 'corrected' shortly. It certainly does at least as good as the other dual band antenna I have (commercial model with some gain claimed), which tends to make it a hel'uv'a better deal since it only cost about half as much. So it definitely falls into that "good enough" category for my use!
I was using a home-made dipole till I could 'fix' the old 'J'-pole, and all things considered, I'm glad I'll be able to throw that stinker away. Nothing wrong with 1/2 wave dipoles, just in how I 'made' the thing... in a hurry you know.
Oh well, nothing spectacular, but hey, I think I came out ahead!
- 'Doc
Got it yesterday and am amazed at the workmanship. All aluminum, solid machined elements mounted on an 'angle' bracket. Couple of nuts and an SO-239 stud to hold things together and that was it. Only adjustment is by changing element length. Certainly doesn't need it on 2 meters (1.3:1 or less) and the 70cm SWR is 'reasonable' (less than 2:1, sort of). It works just fine.
Performance is slightly less than the old 'J'-pole, but the difference is mainly in antenna height. The new one is lower than the old one, which will be 'corrected' shortly. It certainly does at least as good as the other dual band antenna I have (commercial model with some gain claimed), which tends to make it a hel'uv'a better deal since it only cost about half as much. So it definitely falls into that "good enough" category for my use!
I was using a home-made dipole till I could 'fix' the old 'J'-pole, and all things considered, I'm glad I'll be able to throw that stinker away. Nothing wrong with 1/2 wave dipoles, just in how I 'made' the thing... in a hurry you know.
Oh well, nothing spectacular, but hey, I think I came out ahead!
- 'Doc
