Vector 4000 VS SHOCK WAVE

I have a vector 4000 and I like it a lot. I have never had a Shockwave so I am not able to compare. Here is a link to my install, check it out.

https://www.worldwidedx.com/threads/sirio-new-vector-4000-install.226677/

2020, I posted a Personal Message to you.

I had a guy 27 miles from me as the crow flies do the very same swap out and I saw no difference in his signal strength he went back to the Shockwave for the build quality and strength but both are very good antennas performance wise.

My shockwave has a slight lean after some 90+ mph winds a couple of months ago. Considering the other damage in the area I'm not complaining.

If the shockwave and vector 4k were mounted on the same tower I would bet on the vector having a slight advantage. If they were both the same tip height I think it would be a toss up.

With a typical 5/8 groundplane like the shockwave I can scan 160m thru 10m looking for activity. A friend with a vector 4000 style antenna cannot. It's def on lower frequencies.

I would like to have one of these but I don't CB enough to be buying a new antenna.

http://rfjunk.com/Davemade-Ground-Plane-Antenna-_p_63.html

Shadetree Mechanic said:

I have a vector 4000 and I like it a lot. I have never had a Shockwave so I am not able to compare. Here is a link to my install, check it out.

https://www.worldwidedx.com/threads/sirio-new-vector-4000-install.226677/

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Shadetree, nice setup.

If you have had another antenna up and working well, are you able to make any comparisons about your experiences with the NV4K?

radioreddz said:

I had a guy 27 miles from me as the crow flies do the very same swap out and I saw no difference in his signal strength he went back to the Shockwave for the build quality and strength but both are very good antennas performance wise.

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eddz, I'm not surprised at what you're reporting. Several other members here, that know a thing or two, will tell us you have to compare contacts out further, like 50 miles or more where you might see a real increase in performance.

Can you guys try further out?

Marconi said:

Shadetree, nice setup.

If you have had another antenna up and working well, are you able to make any comparisons about your experiences with the NV4K?



eddz, I'm not surprised at what you're reporting. Several other members here, that know a thing or two, will tell us you have to compare contacts out further, like 50 miles or more where you might see a real increase in performance.

Can you guys try further out?

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Thanks for the kind words Marconi, this is the first antenna at the house. I have a Starduster copy on the corner of the detached garage about 23 feet to the feed point. The 4k is about 40 ft to the feed point and with different radios at different locations it is hard to compare. As expected, the 4k set up does better with DX. Although I can shoot skip with the Starduster, I use it mostly for local coms when I am in the garage working on stuff. Sorry that doesn't answer your question.

Being able to adjust the pattern with the 4k on the DX horizon sounds interesting. But I am not sure how to tell if any adjustments actually helped with DX being so unpredictable. It would be neat to talk to Europe on 27.555, is there a way to tell what location on the horizon would be able to skip a certain distance?

543_Dallas said:

With a typical 5/8 groundplane like the shockwave I can scan 160m thru 10m looking for activity. A friend with a vector 4000 style antenna cannot. It's def on lower frequencies.

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Hey 543. I never tried that on my I-10K and my Sigma4. I think I could go to 20 meters or maybe lower,,,on my A99 and hear folks talking. My modeling bandwidth pattern for the I-10 and the NV4K shows only two similar peaks down from infinity on 160m - 10m, where the antenna had a workable SWR. Could be due to the difference in matching. I don't know about hearing though.

See these model's Bandwidth curves in the PDF file below.

Shadetree Mechanic said:

Being able to adjust the pattern with the 4k on the DX horizon sounds interesting. But I am not sure how to tell if any adjustments actually helped with DX being so unpredictable.

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Sure does sound interesting, If I had the adjustments too...maybe I could prove it was true with modeling. It is worth a try. The claims I hear about this topic steer totally clear of DX testing. Testing at beyond 50 miles is said to be the only way to see the 2-3 db gains promised.

Shadetree Mechanic said:

It would be neat to talk to Europe on 27.555, is there a way to tell what location on the horizon would be able to skip a certain distance?

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ST, place you question into a Google search or other search engine...and wa-la...you will get a boat load of answers, charts, and predictions.

Been using my Shockwave a lot lately since we have almost 0 dx..No problems and get out just great. In fact in these weird and changing conditions it works better then a beam.
Plus it will handle 10kw all day long.

The Vector does not receive well on the lower ham bands because the gamma match blocks DC as well as low frequency RF when it's tuned at 11 meters.