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astrobeam

B

bob85

Supporting Member
Mar 30, 2005
3,480
1,463
173
england
did the old astrobeam have any advantage over a regular 3 element yagi mounted vertical on the same length boom,
a strange looking antenna no doubt but were they any good,
did avanti ever publish claimed gain or takeoff angle figures?,

thanks.
 

Bob85,
An Astro Beam should do as well as any other 3 element beam. Except for the 'odd' way of treating the lower driven element, that's all it really is, a 3 element beam. Nothing particularly 'mysterious' or special about it. I don't remember, if I ever saw, any published gain figures. I'd guess something between 6 - 9 dB forward gain though.
- 'Doc
 
Hello Bob85:

I have seen the Austro beams work, they have the ball park same gain as the 3 element yagi beam antennas. But they do have a very good rejection front to back ratio, like 40 dB or something close.

These antennas have the director and reflector elements insulated from the boom.
See:
http://www.cbtricks.com/ant_manuals/avanti/astro-beam_av150.pdf

If you can get one they are worth playing with and see how well they do or do not work.

Jay in the Mojave
 
thanks doc,jay,
i have never seen one over here but it is an interesting compact design,
is the whole boom none conductive or are just the director and reflector mounted on insulating mounts on an aluminum boom?
 
I have one still in the box. I need the outer element holders and hear this was a weak point. I know where an old one is I need to check on for those two parts. May never use it but who knows. Always heard they did have killer F/B like Jay stated
 
I had two Astro's back in the late 70's & early 80's, they did rather well for a $85 antenna.

The "front to back" was excellent and if I had my choice, I would take the Astro Beam over a 3 element any day - vertical that is.
 
They are ok for what they are. The two i had i had a heck of a time getting the SWrs to come down. You have to adjust the driver stinger and play with that until you get a decent match and they dont like being installed anywere near other antennas or anything for that matter.
 
Zman said:
They are ok for what they are. The two i had i had a heck of a time getting the SWrs to come down. You have to adjust the driver stinger and play with that until you get a decent match and they dont like being installed anywere near other antennas or anything for that matter.
Click to expand...

I also found, that when I tried to make the top element of my AstroPlane (not the beam) a full 1/4 wave, using the AstroBeam instructions where the driver element was suggested to be 77", it was way too short. I ended up making the top element 87.5" in order to reach good resonance in the CB band. See bandwidth report below.

Maybe this length was not right for the beam with the reflector and director included, but the manual's recommendation for 77" didn't work for me on the A/P.

Zman, do you recall the length you used for the top element?

View attachment AstroPlane with full .25 wave top.pdf
 
in case anyone else is wondering what the claims and specs were .

cb_mag_apl_1977_pg98.png


s9_mag_may_1972_pg58.png


cb_mag_may_1974_pg58.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:

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