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best ever base vertical survey ??

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replace it with another Sigma 4........



i installed a Sigma 4 back in the early 80's 27 feet off of the ground (+/- 3/4 wavelength) on the roof of a single story tract home. it was not uncommon for this station to maintain base-mobile communications in the late night to early morning hours on am over distances of 150 miles, say phoenix to tucson.



in ssb mode via skywave propagation i remember many a qso with maritime-mobile freighters and frigates running up and down the western european coast and the nw longpath into the land down under.






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I still think for the money, the Spectrum 1600 (about $60.00) is the best omni out there. I'm sure it's not one of Jay's Interceptor 10k's though. But for the money, an awsome performer. One of these days I'm gonna' break down and buy an Interceptor.



Hossless


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I like my Wolf .64 Wave vertical Omnidirectional. It has performed well for me. The I10K is another great antenna which I considered but I was on a budget when I bought this antenna and had to take into account installation costs so I went with the .64 Wave.
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Wayne C.

CDX-787

mobile/base

Magna Force 900

HR2600/Kenwood TS-430S

MR. COILY Single Coil/Wolf .64 ground plane

D104M6B/MC-60 desk

Every man is a damn fool for at least 5 minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.



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what do you guys think was the best ever performing base vertical, and which is the best currently available ??, i have tried countless antennas since 1976 and my vote would have to be the avanti sigma 4 if wind survival matters and the ham international big mack if it don't, although the avanti is much more difficult to get working correctly, adjusting tapping point gamma length and antenna length to get best results its not just a case of getting a flat vswr you have to take signal readings over say 40+ miles and keep adjusting for best signal and flat vswr, i currently use a homebrew 7/8 sigma its got a 4 legged basket and is 32 feet long not 27 like my original avanti's but it does work better over longer distances like 70 miles mounted 10 feet from the ground, if i could just get it back up at 73 feet to the base like all my others where i would be real happy, and if they all blow away in the wind what do you think i should replace them with ( don't say imax 2000 lmao ).


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I have had
Just about every Omni including Wolf Point .64 & Interceptor 10K & Sirio Antennas. And every common one, including all Avanti's, Antron's, Solarcon's, Lafayette, Hygain's

The best Omni directional antenna I ever tested on my farm is a Hygain Super Penetrator 5/8 wave. WHY?

QUIET, Best Omni gain.

Second Best Jay's Interceptor 10K ( a Penetrator Knockoff )
Very good, equal in gain to Penetrator in most directions. There is some minor radiation from the overly large Trombone tuning section. BUT A very sturdy and well built antenna. Built stronger than the Penetrator. And a true 5/8 wave in height.

Most others that CLAIM to be 5/8 wavelenghts are not.
Wolf Point Omni was not bad but middle of the pack in overall performance. (should have left out the coils, it would have worked better).

Imax 2000 is a reasonably good antenna, and very stealthy as you can paint it with a non metallic paint as well. However like most fiberglass antennas they are noisy and are splatter sticks.

Sirio's like a large Avanti Sigma 4. However its already blown down twice. Metal is garbage, connections are junk. And really isn't a 7/8 wave. Good thing too, because if it was it would really be crappy. 5/8 wave over 1/4 wave design. When its in the air it works well, it has a large capture area for recieve, transmits okay. But blink twice and it will be laying on your front lawn. Stay away, its like having a 31 foot whip antenna on your roof.

Maco's 5/8 wave, not a bad antenna.
 
Hmmmm....."Best Vertical" ? Depends. There's Best, as in "Man, I really liked that antenna" or, "That antenna had the best specs of any other", or, a combination of both, and Nostalgia plays a big part too (ah! Those warm fuzzy memories). So, here's my rundown -

CATEGORY: Best, Cheapest Antenna
1. A99 - cheap, easy to paint and stick up in a tree if you have deed restrictions, and mine lasted 10 years. Not bad for $40.
2. Homemade dipole. Cheaper, requires more of your time for parts roundup, assembly, and tuning, but worked as well as the A99

CATEGORY: Nostalgia
1. Avanti Astroplane. Don't remember exactly...think it cost me around $30 back when, but I could talk from the north most region in Conn. down to Long Island, without any extra "help".
2. Antenna Specialists "Super Magnum". My first ground plane antenna. I can still remember those radials drooping under the weight of a New England Ice Storm.

CATEGORY: Aluminum
1. Interceptor 10K. The best made vertical antenna I've ever used. Quality components, and built to last longer than I will. Cut my noise level down too!
2. Maco V5/8 - Relatively cheap, and it shows as soon as you slide it out of the box (watch out for "burr" cuts). Lightweight, a tad noisy, but works.







supergonzo said:
I have had
Just about every Omni including Wolf Point .64 & Interceptor 10K & Sirio Antennas. And every common one, including all Avanti's, Antron's, Solarcon's, Lafayette, Hygain's

The best Omni directional antenna I ever tested on my farm is a Hygain Super Penetrator 5/8 wave. WHY?

QUIET, Best Omni gain.

Second Best Jay's Interceptor 10K ( a Penetrator Knockoff )
Very good, equal in gain to Penetrator in most directions. There is some minor radiation from the overly large Trombone tuning section. BUT A very sturdy and well built antenna. Built stronger than the Penetrator. And a true 5/8 wave in height.

Most others that CLAIM to be 5/8 wavelenghts are not.
Wolf Point Omni was not bad but middle of the pack in overall performance. (should have left out the coils, it would have worked better).

Imax 2000 is a reasonably good antenna, and very stealthy as you can paint it with a non metallic paint as well. However like most fiberglass antennas they are noisy and are splatter sticks.

Sirio's like a large Avanti Sigma 4. However its already blown down twice. Metal is garbage, connections are junk. And really isn't a 7/8 wave. Good thing too, because if it was it would really be crappy. 5/8 wave over 1/4 wave design. When its in the air it works well, it has a large capture area for recieve, transmits okay. But blink twice and it will be laying on your front lawn. Stay away, its like having a 31 foot whip antenna on your roof.

Maco's 5/8 wave, not a bad antenna.
 
Great question. The answers have been amusing and enlightening. I would have assumed that you were speaking towards the best performing vertical. Best bang for the buck, best personal performer, best memories (nostalgia), etc, are all good.

For me, it's all about PERFORMANCE!

My first antenna was the Avanti Sigma 5/8. WOW, what a performer! It was well built and looked good!

I replaced that antenna with a new Antenna Specialist version of the Sigma IV (after the Avanti buy-out). It did not perfrom as well as my Sigma 5/8. I brought it down, went through it again, tested it, it was perfect, yet still didn't perform as well as the Sigma 5/8. Your mileage may vary.

I've had the A-99, Maco V58, Shakespear, Hy-Gain, Starduster, Astro Plane, etc. I'd take an aluminum antenna over a fiberglass any day.

Today I run an Interceptor 10K. This antenna by FAR, out performes any other antenna I've ever ran. I'm not the only person saying that either! The materials are excellent, the quality is excellent, and if you ever need it, the support is the best!

It is important that you understand that the I10K is NOT a "Penetrator Knockoff" While the antenna started out as an upgrade to the original Penetrator (called the Mastadon 5K), the I10K is completely different! A better understanding of the Trombone section is required by the earlier author to make an intelligent comment about its operation.

Lastly, it will be interesting what people think about the new .64 wave antenna (dare I say, KNOCKOFF) put out by another member of this forum. Do to his lack of professionalism, I'll never run, test, own, or evaluate that antenna.
 
"10K an upgrade to the original Penetrator" Yes maybe the term I used Knockoff wasn't quite fair. But it is based on the Penetrator (even stated so on Jay's web site) and IS Identical except for the matching system. The 10K uses the trombone matching system to allow it to run power up to....10K (hence the name).

I think this antenna is the best CURRENTLY available Omni around, and have measured it as such as well. And I have used the MiniNEC and EZNEC antenna modeling programs and they agree.

However, I have found as a general rule...... The matching system of ANY antenna should be as small as possible. The reason you have one is to match the antenna electrically.. that is all. Otherwise you risk losing radiation in unwanted directions from the matching system into free space. There is no getting around this. Think about it......You have a section of the antenna where the vertical radiator is connected to ground!! Do you want this to be a BIG part of the antenna or a SMALL part of the antenna?? The SMALLER the better.

This is why in a yagi beam the Gamma match is 6 inches and vertical and the elements are 18 feet and vertical as well.!!

The 10K uses a trombone section which is almost it is 22" end to end, but then it is folded back on itself, so in reality it is 40" long!! And it is in a horizontal position, next to the ground radials. And it is a normal diameter of a typical radiating element. 3/8 ". IMO ...TOO Big, TOO Long and wrong placement.

If you look at the original Penetrator, you will see that Hygain used a VERTICAL matching system that was very thin, and considerably shorter. WHY do you think they did that?? They did it as to NOT interfere with the normal radiation pattern of the antenna. They only needed to match the antenna. Not create any other issues, so they kept it small, as it should be.

As far as the handling of extra power goes:
However if 100 of you out there who SAY you need it because you run extra hi power (in reality how many of you would, could or DO run 10K through an Omni?) (and WHY?) (and how long would you last on the air before the FCC and every neighbor in a 10 block radius knocks on your door)...... then be my quest, The antenna is built very solid. Kudo's to Jay nice Job.
 
Sorry for the long post. As a side note to the above "matching system be a small as possible" discussion.

In mobile antennas, this is why all of those Monkey Made, Mr. Coily and other mobile antennas with extra large coils, DO NOT work as well as a 9 foot whip. Infact they do not work very good at all because the coils are TOO big. Think about this... In your Big Coil mobile antenna, you signal runs through a vertical radiator... then you have 6 large horizontal coils to go through, then back to a vertical section , then 5 more horizontal coils, then back to vertical.

Confused?? Yeah.. so is your radiation pattern. Do you want vertical or horizontal radiation? Measure it, they don't work well. They are for the CB'er who thinks bigger means better, and thinks they look impressive, and who wants to show his friends. Can they handle big power yes... are you wasting alot of that power YES.

Again if you don't run a gazillion watts, forget them, they are a waste of time. and perform poorly compared to other designs.
 
verticle

I've tested the 102" steel ss whip many times against the Coily and Predator 10k antennas, and the "comp style" big coil antennas outperform the 102" whip in my tests going down the road and sitting still. In a couple of the tests the 102" ss whip did better on the rx end. The tests were unsophisticated tests with locals on base stations and me in my mudduck pickemup truck.

LoneWolf TN
 
Have had very good results with a A/S Starduster, very broad banded, quiet when grounded properly, and easy to set up.
102" ss whip fastened in the center of an 8 by 10 metal storage building, works better than you might think as well.
 
StarDuster? Theres a new "Agitator" in our town running one of these. Most every base station in town has a99 and one thing I noticed is that I rarely here the A99's further than 25 miles. The Starduster was 40 plus and this punk don't know sh*t thank God! I'm not going to tell him how well he could be getting out with a little more tune, but I'm somewhat impressed with it. Sometimes these youngsters get in to radio with the wrong insentives in mind, moraly speaking.













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the i10k is very well constructed and much more versatile than any other factory cb antenna present or past, i do not think the trombone inhibits radiation compared to other antennas i have used, the predator10k works almost as good as a 1/4wave whip when stationary and better than the whip when your driving at 70+mph due to it not bending in the wind, to say they dont work well at all is totally wrong, the 1/4wave whip will not work very well if you have a small vehicle but the 10k will work on smaller vehicles if you use a shorter shaft this is my and other peoples experience through many houres of testing.
 

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