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Duck Buster Review

KW4HKY

Active Member
Feb 16, 2010
188
9
28
More money I could have saved:censored: but I am a rookie.

I bought a Comet SSB Single Mag mount to use as an indoor unit. It works great on a tall file cabinet on my 2nd floor office. $100+ and I was happy.

I had been hearing about a 2 meter vertical antenna called the Duck Buster, made by a local fellow, Dave WA4AIW in the NC mountains. I arranged to meet Dave at the Hamfest. We hooked up the antenna compared it to my Diamond "enhanced" rubber duck. It would not move the signal meter, and the Duck Buster pegged the thing. I bought one for me and one as a gift for my buddy that's ready to get his ticket.

Amazing. I am picking up 4 more repeaters that my indoor OR mobile Comet 790A would not touch, USING my HT. One repeater is 60 miles away. I hooked it up to my old Icom 225H base unit and all of the far away repeaters compared my signal to high dollar rigs with towers. I still have note hooked the thing up outdoors yet. I ordered 2 more today, one for my barn & deck. Dave sells the entire antenna so cheap there is no need toting antennas around.

The antenna is a short vertical antenna. You can buy the antenna alone (all coax & ladder wire with the connector. It has a connector on the end with a loop. I hung mine on the molding around the ceiling with a Map pin, since it's so light. It coils up to 6". Perfect for a Go Bag.

He offers a 3 piece mast, all plastic. The mast is 54" assembled. It sets on a 4" diameter base, and can be broken down to 3 inches. You attach the antenna to the mast with 4 small Cable ties. NO ground plane needed. I used it on m kitchen table, and on my picnic table, just move it to get the best signal.

I made a few pictures for Dave. His email is wa4aiw@gmail.com. Contact Dave for details, and he will ship.

I have NO financial interest in this. Thought many of you would be interested in a dirt cheap antenna that works better than my $100 & $150 antennas.

DBcoiled.jpg

MastDA.jpg

MastAssy.jpg
DBwire.jpg

DBpackage.jpg
 

I suspected the 'J'-pole thing too, been trying to find more information about it, can't. Oh well. Sounds a little "too good to be true", doesn't it? Then again, if it is true, I need me one'a them things! Not sure how I could hang it on my truck though...
- 'Doc
 
Can you take a close up pic of the bottom of the antenna part...where the feed line connects to the antenna part? The mast system he created is kinda neat. That makes a convenient way to pack up everything into a small case to take with you. How much does he charge for all this?
 
i saw duck buster and was suprised this wasnt a cb radio product sold at truck stops .
when did hams start refering to each other as ducks ?
 
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Duck Buster

Thanks for this post. The "Duck Buster" Antenna is my father's design. He's a very proud long-time ham radio operator (WA4AIW). My father has been making and selling "Duck Busters" ever since we lived in Louisiana in 1985. He told me that he has not ever had anyone bring one back to him or dislike his "Duck Buster" antennas.

Oh and, my dad said, the reason why he calls them "Duck Buster" is because in his opinion, they beat the pants off of a rubber duck. :D
 
Off topic but a quicky

Captain Kilowatt,
As a matter of fact, no I hadn't, but I just did after reading your post. If the thing folds over I'm not going to use the required force to force the thing to pull up, uncscrew, or whatever. So, no it doesn't. It's not exactly the newest one so maybe the older ones didn't fold? I don't care, I'm happy with it.
- 'Doc
 
Off topic but a quicky

Captain Kilowatt,
As a matter of fact, no I hadn't, but I just did after reading your post. If the thing folds over I'm not going to use the required force to force the thing to pull up, uncscrew, or whatever. So, no it doesn't. It's not exactly the newest one so maybe the older ones didn't fold? I don't care, I'm happy with it.
- 'Doc


FYI, mine's about 10 years old or so. (y)

Back to the topic at hand and apologies to KW4HKY.
 
Thanks for this post. The "Duck Buster" Antenna is my father's design. He's a very proud long-time ham radio operator (WA4AIW). My father has been making and selling "Duck Busters" ever since we lived in Louisiana in 1985. He told me that he has not ever had anyone bring one back to him or dislike his "Duck Buster" antennas.

Oh and, my dad said, the reason why he calls them "Duck Buster" is because in his opinion, they beat the pants off of a rubber duck. :D

So, what's the cost on these and can you tell us if it's basically a portable J-Pole? I'm actually thinking of a group that could use something like this here in SoCal. They support emergency comms for hospitals when there are power failures and often have to come up with creative ways to get portable antennas up inside various floors of the hospital. They would probably like something like this.
 
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So, what's the cost on these and can you tell us if it's basically a portable J-Pole? I'm actually thinking of a group that could use something like this here in SoCal. They support emergency comms for hospitals when there are power failures and often have to come up with creative ways to get portable antennas up inside various floors of the hospital. They would probably like something like this.

Contact Dave. I listed his email in the first post. He goes to clubs & helps rookies like me build their own. He sells the Antenna for $14.95 and the Mast for $9.95. It's just a hobby. I stuck mine on a 6 foot pole on my 2nd floor deck yesterday and hit 6 more repeaters that I could not touch using my Comet 790A with a Yaesu 8800R, my mobile rig. And, I was doing it on my Yaesu FT 60 R on 5 watts. I hit the closet repeater to me, 18 miles away on 1 watt.
 
this makes a convenient way to pack up everything into a small case to take with you. How much does he charge for all this? i have no idea .
 

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