Base New Imax wont tune 11m....this sucks

[357]

Took my old Imax down today and put up a new one.
right at factory its 2-1 on 26.965, 1.6 on 27.405 and 1.35 on about 28.000 then shoots up after that.
I put the rings in the middle and got 1.05 on 28.485 but 27.385 sucked.

Just love spending $200 and risking my life for a piece of junk...







Unreal.

gonna climb up and try the rings low but I know its gonna be crap.

** I put the rings about 1/2 inch from the bottom.
Best swr is 1.47 at 27.780, 1.56 at 27.385 then its 2.0 at about 26.200.
fricking garbage

 

[wavrider]

Straight out of the box assembled on test tower the IMAX I installed had decent vswr.
Maybe you got a faulty IMAX.
I did not have to adjust or "tune" any rings they come factory preset.

 

[357]

Straight out of the box assembled on test tower the IMAX I installed had decent vswr.
Maybe you got a faulty IMAX.
I did not have to adjust or "tune" any rings they come factory preset.

My Imax I had in 2009 was great, 1.1 CH6.
Even in the rain! (thats why I switched from the maco 5/8, shitty swr in the rain, IMAX never had that problem, before but now they come from the factory, cracked...)




1.06 on CH38




Ok I put a dummyload on the end of the coax in the tree.

24.990 50, 50, 1.8, 1.6 1.02swr
26.935 Z 50ohms, R 50 ohms, PH 1.2, X 1.0 1.02 swr
27.385 53.4, 53.4, 0.3, 0.4 1.05 swr

Coax seems good, these antennas are either known defects that they flog on ebay or just junk right from the get-go.

 

[357]

Got rings just under 1/2 way.
1.28 at 27.990 on and 1.68 on CH19

not very happy with that.

 

[JoeDirt]

My rings are split one high and one low

 

[357]

My rings are split one high and one low

I'll try that.
Did you glue them?

 

[357]

1 up 1 down, 1.08 on 28.200 1.42 on CH38

tried 1 up 1 middle, 1 down 1 middle, no dice.
Giving up for the day.

 

[357]

Right on Solarcon

 

[Unit 194]

I did not have to adjust or "tune" any rings they come factory preset.

I never had to adjust any rings on my IMAX either.

 

[Cabin 4]

A99 is same set up with the tuning rings. Never needed to make any adjustment to them. But reading this thread someone mentioned gluing the rings. I'm not sure glue is best but I think a dab of silicone on the edge of the rings where they meet and just below and above the rings on the threaded sections is a good idea to keep them from moving over time. Anyone else do something like this?

 

[357]

Straight out of the box assembled on test tower the IMAX I installed had decent vswr.
Maybe you got a faulty IMAX.
I did not have to adjust or "tune" any rings they come factory preset.

I never had to adjust any rings on my IMAX either.

Whens the last time you purchased the Imax?

 

[wavrider]

357
About 2 years ago and I got it off flea bay.
I did install an rf choke aka ugly balun at feed point
Dunno if that makes any difference or not.
Now if I remember the imax was not exactly 1:1 on the chicken band frequencies but it had a better match on 10 meters.
I use it on 15 meters thru 10 meters nothing above 1.7:1 vswr according to the antenna analyzer.
You may have just got a faulty one, I have heard a few complaints about ops receiving faulty ones.

 

[357]

357
About 2 years ago and I got it off flea bay.
I did install an rf choke aka ugly balun at feed point
Dunno if that makes any difference or not.
Now if I remember the imax was not exactly 1:1 on the chicken band frequencies but it had a better match on 10 meters.
I use it on 15 meters thru 10 meters nothing above 1.7:1 vswr according to the antenna analyzer.
You may have just got a faulty one, I have heard a few complaints about ops receiving faulty ones.

3 faulty ones in a row.




You might be thinking, "oh his coax is bad, got water in it..."
nope, its a year old Times Microwave LMR400
I put a dummy load on the end of the coax, it was fine.
I am gonna take my rf "choke" off today and try it with the lmr400 straight to the antenna but I really dont see it making much difference.
When I first installed the imax at this 20 it was new, used a mfj to tune the antenna then, got a best of a 1.3 on 40, it too would only get 1.1 way up on 28.400 or more.
The lower I put the rings, the worse it got, sure its 1.6 all the way to 22mhz but that dont do jack s**t for me on 11m.

Obviously solarcon give ZERO FUCKS and the quality sucks the last few years.

 

[Mudfoot]

What are you going to do with them?

 

[357]

I'm not sure.
I need to get 1 working, I guess I'll put the old one back up with the 1.3 swr.