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Sirio Boomerang A
- Thread starter Pman62
- Start date
I used one temporarily but it didn't last long in the Texas panhandle winds. Not much of a performer and I think partly because it isn't isolated from the mast. Now I also used the version from workman called the T-225 which worked incredibly well for a 1/4 wave base antenna on a 20' mast. Many said it was junk, don't buy it, there's no way it can perform but I'll defend it because I worked lots of ssb with that thing. This was about 10 or 12 years ago found it on sale for like 30 bucks plus shipping so thought what's 50 bucks for a back up antenna. As to the sirio.... For me it was no bueno and the aluminum is extremely soft so anything over 20 mph wind and mine ended up literally looking like a boomerang.
I use one at my townhouse mounted on a painter's pole in my small patio area so I can raise or lower it. The antenna works pretty well for me, at least on sideband it does. I run about 200 watts through it and have made many contacts with it lately with improving dx conditions. Even before that I made many contacts.
It would not be my first choice. But for my situation of being in a townhouse it lets me play radio. I have even talked skip on AM with the antenna.
I unscrew mine and put it away when I go out of town or big storm is blowing in. They are flimsy. But they do work.
It would not be my first choice. But for my situation of being in a townhouse it lets me play radio. I have even talked skip on AM with the antenna.
I unscrew mine and put it away when I go out of town or big storm is blowing in. They are flimsy. But they do work.
Here's the t-225, still have it stored and had it up for a short time last year after the v58 was mangled up by a wind storm. You don't know what wind storms are until you live in the Texas high plains, it puts any
o'l antenner to the test.
I am literally testing out one of these right now for a review I'll be doing. I've tested out the Sirio D27 dipole in the past and wrote a review and had one up a couple of months ago (it's sitting next to my desk) and I just took down the Sirio Gainmaster so I can give you a good run down.
First off - there are two versions of this antenna - https://www.manualsdir.com/manuals/775814/1/sirio-balcony-27-page1.png
Fiberglass Boomerang 27W - has a fiberglass main vertical and the radial has an adjustable tuning whip one it.
You tune this antenna by adjusting the length and/or angle of the radial whip.
Aluminum Boomerang 27A - has a aluminum main vertical and the radial is a fixed length fiberglass whip.
You tune this antenna by adjusting the length of the main aluminum vertical and/or the angle of the fiberglass radial.
I have been testing the 27A aluminum model. Very easy to assemble and mount - aluminum vertical is similar in length to a 102" whip but has less flex as it is aluminum tubing. The vertical is two pieces and you don't need to trim it to tune, you can just slide the upper section into the lower section and adjust.
Some SWR readings for current testing install
25.615 - 2.8
26.500 - 1.65
27.025 - 1.2
27.385 - 1.15
27.555 - 1.25
27.785 - 1.4
28.200 - 2.4
28.400 - 3.2
Doesn't quite work into the 10 meter frequencies but covers the full CB band and freeband frequencies pretty well. I did install a fairly robust toroidal ferrite choke for testing the D27 and this antenna.
Current install location is on a garage roof - base of antenna is about 10' off of the ground so top of vertical is at 18' and radial hanging down it about 7.5 feet off of the ground.
It has been up for a couple of months and has withstood winds gusting from 45mph to 55mph. As others have stated I'm not sure how it would do in 60+, I'm guessing really strong winds or an ice storm with wind might kill it but it's doing ok so far.
PERFORMANCE
It's basically a L shaped dipole so you'll have to keep expectations tempered but it talks fairly well. I can easily talk to stations that are to the north of me 15-20 miles. A station that put a S9 on me with the Sirio Gainmaster only comes in about S6-7 with this antenna so I find it very similar to a "mobile vs base antenna" type of comparison. It basically talks and receives like my Wilson 5000 mobile antenna which does well, but never as well as a 24' vertical base antenna.
With a stock radio I can still talk the 15-20 miles but they only receive me about S3-S4 depending on the station. If I run around 200 watts they get me at around S5-S7. So about 2S-3S unit difference between the Sirio Boomerang and the Sirio Gainmaster on both TX and RX.
I talked some DX over the weekend with the antenna and a kicker and made contacts in the SE. I definitely could tell it was a little harder to get through the pileup compared to the Gainmaster but that's to be expected.
DIRECTIONAL PATTERN
I've only had it in the one setup so far and the radial is pointing (SSW) away from the local stations to the north of me - so it will be interesting to see if my signal to them increases if I turn it around - however I'm guessing based on the design it may not make much of a difference. The radial is pointed SSW but I was able to talk DX to the SE over the weekend so obviously it's not making the antenna super directional.
The antenna is also on the west side of a traditional roof garage (so that if you stood on the other side (east) of the garage a good 2-3 feet of the antenna vertical is being blocked by the roof peak). Again I was able to talk to SE DX without issue and a local 10 miles directly East of me without problems on SSB.
A GOOD HOA antenna?
I think this would be a good antenna for skirting HOA rules. It's simple design and thin vertical tubing isn't very noticeable and it can easily be mounting in a roof area where it can be less prominent. It's easily tunable and even with the radial close to the garage roof and the antenna itself only 1-2 feet above the roofline SWRs are acceptable. I did notice if it was right on top of the roof SWRs went up slightly.
I used an under eave mount for testing this and the Sirio D27.
I'll be posting a full review if work ever slows down but hopefully this info will be helpful to those interested in the antenna.
About 8 years ago I built a homemade antenna that was very similar using a 102" whip, a 64" radio shack base load whip (as the tunable radial) on a L bracket that was mounted to a piece of pipe in the ground - the antenna sat roughly 4 feet above the grass and you would be absolutely blown away by the performance (ASK DXman on the forum about this one and he can tell you how crazy it was that it actually worked - and how well it worked).
So an antenna like this is definitely a compromise compared to a nice GP antenna or a Imax 2000 or even a A99 BUT you'll probably see results comparable to a mobile setup depending on how it's mounted.
First off - there are two versions of this antenna - https://www.manualsdir.com/manuals/775814/1/sirio-balcony-27-page1.png
Fiberglass Boomerang 27W - has a fiberglass main vertical and the radial has an adjustable tuning whip one it.
You tune this antenna by adjusting the length and/or angle of the radial whip.
Aluminum Boomerang 27A - has a aluminum main vertical and the radial is a fixed length fiberglass whip.
You tune this antenna by adjusting the length of the main aluminum vertical and/or the angle of the fiberglass radial.
I have been testing the 27A aluminum model. Very easy to assemble and mount - aluminum vertical is similar in length to a 102" whip but has less flex as it is aluminum tubing. The vertical is two pieces and you don't need to trim it to tune, you can just slide the upper section into the lower section and adjust.
Some SWR readings for current testing install
25.615 - 2.8
26.500 - 1.65
27.025 - 1.2
27.385 - 1.15
27.555 - 1.25
27.785 - 1.4
28.200 - 2.4
28.400 - 3.2
Doesn't quite work into the 10 meter frequencies but covers the full CB band and freeband frequencies pretty well. I did install a fairly robust toroidal ferrite choke for testing the D27 and this antenna.
Current install location is on a garage roof - base of antenna is about 10' off of the ground so top of vertical is at 18' and radial hanging down it about 7.5 feet off of the ground.
It has been up for a couple of months and has withstood winds gusting from 45mph to 55mph. As others have stated I'm not sure how it would do in 60+, I'm guessing really strong winds or an ice storm with wind might kill it but it's doing ok so far.
PERFORMANCE
It's basically a L shaped dipole so you'll have to keep expectations tempered but it talks fairly well. I can easily talk to stations that are to the north of me 15-20 miles. A station that put a S9 on me with the Sirio Gainmaster only comes in about S6-7 with this antenna so I find it very similar to a "mobile vs base antenna" type of comparison. It basically talks and receives like my Wilson 5000 mobile antenna which does well, but never as well as a 24' vertical base antenna.
With a stock radio I can still talk the 15-20 miles but they only receive me about S3-S4 depending on the station. If I run around 200 watts they get me at around S5-S7. So about 2S-3S unit difference between the Sirio Boomerang and the Sirio Gainmaster on both TX and RX.
I talked some DX over the weekend with the antenna and a kicker and made contacts in the SE. I definitely could tell it was a little harder to get through the pileup compared to the Gainmaster but that's to be expected.
DIRECTIONAL PATTERN
I've only had it in the one setup so far and the radial is pointing (SSW) away from the local stations to the north of me - so it will be interesting to see if my signal to them increases if I turn it around - however I'm guessing based on the design it may not make much of a difference. The radial is pointed SSW but I was able to talk DX to the SE over the weekend so obviously it's not making the antenna super directional.
The antenna is also on the west side of a traditional roof garage (so that if you stood on the other side (east) of the garage a good 2-3 feet of the antenna vertical is being blocked by the roof peak). Again I was able to talk to SE DX without issue and a local 10 miles directly East of me without problems on SSB.
A GOOD HOA antenna?
I think this would be a good antenna for skirting HOA rules. It's simple design and thin vertical tubing isn't very noticeable and it can easily be mounting in a roof area where it can be less prominent. It's easily tunable and even with the radial close to the garage roof and the antenna itself only 1-2 feet above the roofline SWRs are acceptable. I did notice if it was right on top of the roof SWRs went up slightly.
I used an under eave mount for testing this and the Sirio D27.
I'll be posting a full review if work ever slows down but hopefully this info will be helpful to those interested in the antenna.
About 8 years ago I built a homemade antenna that was very similar using a 102" whip, a 64" radio shack base load whip (as the tunable radial) on a L bracket that was mounted to a piece of pipe in the ground - the antenna sat roughly 4 feet above the grass and you would be absolutely blown away by the performance (ASK DXman on the forum about this one and he can tell you how crazy it was that it actually worked - and how well it worked).
So an antenna like this is definitely a compromise compared to a nice GP antenna or a Imax 2000 or even a A99 BUT you'll probably see results comparable to a mobile setup depending on how it's mounted.
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I'll be interested to find out if you other guys think it's very directional. I haven't experimented with flipping it around in different directions while receiving a station and checking the meter or TXing but I'm not feeling like the radial direction has as much effect on directionality as I thought it would.
Bought one a year ago. Haven’t tested/used. Considered it one of several alternatives for own self or son to use in non-permanent (housing restricted) use.
Shoot that pole up and be on air.
.
Shoot that pole up and be on air.
.
In a five-gallon bucket, huh? Loaded with gravel and a cinder block to hold the painters pole, or . . . ?
.
I am using an antenna with similar design. Vertical Bent L Dipole, But using to 7 foot Firesticks as the legs. The design shows some directional toward the direction of the lower leg. Mine is pointing SW, not because I choose to talk that direction, but I wanted the pattern away from other structures. I am very pleased with the results. I never did any type of formal tests. I can report I talk 40-50 miles routinely local 32 LSB without problems barefoot. I purchased the mount from Bobs CB. They call it a RV mount, intended to attach to a RV rear ladder.
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I have a local that uses the Boomerang. Works well for him. I hear him making skip contacts all the time.
I used a Workman Starduster antenna for years that worked well also until water got in it and split it when it froze. I'd buy another but would drill a small weep hole in it like Sirio does to their Starduster.
