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Star Duster

Again thanks to Marconi this S/D works as well as it does..he went above and beyond!! Hot Rod also. My new radio goes from approximately 26.000 to 29.999 and my power and swr levels nearly stay the same. The S/D is not a strong durable antenna if it ever fell down it would be destroyed. In others opinion the S/D is not the best antenna but mine will never come down to be replaced unless it gets hit by a hurricane Oh also is the picture give any idea on the angle of the radials?

0630, the patent for the original Starduster located at Patent US4208662 - Omnidirectional, vertically polarized antenna - Google Patents tells us the radial angle is 12*/25* degrees, and it is preferable at 17* degrees.

When I physically measured the radial angle for one of my SDr's it was 17* degrees. I took my dimensions from center of element to center of element to be more accurate with the lengths in the angle. The hub is off-set a bit from the center of the mast so the element tends to be electrically longer that its physical length and that will make a little difference.

When I take the dimensions for the Sirio I received from someone on the Internet, I found the radial angle was close to the 25* degrees. However, I did not physically measure the dimensions I used, and I might have only been give the physical length of a radial as noted in the specs and the length between the tip of a radial and the outside of the mast to calculate the angles. Since center to center may not have been considered, this 25* degrees may be off a bit...but it won't be much.

I used this calculator Right Triangle Angle And Side Calculator and I used 31.5" as noted in the specs for the top element for the radial and I used 12" for the plastic insulator that creates the angle.

The Sirio looks to be wider in the radial angle using the dimensions below noted in the antenna images. These are the dimensions I used in my Eznec model for the Sirio M400.

Sirio Starduster.jpg
 
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in another post he mentioned the radials were bout 1 foot out or away from mast.
that sounds really close to the orignal.maybe even sharper than the original.
i dont know how to change 1 foot to degrees

hotrod, after I went back and checked I found where the 1' foot dimension came from. I note it in my post above, and it came from someone telling me that the radial supports were plastic and were 1' foot long. Take this length along with the length of the radial from the hub to where the support is attached to the radial and this gives you two approximate dimensions to calculate the angle.

I didn't remember this earlier.
 
Shadetree, I know this is an old thread you bumped a few days ago.

Maybe like yourself, my choice of the best all around CB antenna is the simple Starduster. And my opinion simply comes from my real experiences working 2 way radio.

A few minutes ago, I was searching the Internet for some ideas talking about the development history and creation of the 5/8 wave antenna design. I wanted to see what the thinking was for this design back in the day, as compared to all the CB stories we hear today.

Below is a link I checked-out. It wasn't about the history I was looking for, but it talks about several CB antenna designs including the Starduster and some other CB antennas. I thought this one might be interesting reading...just to see what some notable ham operators had to say on the subject.

I hope the link works. Hopefully you won't have to log on this this Website. It is only three pages of conversation.

https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/how-do-these-antennas-work.423189/
 
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Thanks for the link Marconi. That is interesting for sure, now I am thinking about running some coax from the house to the garage so I can have both the Starduster and Vector 4k on my antenna switch. It would be interesting to be able to switch between the two of them when the DX is active.
 
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Thanks for the link Marconi. That is interesting for sure, now I am thinking about running some coax from the house to the garage so I can have both the Starduster and Vector 4k on my antenna switch. It would be interesting to be able to switch between the two of them when the DX is active.

Not sure, but I think a while back I may have asked you how your two antennas compared, right?

I always had to take the extra steps and add several guy lines to my push-up pole for the SD, if I got over about 30' feet. I always managed to get higher than I could with the longer and heavier antennas...and being more similar in height always seemed to make them work about the same. Might not be the best way to compare antenna performance however.

I think that 1/4 wave with a good GP was typically quieter as well...when noise conditions were good.

If you get your setup on the switch box, be sure and keep me posted on your results...good or not.
 
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