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Thinking about getting a 2 element quad

SMILEX2692002

SMILEX2692002

Well-Known Member
Oct 26, 2011
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Kind of bored with my current antenna setup and have heard that a quad antenna can be very fun to use.
The quad would be in addition to what I already have.
My first choice would be lightning antennas L2 quad
My second choice would be made by cubex quad in Michigan.
I think his is called Magnum 2CB.
I'm really only interested in the vertical side of the Two element quad since I have a 4 element yagi already on the flat side.
When looking at pictures of the quads in use I cannot see how the feed line is connected to the antenna?
It almost looks like there is no pl-259 connector and the cable is stripped back and the shield goes to one connection and the center pin goes to another connection.
I've never had a directional antenna for the vertical side on CB so I think it would be fun to have one.
I like the quad idea because it has a small boom and is lightweight.
What are your thoughts on a 2 element quad antenna for CB?
I live in Michigan so the cubex quad company would be a lot closer.
Although from what I heard the lightning antennas version is based off the old signal engineering superhawk.
I have heard many good things about the superhawk quad antenna.
 
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Quads are great if you have room for them. I buld a home made set of 10 elemnt wire beams back in Va about 20 years ago. made my own brackets out of fiber glass fenice stakes worked great . you can use a 259 connector if you want and plain wire from thear
 
I've heard nothing but good stuff about Signal Engineering over the years. Let us know how it works out. I also wanted to try out the L8.
 
I had the L4 quad for a while...mater-a-fact there's pictures of mine on Lightnings web site under "Customer Testimonials" (5 set of pictures down)

The coax does not have a screw-on connector, you strip the coax back and attach the ground braid and center conductor wires to the tuning rod...

The antenna's tune fairly easy, although I had problems attaching the spreader rods with the little set-screws they provided, and ended up using different ones than what came with the antenna...

They are lightweight, and did a good job getting out and receiving, but that's about all I can say positive about the antenna...

They don't like high winds at all...The wire that Lightning uses is a solid core copper wire and where the wire bends around each spreader after a while from flexing in the wind will break...I had mine up little over a year and had to bring it down at least 3 times to repair a broken wire, and each time it was at the point where the wire makes a bend at the spreaders...Not a hard fix, but having to bring the thing down after each wind storm got old quick!

I have a MaCo Shooting Star now, and since I put it up, I have never had to bring it back down to fix anything...
 
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jessejamesdallas said:
I had the L4 quad for a while...mater-a-fact there's pictures of mine on Lightnings web site under "Customer Testimonials" (5 set of pictures down)

The coax does not have a screw-on connector, you strip the coax back and attach the ground braid and center conductor wires to the tuning rod...

The antenna's tune fairly easy, although I had problems attaching the spreader rods with the little set-screws they provided, and ended up using different ones than what came with the antenna...

They are lightweight, and did a good job getting out and receiving, but that's about all I can say positive about the antenna...

They don't like high winds at all...The wire that Lightning uses is a solid core copper wire and where the wire bends around each spreader after a while from flexing in the wind will break...I had mine up little over a year and had to bring it down at least 3 times to repair a broken wire, and each time it was at the point where the wire makes a bend at the spreaders...Not a hard fix, but having to bring the thing down after each wind storm got old quick!

I have a MaCo Shooting Star now, and since I put it up, I have never had to bring it back down to fix anything...
Click to expand...
Isn't the shooting star kind of like the moon raker?
 
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jessejamesdallas said:
I had the L4 quad for a while...mater-a-fact there's pictures of mine on Lightnings web site under "Customer Testimonials" (5 set of pictures down)

The coax does not have a screw-on connector, you strip the coax back and attach the ground braid and center conductor wires to the tuning rod...

The antenna's tune fairly easy, although I had problems attaching the spreader rods with the little set-screws they provided, and ended up using different ones than what came with the antenna...

They are lightweight, and did a good job getting out and receiving, but that's about all I can say positive about the antenna...

They don't like high winds at all...The wire that Lightning uses is a solid core copper wire and where the wire bends around each spreader after a while from flexing in the wind will break...I had mine up little over a year and had to bring it down at least 3 times to repair a broken wire, and each time it was at the point where the wire makes a bend at the spreaders...Not a hard fix, but having to bring the thing down after each wind storm got old quick!

I have a MaCo Shooting Star now, and since I put it up, I have never had to bring it back down to fix anything...
Click to expand...

Yep..Now I remember why I went with yagi's. Can be a real mess.
Hell I have to replace an element every now and again on my yagi.
 
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Built & tuned correctly a 2 element Quad is the most enjoyable antenna I've had.
Quiet
Excellent ears
Excellent TOA
Lots of TX Punch

I added kevlar/ aramid core dacron line around the end of the spreaders to relieve the tension on the wire and used stranded wire.
It was still intact when I took it down almost 15yrs after I installed it on a telescoping push-up mast.
 
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The benefits of a quad are most noticeable in a 2 element version as compared to a similar sized Yagi. After that most reputable manufacturers concerned with performance and reliability will opt for the Quagi that combines the best of both worlds. If this were me and I already had a 4 element flat Yagi up, I would order 4 more elements and put them on the same boom in the vertical polarization. You could go one step further and add the quad reflector by copying the Shooting Star. That will give a bit better rejection to cross polarized signals on the back side.

Another area the quad wins in is when the antenna must be mounted closer than 1 wavelength to the ground. The quads angle of radiation is not reflected upwards as badly as the Yagi when they are too close to the ground.
 
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