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write your own review of the Solarcon A-99.
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W3TUA
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Rating: 1/5
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May 1, 2009 08:08
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Build Your Own and Save
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This antenna features shoddy construction and bad performance. Sure, you can work the world on 10m on a wet noodle when it's open, but why not build something better than this ripoff.
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W3WN
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Rating: 4/5
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May 1, 2009 08:01
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Not bad, more than adequate... but not a primary antenna
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've used the Solarcon quite extensively as a high band vertical at my previous QTH, and when I have a place to put it, it will return to duty at my current QTH.
Is it the best thing on earth since sliced bread? No. But it is at the very least an adequate antenna, and in some cases and some bands, quite good.
I've had best results on it on 10 and 12 meters, and (surprisingly) 17 meters with a tuner. I can load it on 20, but not very well; it's probably just too short. I also lack the optional ground plane, which would have helped. (I did not tend to use it on 15, as my HF6V was more than adequate, so I can't comment on that band)
I would not recommend this as a primary antenna for most people for most bands. But as a 10 and 12 meter antenna, it will work quite well.
But get the optional ground plane, or put one of your own on, and it will work much better.
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N0FPE
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 30, 2009 19:52
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works ok for what it is
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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works great for a 10 meter vertical. Other than that it is worthless so for me its fine on 10.
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KW6LA
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Rating: 3/5
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Apr 30, 2009 19:12
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Dont over sell it !
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The A99 antenna was designed to be resonate on 26-29 mhz. Sure you make contacts on it with a
tuner, but so did a Ham using a tree as the antenna. ( No Kidding ) If the Hams that buy into this
notion that it works great on just about all bands, then the rest of the ham community must be
Stupid for putting up thousand dollar antennas. Yes I have made contacts on 40 meter with a 10
meter dipole, but when I switched to the full size 40 meter dipole both signals when up 6 s units !
Dont kid ur self into think that a piece of short wire and a tuner will bring great results. I have this
antenna now in the back of my garage. It does a good job on 10, 11 and 12 meters, but has no value
for the lower bands. I would bet the others do not have other antennas to reference this to ? Not to
mention the lousy consistency for strong reports on 20, 17 and 15 meters. Oh some say its the
Bomb on 75 meters too
..Not
.! !
KW6LA
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N0FPE
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 16, 2009 18:10
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works ok
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Mine works just fine on 10 meters, which is what i got it for. Tunes ok on 12 and 15. It will tune on 17 and 20 with a very narrow bandwidth but then it is cut for 10 meters, so i didnt expect a lot. works ok for me.
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K2SAV
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Rating: 3/5
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Feb 16, 2009 15:58
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ok..gets out
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Not bad to see what its all about...i had one when i was a tech. to try my hand at 10m ssb...now i am a gen... and a modest g5rv jr. with a tuner i get much better results( switched via switch on same contact) but i will say 10 and 15 m its ok and 20 with a tuner it is a good backup....so not bad for 50 bucks...i spend more for dinner out sometimes....its a good start and a decent backup...if thats what your after , you found it... but not a solid steady performer on pileups or dx...but as i said it is a good start or a decent backup, as i read mixed reviews even on expensive verticals....hope that helps...73
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G1NOR
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Rating: 1/5
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Jan 27, 2009 16:39
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Waste of good glassfibre.
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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One word to describe this one and it has four letters and begins with a capital "C" It's worth about £20, looks like it should work, you really want it to work. But it is utter garbage. To be fair, I had mine before the groundplane kit was devised, it may improve things; it certainly needs to. It's a typical CB antenna with lots of hype, but it's a load of sh....... (whats that smell)...
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VE7REN
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 9, 2008 01:39
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excellent
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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here we go again.negativity on this antenna is absolute crap!!!a 0/5?? maybe to a 3-400 $ 75/80 or multiband high end unit,a 3/5 would be fair!!this antenna works flawlessly on 10-17 meter.made many 9+contacts with this antenna,design is simple,easy to tune.durable,and cost is reasonable.owned since 1994 and never have had a problem.for what its worth{$$$$},it cant be beat!hands down!!
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K3DAV
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 8, 2008 14:48
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Great for what it is.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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So far, out of 182 reviews, I have read about 40 posts that were not happy with the A99. That means that at least 142 of them liked it or were at best satisfied with it. Now lets all try to use some common sense with this. Think about it. The fact that so many people had good results only proves that the A99 is possible of being a very good antenna. With that in mind, it also proves that since so many people had and still have good results with the A99, that those who were unhappy with it either had a bad one, didn't install it properly, had bad coax, maybe a bad connector, or just plain expected too much for what they were buying. With a vast majority of owners being happy with their A99, there MUST have been something wrong with the rest who hated it.
The A99 is designed as a CB antenna to operate in the 11 meter band with low SWR and fairly good gain. I don't know if I believe the claims of 9.9dBi or not, but it is at least 3 dBi as claimed by most retailers.
Some have compared it to the old Big Stick from Shakespear. The old Big stick was a center fed vertical dipole, and the main radiator was the 1/4 wave whip on top. ONLY the 9' whip on top radiated RF. The bottom half is just ground plane to complete the dipole. BUT! The entire 17.5' length of the A99 radiates RF. Not quite the same thing.
And to those who call it a dummy load, I have never talked to South Africa with a 59 report on a dummy load. Call it what you will, but it works.
The A99 by the manufacturer (Solarcon)and all other copycats, claims to be an 11 meter antenna that can also work on 10, and 17 meters with an antenna tuner. That means that you should expect it to work on all 3 bands, but much better on 11 meters. I don't understand where some say it is made for 20 meters. The A99 becomes a full 1 wavelength on 20 meters. If it loads at all, performance should be very poor. With a good tuner some people can make the A99 work on bands below 17 meters, but don't expect a lot. This antenna was not designed for those bands. You can load a random wire with a tuner at almost any band too. That doesn't mean it will work well everywhere.
Some say it is just a CB antenna, and as it comes out of the box, they are correct. But if you follow the instructions and cut the top whip like they tell you to, it is no longer a CB antenna. It is now a 10 meter antenna. Any antenna belongs to the band it is cut to be resonant on.
The fiberglass construction is not bad and works pretty well. But I have always wrapped every inch of the bare fiberglass with a wide, low dialectric, electrical tape to protect the fibreglass from weathering and fraying fiberglass strings. This also makes it more waterproof as the fiberglass gets older. The tape has never had any loss of the signal or performance specs of the A99. It is transparent to RF.
The ground plane kit does add a smidg of gain as it sends more of the TX signal towards the horizon instead of the dirt below it. This also reduces TVI to your angry neighbors, and lowers the incoming noise a little.
I have talked around the world on my A99. The antenna is a proven winner for what it is designed to do. With a tuner I can even load it up on 75 meters. It works just OK there but not like an antenna made for that band. This is just to say that the A99 can be very versatile, but don't be so foolish as to expect it to work great on all HF bands. Perfect on 11 meters. Good on 10 meters out of the box. Great on 10 meters cut as per factory instructions. Not bad at all on 17 meters with a tuner only. Beyond that, it's OK as a receive antenna at best. But don't expect much for TX.
Lighten up guys. The A99 is a very versatile CB antenna that can work as a bonus on a couple of other bands. But it is still a CB antenna. All in all, it is worth the money for what it is designed for. If you can get more from it, then shut up, smile, and consider it a bonus. ;-)
In my previous post I mentioned that the A99 is a full 1 wavelength at 20 meters. That was an error. I meant to say that it is about a 1/4 wavelength at 20 meters, and should still perform poorly. Just wanted to mention it before you read the next post and think I am nuts. Sorry about that. My bad. ;-) I will never understand why any advertisement would say this antenna is designed for 20 meters. The manufacturer says 10 to 17 meters.
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GB001
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Rating: 0/5
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Dec 8, 2008 09:52
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Absolute Rubbish CB Antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Not good, poor quality, narrow bandwidth. Any disbelievers, check here:
http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=7582
The Antron 99 EXPOSED!
It shows how easy it is to hide a bit of old wire & poor soldering to fool people to think they are buying some magical antenna.
Any amateur worth their licence will soon construct something that will easily out perform this. For those that can't be bothered to make an antenna, a G5RV is a lot better & a lot cheaper !
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