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| Reviews Summary for Solarcon I-MAX 2000 |
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Reviews: 49
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Average rating: 4.4/5
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MSRP: $80 SHIPPED
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Description: 3 piece, over 21 foot tall fiberglass 10 meter base antenna
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More info: http://
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write your own review of the Solarcon I-MAX 2000.
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K3DAV
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 13, 2009 14:33
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Superior Antenna.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have been using a Comet CHA250B HF vertical for 10 through 80 meters. It works very well on the lower HF bands of 80 through 20 meters. But it starts to drop off slowly on 17 through 10 meters. So I decided to get an I-MAX 2000 on the advice of many friends and reviews here on eham. So far it is a superior antenna compared to my HF vretical on 17 through 10 meters.
My radio is an Icom 706MKIIG with an Icom AT-180 tuner, a Heil PR 30 mic, a W2IHY 8 band EQ, and no external power. So all contacts are with only 100 watts. The feedline is LMR-400. The I-MAX is on top of 10' of pole, and that is on top of a roof about 12 feet from the ground. So the bottom of the I-MAX 2000 is about 22 feet off the ground. And I am near Harrisburg, PA.
I have talked to a few guys locally on CB. The difference between the 2 antennas is night and day. The I-MAX is far superior. I talked to my buddy 20 miles away on 28.990 USB, an S-5 on the HF vertical, and 10dB on the I-MAX. A few minutes ago, I talked to a W5 station in Texas on 17M. I told him I was testing out the new I-Max, and wanted to know how it was doing. He said I was about an S-9 sometimes hitting the 10dB mark. I keyed up and said, "I am going to switch to my old HF vertical, to compare the antennas." While I was keyed up I switched to the HF vertical for a few seconds, then back to the I-MAX, then unkeyed. He said switching to the HF vertical dropped me to his noise level of S-4, then back up to the S-9 on the I-MAX.
I guess the I-MAX is proving itself to be a very good antenna. I did not install the ground plane kit. A good friend who put the antenna up is a pretty smart guy when it comes to antennas. He made a choke coil with the coax just under the antenna feed point. He said the main reason for the ground plane radials is to stop the coax from becoming a counterpoise, thus increasing the radiating pattern more towards the horizon. Well, the choke coil does very much the same thing. But he said the I-MAX 2000 seems to work better on 15, and 17 meters without the ground plane kit. And with the choke coil, the difference on 12, through 10 meters with or without the kit is hardly noticeable. So to help 15 and 17 meters, I went with his advice, and left the ground kit off. So far, it is paying off. On the lower HF bands,(20M and below) the I-MAX is very weak, and not useable. But for 17 meters and above, it is a superior antenna indeed.
SWR readings without the tuner.
All of 17 meters...........3.0:1
15M - 21.200 to 21.450.....2.5:1 to 3.0:1
12M - 24.930 to 25.000.....steady at 2.0:1
11-10M - 26.0 to 29.0......1.4:1 or less.
Top 10M - 29.0 to 29.7.....a slow rise up to 2.0:1
With the tuner, 17, 15, 12, and the top end of 10 meters are 1.1:1, and work very very well. No TVI or RF problems with stereos, or phones.
I have had Antron 99's in the past, and they never failed me, so I knew the I-MAX 2000 had to be a good antenna. Now I know that the majority of reviews are correct. If anyone has a problem with an I-MAX 2000, check all coax and connection, send it back for a replacement, or you are just expecting way too much. This antenna is top quality and performance for under $100. You won't be sorry.
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N4AEQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 24, 2009 08:37
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Excellent 10m antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Great 10m antenna, I had a 10m dipole (inverted vee) and 10m home made J pole before the Imax2000. I
had problems with weak reception which cleared up
with the Imax. I do have the ground kit on the Imax
and a 5 turn - 5" coil as a balun at the feedpoint,
also I took one of the 4 ground radials & swapped it with the top element, this shortened the antenna about 18" and put it flat in the 10m band, I then
just added the longer top element back as the missing radial.
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AE5RC
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 22, 2009 07:23
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Finally works...
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I ordered one of these antennas from LxTronics which had as good a price as anyone I found. I received the antenna and was able to install right after Christmas. The antenna presented an infinite swr everywhere. Nobody could hear me at all. I took it down and was extremely frustrated. Investigating the coax connector showed a bent connector and a bent mount. I straightened all of this out. The Imax was then re-installed and it became the antenna I initially expected. Locals on 10 meters were giving great signal reports. Some more distant locals (15-20 miles) were giving me solid s-9 reports. The swr on 10 with no tuning done is 1.3:1 on 28.400. 12 meters swr is 1.6:1 and 15 meters is 1.2:1. I wanted this antenna to work these bands and it will do so in a nice manner. 17 meters is about 3:1 which my tuner will bring down and make that band useable.
I would have given a 0 if the corrections had not worked,however with my "homebrew repairs" it appears as if the Imax is a keeper.
73
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N0YXE
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 17, 2009 18:03
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OUTSTANDING FOR TEN METERS!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Here goes another review. I have my Solarcom mounted twenty feet above ground, on the deck and by the house. I needed an antenna for 15 meters but found this vertical ideal for Ten, most especially for Ten meter FM. Here are the following SWR measurements taken with my MFA analyzer from the shack. I'm running 100 feet of RG8U coax. I have installed the radial kit.
28.300 1.2:1
28.400 1.3:1
25.550 1.4:1
28.650 1.5:1
The above SWR is good and no tuner is needed. (I still use the tuner automatically.) I did turn the adjustment ring on the antenna according to the instructions. No Trimming was done.
The FM portion is as follows:
29.300 2.2:1
29.400 2.3:1
29.450 2.4:1
29.500 2.4:1
29.600 2.5:1
Not bad. Any tuner should be able to mop up the above SWR without any concerns. I've actually decided to use my Icom 703Plus for low power FM and scanning simplex and repeater frequencies.
The 15 meter band is in the 3.5:1 range and this is ok, especially since my main antenna, a 135' inverted Vee is not designed for 15 meters and the analyzer displays a 5 to 1 SWR. My amp likes a lower ratio even with a good external tuner.
The Solarcom has withstood severe winds and is very inexpensive. I think it is hard to beat.
If you would would like to discuss this more, feel free to write to me:
tbgspaceship@yahoo.com
Have fun and enjoy using your antenna.
Terry, N0YXE
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GI0ZGB
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 24, 2008 06:20
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Caveat
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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A great antenna but......!
I was rachet jawing on 10m at the legal limit and I noticed the AWI lamp starting to glow, so took some time out to check the vswr, it was 1:2.8 where it normally would have indicated 1:1.2 being near it's resonant frequency having been cut for that purpose. Prior to resuming my qso, I checked again and it had returned to normal, but after some five minutes talking the AWI lamp came on again, so I used the auto tuner to protect the LA and carried on with the qso. Eventually the iMax died, even the rx was gone. I havn't had time to do a post mortem yet but I presume the failure was related to overheating in the loading coil area as the vswr measurment was now infinite. I notice that a few other posts indicate similar experiences, so I thought it prudent to warn about this event so others might keep a watchful eye on their iMax if running qro.
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KC9MSA
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 22, 2008 11:43
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Great for what it says it does
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I have had my Imax up for almost a year now, and I love it. I had a Shakespear Big Stick, and it did okay, but the Imax does much better. My local contacts said that I gained 1 s unit when I switched. I am also using the ground plane kit, I don't know if it does any good, it is just too much work to try it with and without the kit.
The standing wave is pretty much flat on 10 and 11 meters, and I did not mess with the tuning rings. Everyone told me to leave them alone, and I did. I have talked to guys who have messed with those rings, and no one has had any benefit from adjusting them.
Anyway, I reccomend this antenna highly!
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PA3FPZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 19, 2008 04:09
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Does what it advertises
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The antenna does what it advertises, it works well on 10 to 15 meters. Though going down on 17 and 15 meters does require a bit of tuning. The SWR on those bands rises towards 2.1 in my setup. I use this antenna without a radial kit, as it stresses the mast to much. The radials pick up a lot of wind and tying down the mast is no option. Being in a coastal area, a fibreglass antenna is a must. The feared “static problem” does not occur in my case, or maybe I am already used to it. This antenna replaces another fibreglass equivalent, which finally broke after 28 years. Happy with the antenna there are two items of consideration.
1) The clamps provided do not fit a standard 40mm mast. Probably due to the difference in inch and mm sizes used in the USA and Europe. I had to drill out the holes and got myself slightly bigger 42mm clamps.
2) You do get some RF feedback on this antenna. This becomes evident when you use a speech compressor on SSB. I had the antenna low at first, just above a metal gutter and no RF was detected. After putting it up, RF came down in the shack. As mentioned earlier in the reviews, a radial kit is supposed to kill that. I can only imagine this gutter acted as a sort of radial. Unfortunately it also detuned the antenna outside the band, so it really needs to be away from metal objects as stated in the manual. The RF is not to bad in my case, turning the compressor down solved most of it.
So I give it 4 out of 5 and hope to enjoy this setup for the next 28 years HiHi.
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W1LDD
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 14, 2008 08:04
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Best 10 meter Vertical
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This antenna is a great 10-17 meter vertical.I run mine above a large mono band yagi and no swr problems.Over the summer there were many E openings and 95% of the contacts were using the same antenna or A99.Buy one!
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KC8CXZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 19, 2008 09:16
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Great, inexpensive antenna for 10 and 15!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Some may mock this antenna as being a 'CB antenna', but truth be told, the wire radiator inside this antenna does not know the difference between the CB and the Ham bands people! Anyway, i've had the I-MAX 2000 going on 10 years or so now. It's never failed me, and continues to surprise on 10 and 15, where the SWR is flat (you need to adjust the 2 rings at the base of the antenna, every time when you switch bands though... not a problem if the antenna is just a few feet above ground mounted), and DX is worked easily. My 'elmer' used to come over frequently when sunspots were high just a few years ago, and we worked some great DX (including VK and ZL) on 10 and 15 CW/SSB with good signal reports. Also worked some good Sporadic-E recently with excellent signal reports. The 'icing on the cake' is that the antenna requires NO RADIALS! I continue to be AMAZED at how well this simple great value antenna works, and how long it has lasted without a single problem.
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KB3GJL
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 18, 2008 14:08
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Tough, dependable, cheap, and it works.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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You know, the Antron 99 and its big brother the iMax 2000 are like cocroaches. They will still be here after we are dead and gone, ready to transmit and receive. Something the Solarcon does very well I might add. I ran one of these for years and was always very happy with it's performance. I worked into Europe and South America from my inner city QTH with no issues, and a surprisingly low noise floor. It survived several hurricanes, countless severe thunderstorms, and a couple of nasty blizzards before it got taken down and given away. man, what was I thinking?? That was a mistake I still regret by the way. The next one will be a keeper.
Yeah, it's a CB antenna. Big deal! I am sure the retailer would be happy to write 'Amateur radio antenna' on the box in magic marker and charge you double the price if it would make you feel any better. Otherwise, get over it and just put one up. It's tough, it's versatile, and it works pretty darn well.
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