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| Reviews Summary for Cushcraft A270-6 |
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Reviews: 8
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Average rating: 3.6/5
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MSRP: $130
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Description: 2m/440 (3L/3L) yagi
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Product is in production.
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More info: http://
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write your own review of the Cushcraft A270-6.
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N2DY
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 20, 2011 15:30
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Works Fine but Sloppy Factory Control
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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The antenna works as advertised, but the one I received had the boom U-bolt holes drilled incorrectly. That is just poor quality control. It was not difficult to drill my own holes, but I should not have too. I cannot tell if mine was produced before or after MFJ took over Cushcraft. Once corrected the antenna has fulfilled the need that I set out for it. Bandwidth seems pretty good and gain is about what you would expect for three elements on each band.
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W2UIS
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 20, 2011 04:06
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Pretty Good
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a clever antenna design of two 3 element beams on one boom. My objective is to be able to operate Dstar via a repeater almost 40 miles from my home.
Follow the instructions and take your time. Read the instructions prior to assembly a couple of times and look at all the parts. Assembly of the driven elements with the Reddi-Match is the hardest part of the entire process.
Performance is just as I expected my target repeater for testing was received at full scale s meter reading, an improvement over the dual band vertical antenna.
SWR is not an issue with me, if the antenna works I'm happy. In my experience with Cushcraft products antennas of this type are designed for FM and Digital operations.
I forgot to mention in my review the price is now in the $120 to $130 range.
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W4LMR
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Rating: 3/5
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Mar 15, 2009 13:18
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Not a good design
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This thing was very hard to tune up on the VHF SSB bands (144.200MHz). The gamma match is very tricky. I'm still not convinced it's a good design to use one feedline for UHF and VHF. I'm planning on taking it down and using it for FM vertically polarized with seperate feed lines.
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KD5JFT
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 15, 2005 01:32
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Good Small Beam
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had this up since I was first licensed; several years. I just spent a lot of time trying to get it tuned perfectly. After lots of trial and error, I got it to 1.2:1 in the SSB portions of 2M and 430MHz. Using an ancient radio (IC-251A) and a more recent (FT-726R) and a modern (FT-847) radio, I have been able to routinely make 100+ mile contacts with less than 10 watts out. Tuning can be a pain. I used a 10' tripod with my home-made mast and rotor (and the actual coax I would be using after final installation) to tune it. I spent an entire afternoon putting it up, taking it down, readjusting it, putting it back up, etc. I finally got it right (at least according to the MFJ analyzer). According to the propaganda packaged with it, I have it working better than it is supposed to!
For the size and price, I don't think it can be easily beat. I didn't rate it a five due to the difficulty in tuning it. I have no experience with other dual band beams, so really don't have a good comparison, but it is much more difficult to tune than a single band yagi.
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W7RJR
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Rating: 2/5
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Mar 4, 2005 00:53
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Quality Control Issues
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The pre-drilled holes in the boom were out of tolerance resulting in crooked elements and impossible to insert the U bolt through the boom without stripping the threads.
I don't recommend this antenna. Returned it for a refund.
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VE3CDA
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Rating: 2/5
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Oct 8, 2004 15:11
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Tough to tune
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The quality is good, the price is reasonable, however I just can't seem to get it tuned. The instructions say that anything better than 2:1 doesn't matter, which is the best I can get out of it, and the antenna does work. I just can't get it out of my head that it should be able to tune up to something lower than 2:1. If I tune each section by itself, I can get something like 1.3:1, but when you connect them together, up goes the SWR. For the record, the antenna in on a Delhi tower about 50 feet up. Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I've been tinkering with this thing for almost a year. At this point, I'm considering replacing it with a UVS300 vertical. It would be great to have your comments. I really would like to get it fixed.
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NC2F
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 25, 2004 07:15
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Perfect for home or portable; Easy Assembly
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I recently purchased this antenna from HRO. This has the be one of the most cost and time effective 2m/70cm beams out there.
Unpacking:
The elements and mounting stem were safely packed in the box. The assembly hardware was sensibly separated in clear plastc bags.
Instructions:
Assmebly instructions were clear and concise and also included excellent diagrams that almost made any accompanying text unnecessary.
Assembly:
Following the clear instructions, assembly was very easy allowing for a one-time assembly without having to go back to change or adjust anything. Total time to assemble once everything was laid out on the floor was About 20 minutes. I'm sure if I hurried up and didn't take a phone call during the process it would have been done in even less time...
Performance. I am using this beam in a temporary location on a tripod and mast on my back deck with a Radio Shack TV antenna rotator. I have used it with both an 5w HT and 50w 2/m 440 base and it performs excellent. Despite it's smaller size, I find it's directiveness to be very sharp and precise with enough gain to be more effective than I anticipated.
Conclusion:
I would recommend this antenna to anyone who wants to add a beam for either protable use or at the base/home QTH. You could probably spend more money on larger beams, but I doubt the price/performance/necessity factors would justify anything more than the A270/6S
Here is the URL with the specs:
http://www.cushcraft.com/amateur/details.asp?catid=183
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VR2ZRZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 5, 2003 09:23
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Cushcraft A270-6
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Good in strength and easy installation. VSWR is low (1.18). The manual is a bit misleading as the ReddiMatch can not be tunned in real situation but it was said so in manual. Anyway trial and error.
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