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write your own review of the Cubex Quads.
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LA4UOA
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 28, 2010 15:27
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FANTASTIC
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bouhgt my cubex via Vine antenna in the UK ,as usual top service from Ron.
I had to wait several months before it finally came early spring 2010,but that did not matter since to much snow for ant work here this winther.
I did all by my self,and its no problem for one person doing it,you just have to read the manual well .
A good thing is that Cubex has skype,and Roger was very quick to answer my question,top service there as well.A good idea is to paint spreader arms with top coating as they do with boats,then no water penetrate into glasfiber ,because glasfiber could be damaged if frost.
Finally how ant work,not shure where to begin, swr is 1:1 on all bands,just a little swr on top part of 15m,but not much,feeding it with one coax from chack,up to Ameritron RCS-8V remote coax switch, using matching coax stubs on all bands,bandwith is very good 1:1 from cw to ssb on all band,just a little swr on top of 15m. Did some comparing between my 3 element stepp ir at 20m tower,75 meter from quad,signal report from VK7ZE,quad was 4 s units better and modelations much more punch,also same result on signal from him.
Usually quad is 2-5 s better both ways compared with my stepp ir.
My ant is about 18m over ground,using Yaesu G-2800dxc rotor.
No moving parts here like on my stepp ir,easy to get parts for it to.
No static like there is on all yagi antennas,its just fantastic the few days i tried it,hope it continus like this for many years.
FORGOT TO WRITE WHAT KIND OF QUAD I HAVE,THEREFOR THIS SECOND REVIEW.
ITS THE 4 ELEMENT 5 BAND WITH 30 FEET BOOM.
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N2QQF
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 26, 2010 10:20
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Follow Up
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is a follow up to let hams on the fence know how the antenna is performing after one of the worst winters here in the Northeast. I live upstate NY outside NY City and we had a horrible winter this year with plenty of ice storms as well. Well, I am please to report I had not one issue with the antenna at all. I had quite a few scary situations with ice buildup and strong winds and I held my breath and to my surprise there wasn't one moment that I was unable to use my antenna.
I was told by quite a few hams that my antenna would come down in ice and strong winds but this was certainly not the case. I hate to jinx myself but I attribute the success to the quality of materials and construction Roger @ Cubex uses with his antennas. I would never hesitate to buy another one if some unfortunate incident were to occur. If you want a big signal and quite antenna buy a Cubical Quad.
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K4TIN
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 1, 2010 15:26
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10 Meter Expo-Pleasant Memories
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Hastily purchased when I moved out here in 2000 with so much to do and so little time to build antennas. It went together in a few hours and was lashed to half of a rusty old tower left here with a TV rotor.
I have no test equipment to confirm or dispute its performance claims, but I know that many many European and Asian contacts were made--50 watts--and many more at 5.
It was placed behind my barn, then became a victim of my carelessness. So a new boom and a couple spreaders will be ordered this week.
Great little antenna!
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VK5SW
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 22, 2009 22:42
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Great Performer
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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My 2 element HF Cubex Quad is up in the air at 10 metres and performs very well. It's about 3 S-points better than my multiband ground plane and is very quiet on receive. It seems that if you can hear it on the Quad you can usually work it. It gets through very well and anyone considering building one wont be disappointed as the materials supplied are of a high order and the performance is excellent.
www.VK5SW.com
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W8VZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 25, 2008 18:28
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Excellent antenna
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I installed the 4 element 10-15-20 antenna and have been very impressed with the signal reports and its performance. It has been up one year and survived an ice storm. I got good support from the manufacturer for the few questions I had.\W8VZ
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W3RXO
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 24, 2008 16:16
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Love my Scorpion 88!!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Fantastic antenna. Easy to assemble, fantastic performance, outstanding F/B and side rejection. The only way I could be happier would be to stack them and put them up higher.
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NO9E
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 23, 2008 10:37
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Solid after 10 years
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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My 2-el 5-band Cubex quad had no hardware problems in 10 years. I consider it an excellent buy as it provides 5 band coverage at monoband performance and low price.
Each band is fed separately through a quarter wave coax except for 20m where it is fed by gamma match for better bandwidth. A small ceramic capacitor for the gamma match housed in a pharmacy pillbox has no trouble handling high power.
SWR is generally below 1.5. It goes up to 1.8 on 20m edges. That created some losses with a solid-state amp but virtually none with a tube amp.
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VK4WT
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 24, 2006 22:23
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Cubex Quality
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have a 3 element, 4 band Cubex Quad that just went through a Category 5 Cyclone. The Quad survived without a problem but the tower sustained some damage from a large branch from an Iron Bark tree.
Wind gusts were reportedly in excess of 280 kilometres an hour, I had 9 large trees ripped out of the ground and numerous small trees either laid over or ripped out and blown away.
The elements are direct fed except for 10M which uses a 3/4 wave 75Ohm coax. No baluns or gamma matches, all bands are less than 1.5:1 where I need it to be. (12M wires are not installed)
The antenna is over one year old and previously I had a Cubex 2 element, 5 Band Quad and it worked flawlessly.
Well done Norman, you build the best Quads around.
Oh, and before I forget, it will soon have a fourth element added.
73's
Gary (VK4WT)
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26ID101
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 28, 2005 09:28
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Small size - Big performance!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I use the Magnum 2CB (two element mono band) quad due to space limitations, however the performance is unbelievable for such a relatively small antenna. It's mounted at about forty feet & fed with Ecoflex 10 (another great product)& it drastically reduces static and other noise compared to a three element Yagi. Performance is claimed to be 7dbd gain, we'll all I can say is that I'm getting out further and pulling-in better (with less unwanted noise)than I ever did with a Yagi. Build quality seems to very robust although it's yet to survive a North East winter! Assembly was simple and SWR was acceptable for a pre-tuned element (I calculated my own eventually)The Cubex customer service are efficient & helpful. Oh, & Norm is a top geezer too - when do I get the extra 10% discount Norm??? Hi Hi, 73's
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N7EKX
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 11, 2005 23:17
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Great (with a little help)!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased the Cubex Mk II 3-band (20-15-10) 2-element quad on an 8-foot boom in 1996, the second time I had built this antenna. Based on 10 years of experience with the earlier quad in a very windy environment (western Washington), I knew exactly what I needed to do, to make it permanent. First, to eliminate "boom sag" with the earlier quad, I substituted 1/4" thick aluminum for the supplied 1/8" thick aluminum. Second, I threw out the "pre-tuned" solid wire elements (no quad can really be "pre-tuned," if you really want best results), and substituted #14 stranded copper with tough THHN insulation. Third, I attached the elements to the fiberglass spreaders with a combination of UV-protected tyrap plastic and a short run of insulated wire. Finally, I tuned each band separately on the 40' tower for best F/B at the design frequency. The "reinforced" quad has survided winds close to 100 mph on occasions, with no damage over the past 8 years. The Cubex quads are probably the best on the commercial market, but if you really want to make them survive permanently (and continue to irritate Yagi owners!), you can make them a little better, like I did.
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