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write your own review of the Cushcraft A148-10.
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VK2VHF
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 3, 2009 17:20
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early days but happy days
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Easy to assemble and instructions are good. Oddly my box contained extra nuts and washers to what is stated in the parts list. I suppose more is better than less.
I agree with another reviewer that the boom sections only overlap by 2 inches and this could have been made slighter longer to increase overall rigidity. But the design as it stands is robust.
I don't have it up in the air yet but so far I am quite satisfied. Cheers, Adrian.
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N1RIK
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 16, 2008 21:07
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Excellent Antenna!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I have had this antenna now for almost a year, and bought it used (It's really the A144-10 model). Even though I have it on a mast at only 22 ft. AGL and 50-watts of power, I've been able to work stations on Tropo from New Brunswick to Floria from my QTH here in North Carolina. Also have used this beam with some E-skip contacts to Texas and Kansas. I have not had any SWR issues in the rain with this antenna since I've wrapped the connector with silicon self-fusing wrap. With it's performance, I don't feel the need to upgrade it, but may purchase a 300-watt amp in the near future. Local groundwave does allow me to get up to 200 miles out, and can work some of the "Big Gun" stations up to 300 miles away with no enhancement on SSB. I'm impressed for a measley $85 that I paid for it. NICE!!
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N1RIK
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 16, 2008 21:06
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Excellent Antenna!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I have had this antenna now for almost a year, and bought it used. Even though I have it on a mast at only 22 ft. AGL and 50-watts of power, I've been able to work stations on Tropo from New Brunswick to Floria from my QTH here in North Carolina. Also have used this beam with some E-skip contacts to Texas and Kansas. I have not had any SWR issues in the rain with this antenna since I've wrapped the connector with silicon self-fusing wrap. With it's performance, I don't feel the need to upgrade it, but may purchase a 300-watt amp in the near future. Local groundwave does allow me to get up to 200 miles out, and can work some of the "Big Gun" stations up to 300 miles away with no enhancement on SSB. I'm impressed for a measley $85 that I paid for it. NICE!!
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Anonymous
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Rating: 0/5
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May 4, 2008 19:30
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GOOD Antenna
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Time owned: months
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I think this antenna is well worth the money and your consideration but it is not without flaws.
I am not really experienced with yagis but I understand the principle of boom length and gain. I have had both the 148-3s and the 124WB. T
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W8WLC
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 4, 2006 13:58
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Super product
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Put this up at 30 ft for FM use. Performance is excellant VSWR at 1.2-1 per assembly instructions. Assembly was easy about 1/2 hour from out of the box to ready to go in the air. I didn't have any problems with hardware being too short, on the center boom it would be nice to have an additional 1/16 inch to work with, but no problems. On the air tests show a very sharp beamwidth which is great for getting rid of the Chicago area QRM our local repeater gets quite a bit of. For the price this is an excellant antenna for either weak signal use or FM. To tell the like it really is, I had a 13B2 buried in the garage attic, I didn't feel like spending a couple of hours up there in the heat digging it out so I purchased this antenna. I am glad I did.
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KA3NXN
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Rating: 3/5
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Apr 30, 2006 12:56
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Works ok, some issues though
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I agree with KI4MYD on the length of a few short screws. My other assembly issue is with the clamp used to set the SWR. A very important clamp I must admit. On mine I locked down the screw as tight as it would go and the clamp would still spin on the element freely. I had to put some conductive material between the clamp and the element so it would grab tight and not move around. I also was missing one element of one length and got 2 of another. Fortunatly I was able to shorten the one spare element to make the element that was missing. If this was my first beam antenna, these minor issues could have been show stoppers, if one didn't have basic intuition or expierence to make the nececessary corrections like I had done. If I had never used any other antenna like the M-Squared or a K1FO antenna, then I would say that this is a top performer. Having used the others, this is at best, a poor performer. Quality wise & performance wise the Cushcraft does not even hold a candle to the M-Squared or the K1FO. If price is your biggst factor, then go with the Cushcraft. If performance is, then go with the M-Squared or the K1FO. Another excellent performer, but not as sturdy to the elements is a good old cubicle quad. You can build them very easily or purchase them commercially from the folks at Cubex. Do your homework before you build or buy.
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KI4MYD
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 30, 2006 10:27
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Just Excellent
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Had the antenna up for about 3 weeks now and it is amazing in the clear.
Assembly can be frustrating because a couple of the screws Cushcraft includes with their product just aren't long enough to put everything on them (washers, lockwashers, nut, etc.), so in a couple places I simply left off the washer. Assembly can be done inside if you leave the boom apart in 3 sections (i.e. attach the elements and construct the driven element), then take it ouside and assemble the boom in full length.
Antenna tunes up excellent. We managed to get the SWR 1.1:1 across the major part of the band and the SWR peaks at 1.2:1.
I am using it verticle for repeater and simplex use. Because I'm surrounded by such a large number of trees I can't get out quite like I want to in all directions, but for the areas that are clear, I can now key repeaters 50mi+ away with 5-10 watts (I had to use 50w on my verticle) and the antenna is only at about 40ft. It really brings in the simplex activity and the directionality of the antenna is pretty specific. It handles wind well because it's not very bulky and the elements are slim. Pair it up with low loss coax and this will be the best antenna investment you ever made. The price difference between this and the 13b2 is kind of steep so if you don't want to invest the extra, this will still do an amazing job.
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NE0P
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 19, 2006 08:50
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On my second one
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had one of these up for almost 2 years now. Put it up the morning of the CQVHF contest after having to redo the mounting hardware a bit (I bought it used). The first one I bought was replaced shortly afterwards with a 13B2. There was probably a little improvement but not really noticable. For the price difference this is probably the way to go unless you plan on stacking a couple together. The antenna is well built, easy to assemble, and tunes great across the entire 2 meter band.
I have used these on meteor scatter, 2 meter Eskip, tropo, and the satellites with good performance. Last summer worked from Southwest Oklahoma (EM04) to Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa on Tropo, and then to PA, MI, and OH on 2 meter Eskip.
This is a lightweight, fairly small antenna that you can turn with any rotor. Highly recommended for 2 meter SSB or CW work.
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W8GTX
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 13, 2005 00:32
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Another good one
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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In hindsight I should have purchased the 13B2 for it's better gain. No issues what so ever with this antenna. Easy to tune and has held up for close to 10 years now.
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K7VO
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Rating: 5/5
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May 28, 2004 20:23
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Reliable performer
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought my 10 element Cushcraft from a local ham who had replaced his with something "better" for all of $25. It was already assembled so I can't comment on building the antenna. What I can say is that this beam is sharp and that I manage to get out as well as I'd expect even running QRP (anywhere from 1-10W) SSB/CW with the beam mounted horizontally and up about 37'. Thanks to a change in the local antenna ordinance it will probably be moved up to 45' or so soon to improve my ability to get out, but I see no reason to change the antenna. It works and has survived an ice storm and a tree falling on it with only minor (easily repairable) element bending. I'm satisfied.
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