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| Reviews Summary for Cushcraft R-8 |
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Reviews: 53
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Average rating: 4.1/5
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MSRP: $450 to $480
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Description: 40-6m omnidirectional vertical antenna
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More info: http://
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write your own review of the Cushcraft R-8.
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W2LGA
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 12, 2008 16:48
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Great Antenna
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Owned mine for over 3 years now. Mounted 10' up on a 1 1/2 inch pipe.
Have worked all over the world with many DX contacts as well USA contacts.
SWR remains perfect on all bands and signal stays strong right out of the box.
Antenna MUST be guyed as it can not take winds as it is top heavy.
I use the R8 in conjunction with a Spiro D52 dipole and a Super gainer for my uhf/vhf.
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W8JJI
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Rating: 3/5
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Apr 20, 2008 13:56
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Just ok
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Works as advertised but could never get a decent SWR on 17 meters. Never less than 1.7 , too high for me.
Also , the R-8 is advertised to be 28 feet tall mine measures 25 ft tall. (?)
Definitly use guy lines as the R-8 is top heavy.
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KB6HRT
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 22, 2007 09:53
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R-8 A+
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have had my R8 up in two location now and found that I get the best results ground mounted, did a lot of AB testing with my R6000 and found that both antennas work the same on AB testing for the band there on. They both work better ground mounter.I used a Gap Titan as a referance antenna to compare them to. If you want a 6-40m vertical, the R8 is a winner,great signal to noise ratio and will pull in signals that you can't see on my 756PROIII unless you have the preamp on.............KB6HRT
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KB2MMO
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 4, 2007 11:34
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Great antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have had wonderful results with the R8.I have it on a 10 foot mast in my yard and have it grounded to a 8 foot pipe.I do not need an antenna tuner on any bands as I get a 1.1 to a 1.8 SWR on all bands.
I have made it all over the world on 100 watts....
I Highly Recommend it
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EC4ALB
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Rating: 0/5
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Sep 4, 2007 10:07
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It is not as good as it is said
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Have been buying the antenna for 3 months, once mounted infinite SWR in all the bands, first box MN8 was defective, soon 30 and 40 meters impossible to fit SWR by clouds, the coils with but of 800 watts fail, and when it rains they fill of water.
In the end gave back and I have returned to put a GAP TITAN DX
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KK0DJ
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 20, 2007 12:25
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Careful to guy it!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Fellow Hams... I had my first R8 up on the roof on a tripod with 3' of pipe. I guyed it in one place, about 2/3 the way up the vertical with dacron cord. It played extremely well for years. I fed it with RG8X - about 60' to the shack. No SWR issues or anything. However! One day last winter we had a heck of an ice storm. My family and I were comfy in the basement family room enjoying a movie when we heard a loud thump. My son went outside and looked around. He looked up on the roof and started laughing. He said "Dad, come here... quick" ... there was my R8 twisted and down. As one fellow ham put in his review - it was bent up like a banana. I tried to fix it, but ended up using the insurance to get another. Now, the problem is procrastination. I have one R8 in the basement in parts - some bent and one ready to assemble. Gotta get one of those "round tuits" so I can get it back up. Moral of the story? It's a wonderful antenna. The warning is - guy it in two or three places up and down the antenna and check it before winter! I'm going to assemble my new antenna, install a swivel mount on the peak of my roof, install the antenna, true it up and then guy it with dacron again, but with three points of connection. 73 from Iowa!
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KC2PUF
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Rating: 4/5
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May 30, 2007 15:04
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Decent if put up right
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Nothing reallywrong with this one. Put together with care !! Put mine up in 2000 at one spot, moved in 2006 to roof, put back 50' from house in May 2007. Keep away from house and metal and it's very good. Worked Russia, Europe, better than my Dx-CC at 40' up. Slightly higher noise floor, but huge difference in signal in MOST conditions. Looks like a banana, but survied 80 mph winds.Would buy again. Never a problem in 7 years.
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KC8GLQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 12, 2007 07:05
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Great Antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I put this vertical up as per instructions. The R8 works better than I thought it would.
I get 300k(Wow) on 40m and 500k on 10m(manual says 1500 but I guess the trade off with 40m(150) is great,???). All other bands are covered w/< 2.1
Very easy to put up on an 8ft pole. I stood the antenna beside the 8ft pole, attached the mounting brackets to the pole at the bottom and slid the antenna up until I reached the top. I can take it down in a minute if needed. I didn't need to touch a thing. Works greats on receive and transmit.
I bought this used and it was in good shape. Took a week at night to clean up and 1 day to put up.
Instruction manual is great.
I guyed the antenna and pole. If you have high winds you should know you have to guy a 30ft vertical, duh.
A+++++
I don't understand a lot of the issues people are having with this great antenna, but I did see one issue, the female coax connector didn't make contact(center pin) with the Male connector, I figure a little to much soldier caused this. Pinched it back to its original form and achived success, Before I did this the antenna had a 10:1 on all bands so maybe this is something to always check for....
Slim design, traps work
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EB5ESX
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Rating: 0/5
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Mar 7, 2007 15:38
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Report Update
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Today my R8 has broken in the base.
We have had 91km/h and my R8 gas guyed.
It is not well designed to support a 9m antenna.
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K3EY
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 16, 2006 10:45
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Years Of Fateful Service
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned my R8 since they first came out and before that I owned the R7. About five years ago the R8 took a direct lightning hit and fried it. It even fused the coax right up and into the shack, lucky no one was hurt. Insurance bought another R8 for me and it is still up. It is mounted on a 21 foot pipe. After owning the first R8 and knowing how the wind plays havoc with it making it look like a banana, I bought the guy kit that is offered for the this R8. It is my opinion that it is a must have for installations like mine which is up on a hill and on top of 21 foot of pipe where there is a lot of wind. I have worked both QRP and QRO from 1 watt to 800 watts working the world several times over. It hears well plays well and the few places where it will not give me a perfect match there is always the antenna tuner to make it see 50 ohms. I do not know what else one can expect since I can work the world hearing very well with it. No its not a tri-band or a mono bander and does not perform like those antennas do, but then again I know this and did not expect it to either. Great product at a fair price and extremely fateful service for the money spent. Between this R8 and the R7 it will be over a decade of continuous service with tons of DX worked as an added bonus.
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