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write your own review of the M2 2m12.
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HCLAGG
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Rating: 2/5
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Nov 13, 2009 22:37
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Poor QC
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I am a fan of M2 products, as I have a 6M7JHV and 6M5X, and they have performed very well.
I took delivery of my 2M12 today at the local hamfest, and raced home to assemble it.
Out of the 8 holes that screw the boom sections together, only 2 of them aligned. The 6 others had to be filed out. Some of the holes were misaligned by 1/8". Quite sloppy.
This is disappointing for an M2 product.
My mate, who also bought a 2M12 today as well, discovered that his kit did not include the locknuts. Doesn't anyone check before final packing?
I remember my JHV (purchased 2000) did not have any issues at all, so this indicates that quality control has slipped at M2 since.
There seems little point contacting M2 about this, because there is no QC stamp, no batch code or anything to identify those accountable.
In other words, there is no quality control.
I feel that M2 are resting on their laurels, but should not get complacent. If you quality slides too much, then it will be hard to regain lost ground.
If there were some QC stamp to identify those responsible, then they could be educated and/or procedures improved, but that aint the case.
I hope that the performance is better than the manufacturing quality.
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K8FFO
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 7, 2009 06:03
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Happy
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Replaced a Cushcraft 13B2 with this antenna when I put up my new tower. This antenna was easy to assemble and it is very light weight. Excellent performance and flat SWR. Quality construction. I like it!
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K7ULS
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 12, 2009 13:11
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Great antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I'm able to work Colorado from a local mountain top S5 at 422 miles with a Mirage B-320-G 240 watts. This same setup afforded me my first EME qso with IK1UWL in Italy at moonrise running portable.
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K5YC
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 3, 2008 08:11
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Good antenna
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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FOrmally used a old cushcraft antenna--very few
contacts. Didn't like it. Wife bought me an M2
and WOW! at the difference. Now hear and work
many more stations. Well built. Has stood up to
high winds here. Take your time to assemble and
check everything. Use good coax and you can enjoy 2 meter weak signal work.
Jim K5YC
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KR4WM
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 19, 2007 19:18
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Only minor advice
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just ordered a pair to replace an old Cushcraft 10 element Yagi. I also got the optional fiberglass cross-boom (it's SUPER heavy duty!) to mount them on. Assembly is about as easy as it gets! The price is no longer $165 per the heading, they're now $226 each, a net increase of 37%. They're not on the tower yet, but as with all M2 designs, there's nothing but quality here, and I have no doubt they'll perform as advertised. I only have two complaints, both minor. One was that the antennas had swaging lubricant residue all over all the parts which I had to clean off (because I'm going to paint mine with clear-coat so they'll hold up better in my salt-spray atmosphere). They should have been cleaned prior to packing at the factory. That was only a minor inconvenience. A major fault (to me) is that I wish they could have included stainless steel U-bolts instead of zinc plated. For $226 I expected all stainless hardware. An inquiry to the company received an explanation that the price of the antenna would have to go up if they switched to all stainless hardware. How much? About eight dollars? Checking at Home Depot I find zinc clamps for about $2 and stainless for about $4. There's four clamps, do the math. I didn't care for the element alignment instructions offered by M2. I used one element placed horizontally on my kitchen counter and balanced each element on it to find the center. Then I marked a circle around the balance spot with a sharpie magic marker. Looking inside each boom segment you can center the marks to get perfect alignment during assembly! I also bought their power divider so I won't have to fool with phasing harnesses. The quality of the power dividers is amazing! I gave the 2M12 a 5 because my issues are minor, and have nothing to do with how well the antennas perform.
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KB9WZJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 14, 2005 23:51
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Good stuff
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had four 2M12s for about two years. They go together great and have a flat swr. They are the biggest M2 offers with out a support line. 12.8 dbd isn't too shaggy, if I was cramped for space I'd probably get the 2M9, which is almost 6 feet shorter with only a .8 dbd gain loss. the four stack has more gain than two of the '5WLs and is MUCH tighter. M2 uses dbd, which is true gain as oppossed to all the others dbi. The 2M12 flat blows a CC 13B2 away.
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G0TKJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 1, 2003 11:44
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Nice Antennas
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Just put a pair of 12's up and WOW BIG DIFFERENCE over the old 18 ele 4218XL that I had up. They are very easy to build you just need to read the instructions and they will work first time every time. Just one of the antennas is better than the old 18 ele boomer. I have also used a 1/2 inch diameter coax from Germany called ECOFLEX 15. I would recomend the combination to anyone that is into serious VHF/UHF in Europe, read the review on the ECOFLEX cable. Will update the antenna review in a few months.
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K9KJM
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 27, 2002 05:12
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THE BEST
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had a 2M12 up for over 3 years now, purchased it new, very easy assembly, And the highest quality material of any amateur grade antenna I have seen. A great performer for it's size, I have mine at 65 feet h. for 2m ssb, and have had great luck with it. Hope to purchase another to stack a pair.......
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KA0ZYD
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 1, 2001 21:39
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Best antenna I've owned!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I have had my pair of 2M12 antennas for about 3 years and have had NO problems with them.They tune perfectly to the instructions 1.1 to 1 SWR on the first try.I live in MN and we get a real mix of weather ,high winds to 1 inch thick ice sticking to the antennas and have had zero problems with the antennas.I have owned the competition's antennas and they didnt fair as well.
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