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Reviews For: Sirio Gain Master

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Sirio Gain Master
Reviews: 17MSRP: $180
Description:
.64 wave omni Vertical
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.gain-master.it/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
10173.4
KB3MRU Rating: 2024-08-05
Horrible Materials Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It actually went together easily, no extensive tuning, and preformed well for almost a year.

However, the fiberglass seems to be defective as mine snapped during a 48 MPH wind gust (I have a weather station on roof, too). Stuff happens... so I contacted the US dealer, then Sirio Italy to obtain a replacement segment of fiberglass... that was YEARS ago! Ive been trying off and on for 3 years to obtain a repair part. Sirio just ignores me. I fiberglassed the defective segment but honestly, all the fiberglass seems flaky and has tiny cracks. Not worthy of a $200+ antenna. Very poor customer service for ignoring me for three years. Photos on Amazon if interested.

update 8/24: I just assisted another ham to replace another Siro. His also had disintegrating fiberglass and also was totally ignored by Siro. Overpriced, garbage material, and NO CUSTOMER SERVICE.
LU7BSE Rating: 2022-07-26
delicate, unreliable antenna. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Good performance antenna, amazing bandwidth in almost the entire spectrum, and higher performance than an A99, the bad thing about this antenna is poor mechanical quality, it is very easy to break, it does not support strong winds, it is not advisable if you live in an area of ??strong winds, the first storm breaks your antenna, today I replaced it with a Colossal 5/8 i10K, it is much better
N1URE Rating: 2019-11-09
Works well Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The short answer is it works fine. This antenna needs non-conductive 3 point guying between segments 2 and 3. If you do that, it will be much less likely to snap in high winds. Sirio is packing a leaflet that states guying as well. After the New England winter ice and snow, I will report back on how or if it survived. Very easy to assemble. Mine is mounted on a roof tripod. It outperformed an inverted v OCF dipole that I have. Not surprised as it is less broadband. It works as advertised. You can build your own too, it’s basically a vertical dipole. Seriously folks, the difference between 400 and 500 watts is barely noticeable so why fry it running too much power? Must be a CB thing, mine is bigger, more powerful... blah blah blah. It’s more a function of height over terrain and atmospheric conditions. 73’s and have fun!
WR0F Rating: 2016-08-30
Nice antenna base at 67 ft Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had a Sirio Gainmaster up now for 3+ years with the base of the antenna @ 67ft and top at 91 ft .We easily work groundwave and long haul dx .
It works wonderful with good swr across 10 and 12 meter bands and we have never had a issue with construction even with 80 mph wind gust this last Spring .
It is not designed for 15 17 or 20 meters so do not compare apples to nuts .
KK6LFK Rating: 2016-01-19
All blown up Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this thing for about 3 years. Worked very well on 11 meters. Flat swr (low). All in all I was happy. Then last week I noticed my RX was weak. I then noticed my SWR was off the scale. The day I dreaded arrived. She blew. I was running a Texas Star V500DX which is right at the 500W limit that the ant is rated. I suspect the coax that is used as the capacitor in the schematic probably had a thermal meltdown where the dielectric melted. I have to tear into the dead corpse to find out for sure.
KA7NIQ Rating: 2015-08-22
No Better Then Antron 99 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I took down an Antron 99 that worked down to 15 meters well, and with good SWR. Actually, the Antron 99 also worked on 17 meters too, but with higher SWR, and a drop in performance. Before I took the Antron 99 down, I noted signals from the many local hams I talk to every night on 10 meters. When I put the Gainmaster up, in exactly the same spot, and at exactly the same height, no one could tell any difference in signal. I did notice that the Gainmaster did appear to have a slightly quieter noise level.

The Antron 99 works more bands with low SWR. Yes, the Sirio Gainmaster will work 10 and 12 meters, but it will do so no better then the Antron 99, and it will not take any serious power either.

The Gainmaster sells for 3 times the price of the Antron 99, and IMHO, isn't worth it.

N4WSH Rating: 2015-02-14
Nope, failed in a year Time Owned: more than 12 months.
About 13 months in to owning this antenna the second from the bottom fiberglass pole failed. After taking the antenna down it noticed ALL of the fiberglass sections are cracked and will fail soon. I notified Sirio about this but no response as of yet. Most likely I will trash this over-priced antenna and go with something else.
WA8MEA Rating: 2014-11-20
Really impressed! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I watched YouTube videos of some chaps from the UK testing these antennas out at very low heights. I was impressed, so I bought one. I wanted a broadband antenna that covered both ten and twelve meters. I was skeptical about putting this antenna up too high since it is one very long antenna! Therefore I have it just sixteen feet above ground. I easily work the world with an SWR well below 2:1 over 12 meters and the lower half of 10 meters. You can tell it has a low take off angle; just right for DX. One of the best ten meter verticals I have ever used, and I've tried many - from droopy ground planes, to the 99 models to the Ringo models. This beats them all, hands down. And no tuning required!
PY2MLS Rating: 2014-11-20
Great Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned this antenna for 3 months now, so far, no complaints. I have managed to work several countries with it, even with low power.

For comparison I used a vertical 10m antena and the Sirio Gain Master showed at least 2 to 3 Db more on the scale.

I live in a very windy area by the sea, last week we had winds of 40Mph and the antenna really bent, giving the impression it wouldn't hold, which made me put some guywires just for precaution.

Apart from it, it`s a great antenna, goood construction, nice gain, good bandwidth, lightweighted.

73
GM7PBB Rating: 2014-04-11
Rubbish Design Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Well the Sirio has been up for about 8 months at a height of 6feet of the ground just as a test before going on the tower, good job 80+mph winds soon sorted it out, bottom and next section up have split all the way down, the lower section is way to thin fibreglass. It works great on 10m but the design is very poor, not for the harsh location ;-)
waste of money, as most things are getting to do the amateur radio. poor build and short life.