| KD9YHP |
Rating:  |
2024-10-24 | |
| Don't underestimate it |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Being a former CBer, I had A99's at both my lake house and home qth.Both are mounted on steel masts 26 feet tall and grounded. When I got my ticket I wasn't surprised that it tuned up on 10 and 12 meters. Then I bought my first real HF rig. I got into POTA. Both of my A99s are resonant on 15 meters. It tunes up on 6, 10, 12 15, 17,20 and 40 meters. SWR is less than 3:1 on all but 20 and 40m. I have over 1700 contacts including numerous DX spread over all of those bands with the A99. I am not going to tell you this antenna is the be all, end all. However if budget or space are issues this antenna will get you on the air and let you make contacts on wide range of bands. |
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| W2TMA |
Rating: |
2024-09-26 | |
| 25 years and still in one piece! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Well, 7 years later and my A-99 has now been up for over 32 YEARS! I have replaced the feedline once or twice, but it just won't die. Yeah, it's not gonna win an award for greatest gain antenna, but the fact that it is still going strong says a lot for how well these were made way back when. The newer ones proibably are cheap as heck, but the originals were pretty darn good! This antenna has been on my roof, in various spots, for more than 25 years now. It has survived multiple hurricanes, ice storms, and myriad other weather here at my location on the Northern Shore of Long Island that have destroyed other antennas. Granted, its not much, but It still works fine business and I'd say I have gotten my moneys worth out of it!
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Earlier 4-star review posted by W2TMA on 2007-10-24
Mine has been up 60' on the north shore of Long Island (ICE and WIND galore) for almost 16yrs and it's still in one piece and working, so saying it is cheaply made (at least the older ones) is untrue. Saying it is nothing more than a 1/2 wave wire in a tube IS true, though, but not everyone has the real estate for a beam or even a dipole, so it is good for getting something up there and it is inexpensive. |
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| VE7REN |
Rating: |
2023-09-11 | |
| UNDERATED,gets a bad rap,but she performs! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
SEP 11/ 2023this antenna works for me on 20/17/15/11/10 meter no problems. it works super on 15 and 17 over my dipoles. its a keeper for price vs performance.
2012-
i have always had one at my station,11 meter antenna my a##! this antenna gets you on the air,performs good and is well worth the money ! i have owned 1 since 1993,and have another on my shop tower for 15/17/11/10 meter! |
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| K6GBW |
Rating: |
2023-09-11 | |
| Better than it should be |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I was faced with a situation that gave me very little room for an antenna. As sort of an experiment I put up an A99 on my roof. It's mounted very low with the base of the antenna at about 13 feet. The coax goes to a ground rod with polyphaser and then to an MFJ-901B tuner. Using this minimal set up I can easily tune the antenna from 20-10 meters. I really didn't expect it to work on 20 meters but to my surprise I've had QSO's all across the country using it. From 17-10 meters it works very well. So for a cheap antenna that isn't even supposed to work, it's doing a stellar job! If it lasts five years and gets fuzzy I'll just replace it. |
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| N2ARO |
Rating: |
2023-02-03 | |
| Great Bang for the Buck |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I've been using this antenna for about a year now, and I have to say, it really is a great antenna for the money and it's so easy to set up. I use it exclusively on 10/12 meters. It hears better and puts out a stronger signal on these bands than my Sigma HF 360XL. On 10 meters I reached out some 6500 miles (Kuwait) with only 25 watts and this Antron 99 antenna. From NYC, I regularly reach Russia, eastern Europe and all of western Europe and South America when the band is open and I usually receive good audio reports and it does all of this with no ground plane or radials. This antenna is really good for DX, not so good for NVIS, or close in work. My Antron is mounted to my chimney which is almost 30' up with a nice clear view all around. It's held up well in storms and high wind conditions too. Many hams scoff at this antenna because of it's CB heritage, but I highly recommend this simple, plug and play vertical, especially for beginners. |
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| LU7BSE |
Rating: |
2022-07-26 | |
| a half wave antenna nothing more... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I had it for several years on the terrace of a 22-story building, it worked well, but the performance is low, compared to a 5/8.
It is a simple half wave antenna, which is easily adjusted and the performance is mediocre, I prefer metal antennas, today I have the Colossal 5/8, and I can attest that it is far superior. has no comparison. |
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| 2E0EMN |
Rating: |
2021-07-05 | |
| Solarcon Antron-99 |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| i have had amazing results with the solarco A-99 iv had contacts as far as australia iv contacted many US stations on 20 mtrs 10 meters before i passed my amature id had 7 contacts into australia 1 in newzealand loads in thialand east and west malaysia easter island galapigos islands reunion island and all europe its been brilliant but is suseptible to static and does not like very high powered linears my first burnt out when i put 2.4 kw through it for 10 sec as an experiment it is an amazing antenna that can be tuned from 7 mhz(40 mtrband) up to 33mhz (9 metrs) with an atu and leaving the tuning dials in middle as they are new outa the box there so easy to use just mount in pole and use any coax length that in multiples of 9ft or 18ft length ie 9. 18. 27. 36. 45. 54. etc as it tune already for cb mid block channel 20 27.205 mhz with swr 1:1:1 so if you use on amature bands use an atu auto or manual for 10 mtrs and 20 mtrs this is a brilliant verticle antenna |
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| VA1WV |
Rating:  |
2019-03-03 | |
| Piece of garbage |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had 3 of these antennas fail in 5 years. All appear to be poor quality soldering. You get what you pay for.The latest failure is still on the tower but is showing the same signs. Won't tune any where. Never had any luck with these antennas so this time up the tower I will spend the money and get a real antenna. At my age tower climbing is impossible so I have to pay some one to do it. More then this antenna is worth. Stay away unless you enjoy climbing 50 foot towers or can afford to have some one do it for you.
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| G7NKS |
Rating: |
2018-06-09 | |
| been up since 1994 and still going well |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Excellent value for what it is. Mine has been up for 24 years and while it is now a dull green/grey it still works well on 10m to 17m. It will tune on 20m but clearly not well, but nor was it designed to do so. For the money they are hard to beat. |
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| K7VNE |
Rating: |
2018-06-01 | |
| Dont use high power |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Update to my original post from June 2017.
This is still an excellent antenna, I have worked stations from Europe, Antarctica, S. America, Asia, Australia etc etc and, have worked everything from 6m thru 20m with it however, I recently purchased an amplifier and while in the process of setting / tuning the A99 up for power, it failed and is now useless.
It worked fine at about 350w-400w but, on the last tune up I raised that level to 600w and that was it. I was reassured by the manufacturer on my initial purchase that the A99 would handle 2KW but unless mine was a lemon, I would not try anything higher than the 350-400w range.
Now again, with that being said, it is still a great antenna in fact, I ordered another one today but will keep the power low. I cannot begin to state how many qso I have had this <$100 gem but, just be careful if/when you try to push power through it or, you may wind up with a nice looking conversation piece like I have.
73
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K7VNE on 2017-06-08
Purchased this about a week ago for $85 including shipping charges. Cannot believe the performance
of this vertical on any band 6m thru 20m, I have
even had qso's on 30m JT65.
I am using the Palstar AT2K tuner with it and am able to get 0:0 SWR on all bands except
30m but, even that is right at 1:1.
The performance if this thing is amazing. I at first questioned its specs on being able to handle 2KW P.E.P. of power but, was reassured by the manufacturer that this is indeed the max power rating that they stand by.
I have worked Australia, S. Cook Islands on 17m, S. America and the Caribbean on 20m and 15m and several contacts within the US and Hawaii on the other bands. It is especially excellent on 10m.
I do not yet know how it will be over the long haul but, if other users around me can be believed, I am expecting decades of us out of it and, their tech support is great, any questions I had prior to purchase were answered courteously and professionally. Highly recommended. |
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