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Reviews For: Solarcon A-99

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Solarcon A-99
Reviews: 204MSRP: 57.99
Description:
10-20M Vertical Antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
152043.6
W8WLC Rating: 2006-10-19
still junk some things stay the same Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After junking one of these out a few years ago, I was able to pick one up for 50 cents at the Peoria superfest ( I think if I had held out the guy would have paid me to take it!). All these glowing reviews lately prompted me with a day off to install this on a 30 ft mast and install a 20 meter dipole 10 feet below it and run A-B tests. Given poor band condx today there were few signals. However most of the CW stations on 20 today could not hear me with the A-99 but I received 579 to 589 reports on the dipole.The received signals were at least 2-3 s units below the dipole. I agree anybody who sings glory about this antenna has never has never tried it against the reliable dipole. Construction of this antenna is el-cheapo and no way would it survive a windy icy winter. I've no doubt this thing could survive 120 MPH wind if it was laying in the hayloft of a barn some where. I am going to keep this thing until the 17-10 meter bands come alive and run yet more comparisons against my ever faithful 6BTV. Sorry guys I am not buying the rave reviews ( I live too close to the missouri border so show me.)If this thing has 9 DBi of gain then my dipole must be running at least 14. More to follow with the upcoming sunspot cycle
VE5XU Rating: 2006-10-19
Compare and you will learn Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A lot has been written about the Solarcon A-99, good and bad. It’s a piece of wire in a fiberglass type tube. Cut one apart, and look for yourself. Nothing special. The quality of the antenna is sub-par as compared to antennas by Hy-Gain, Hustler, GAP, Cushcraft, etc. It’s a very popular antenna with the CB’er, and the CB’er turned ham.

The bad:
Some do have success with the antenna, or they believe they do. If you were to install a Cushcraft, GAP, Hustler, or Hy-Gain vertical antenna side by side with the A-99, any of the others will always outperform the A-99. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The A-99 is the hands down loser in a direct side by side test. Any of the other antennas mentioned here are of a much better design, and of higher quality. The quality of the A-99 is very poor, and the gain figures of the A-99 are very over inflated. The manufacture claims a 9.9dBi gain. Put your thinking cap on for a minute and figure out how they get 9.9dBi gain out of this design. They don’t. It’s a lie. I would wager that most, if not all of the hams giving the A-99 high marks have never compared it directly to another antenna in a side by side test. If they did, they would come to the same conclusion, as the ones who have.

As for the lower bands 15, 17, and 20 meters, forget it. Just because one can tune the antenna to a low SWR does not in any way shape fashion or form reflect the performance or efficiency of this antenna. I have even read where someone claimed the A-99 worked great on 40 meters! Maybe it does work great, as compared to no antenna at all…. Next we’ll be reading how well the A-99 works on 80 meters, and maybe even on 160. Solarcon also markets a sub-par antenna model named the IMAX 2000. It is not any better than the A-99 being reviewed here. It’s just a little bigger piece of junk.

The good: (if there is any)
It’s cheap, and if you live in an area where you can’t install a wire dipole, or have the funds available for a Hustler, GAP, Cushcraft, or Hy-Gain vertical antenna, the A-99 it’s better than nothing at all.


Conclusion:
Will you work stations on the Solarcon A-99? Sure you will. You can also work stations using your rain gutters, or just about any other metallic object. Is the A-99 worth the cost? No. A hand full of wire, installed properly will out perform the A-99 in most all situations.
PW614 Rating: 2006-10-17
superb antenna!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used an a-99 for aroud 7 years now and find it work superbly I have used other 10m verticals e.g. imax2000 and the sirio 827 and find the a-99 outperforms both on 10m and 12m people who say this is a bad antenna must have it mounted upsidedown or unconnected.
VK3MDD Rating: 2006-09-27
excellent 10m performance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
this is basically a 11m cb antenna with the bonus of it working reasonably well upto 15m band. Ive personally found its performance excellent on 10m, and comparable to Hustler4btv on 15m. On 20m,etc, forget it,its not made for that purpose. Very easy to assemble and low swr even on 15m is a bonus,no tuner required.
Good value,Id reccommend!
K1CSU Rating: 2006-05-05
You can do much better Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Had one. Not much to get excited about. Poor components, poor construction, poor performance as compared to a standard 1/2 dipole at the same height, or other vertical antennas at the same height. Mine was usually about 2 S units lower than my wire on transmit. As for receiving, what a joke! I was hearing DX stations on my wire that were NOT heard on the Antron at all (had both up at the same time)!! Save your money on this one. If it's a vertical you're looking for, go with the GAP, Butternut, or Hustler. They're much, much better antennas. Yeah they cost more, but you get what you pay for still holds true today. As for the Antron working on 15, 17, and 20 meters, yeah right! With a tuner you can present your rig with the proper impedance, but that in no way means that your antenna is working. Educate yourself, before wasting your money.
KD5ZER Rating: 2006-05-01
great antenna! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the A99 for over 5 years and I am very pleased with it. I have used it on 20-10meters. On 20m I can make contacts but nothing to far out. On 17m and up it is a great dx antenna. Yesterday(04/30/06) I worked a station in Portugal on 17m and got a 58 rpt. I was running an Icom 706 bearfoot. To the folks who say the A99 can't handle a lot of power, I have run 1500watts into it with no problem. It is a great antenna and i would suggest it to anyone looking to get on the high bands.
73 KD5ZER
GENEW Rating: 2005-11-16
NEGATIVE gain Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Antron 99 is a CB antenna, but with slight retuning, it works on the 10-meter ham band. In the Antron advertising, it explains that it is a '1/2 wave over 1/4 wave variable mutual transductance tuned antenna' with a dB gain of 9.9 dBi. No way! The Antron 99 performs worse than a 5/8 wave ground plane. The Antron 99 is nothing more than a standard end fed 1/2-wave dipole, the base impedance is nearly 1,000 ohms. In order to get a 50-ohm feedpoint on a 1/2-wave element, the antenna is shunt fed. What is the TRUE gain of the Antron 99? Assuming a 1/2 wave shunt fed dipole in free space, minus the losses associated with the series capacitance and inductance, according to my math, the Antron 99 has1.8 dBi gain. That is to say, the Antron 99 has 1.8 dB gain on the horizon over an isotropic radiator. Referenced to a center fed 1/2 wave dipole, which is the industry standard, the Antron 99 has a NEGATIVE gain of 0.3 dB. This could also be stated as -0.3 dBd. As a reference, my old 5/8-wave ground plane antenna had 3-dBi gain. So, the Antron 99 is a step 'down' so to speak. Replacing the Antron 99 with a new 5/8-wave ground plane antenna will result in a 1.2-dB gain improvement. The Antron 99 is just a 1/2 wave end fed dipole with extra capacitive coupling to isolate the antenna base from high voltages in case the installer happens to drop it across power lines and the radiator happens to make contact with high voltage. Except for the lower 2 feet of the Antron 99, all the rest of the antenna contains nothing more than a straight piece of #16 bare copper wire!
KB3RMX Rating: 2005-11-14
GREAT FOR THE MONEY Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have to disagree with some of the previous reviews by other hams on this antenna, but I've used th A-99 for 2 years now and have had very good success with it on 17 meters down to 10 meters. Made many DX contacts last summer in 2004 running 75 watts thru my Icom 746 Pro. Of course this is a cb antenna, but I've talked and have done cw on this all the way down on 75/80 meters with a mfj-969 tuner with swr around 1.6. When tuning the rings, tune it for low swr on 10 meters and anyone should be able to use this up to 17 meters with an internal auto tuner and down to 75/80 meters with a roller inductor tuner.
Easy to tune - better than some other higher priced antennas.
Needless to say I think this is a great antenna for the money, and I bought this used for $30 from another ham. I'm still using the A-99 as well as my 40 meter dipole. Great job Solarcon!
HAMWANNABE Rating: 2005-09-27
Mabye...With a Tuner, BUT... Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
As I wait for my Hustler 4-BTV to arrive via UPS, I still have the A-99 on the roof about 12 ft. off the ground, no radials. I got it when I thought I would only be using 10 meters and wanted to save money. I thought wrong. Like the other reviews, unless you're using it for CB or mabye 10 meters only, it's a dummy load at best. And I have an LDG Z100 tuner hooked up to my rig. Using the tuner, I've made a couple 20 meter contacts but they are weak and far between. After getting my HF privilges, I had to admit to myself that this is a CB antenna. Period. It's a good CB antanna, but it is only a CB antenna. Any CB'ers wanna buy a good-used A-99 antenna, good buddy, 4-Roger?
N9NCI Rating: 2005-08-17
Radiates Poorly in all directions Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I once had a Antron 99 up at my QTH. I too thought it was a good antenna until I installed a small HF rig in my car with a Iron Horse Hamstick clone antenna for 10 meters. My mobile installation produced stronger signals from my home than my Antron 99 did which was on a 25 ft mast. The antenna is very poorly constructed, and produces lack luster results compared to other vertical antennas at the same height, and radiates equally poorly in all directions. Save you hard earned money on this one. A ½ wave 10 meter dipole installed vertically, or as a slopper will produce, and receive much better than the Antron 99.