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Reviews For: Cushcraft R-6000

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft R-6000
Reviews: 69MSRP: 310.00 (Street price)
Description:
6m, 10m, 12m, 15m, 17m, 20m; 3db gain; 1.2:1 typical; 19' tall
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraftamateur.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00694
KB3AVZ Rating: 2003-04-06
Bites!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had this antenna for 6 months now and I really think it bites! Performance on the bands are reasonable. But due to my space confinements this is my only choice. It took 3 hours to assemble and the directions were not really clear. After installing it, a day later it became slightly bent in a wind storm. Now it looks terrible on my roof. Many complaints of t.v.i. as well. When it rains or snows s.w.r. is 5:1 or more! And even with a tuner I can't bring it down. It definitely is a noisy antenna on 20 meters. It is ok on the others. I am not really happy with all the time it took build it. I used to have a g5rv I bought for 30.00. It was 10x better than this antenna and cost a whole lot less. My final comment....If you are space confined this antenna is ok. But when it rains it is about as good as a football bat!
K6USN Rating: 2003-02-23
Works well...but Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My R-6000 is 2 years old. I work a lot of DX on it, even QRP.
It has two problems:
a) Mechanical stability: It twists at the joints in the wind and looks out of alignment. It also has acquired a pronounced permanent bend as a result of a 40 MPH wind!
b) It is VERY rain sensitive! My SWR goes skyhigh when it is wet. I contacted CUSHCRAFT
(not easy to do: two e mails, a phone call -hopeless) and finally a letter. They admitted (short cryptic e mail) to it being rain sensitive. Would have been great of they had warned usof this flaw so we could adjust the low SWR point to be in the band when it rains!

SO- I like the way it performs, but be aware of
the structural weakness and the fact that the resonant points on each band drift down (300khz on 20M)when it is wet.
KC6FLG Rating: 2003-02-23
Junk Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This antenna is Junk!!! It may be great when there is nothing to compare it to. Any antenna that doesn't have a ground counterpoise is just not going to work well. Cushcraft is notorious for inflating their gain ratings and I don't know why so many hams insist on buying this stuff. Maybe they have a prettier box. Seems that most hams are box buyers anyway. Not that there is any thing wrong with that but the experience would be much more pleasant with a better antenna system. What I don't like it this thing is extremely noisy I have had it up a three locations and it was terrible on 17 and 20 meters. I had a Butternut HF9v up at the same time and when I switched between them the HF9V was at S1 noise with S8 signal and the R6000 was S7 to S8 noise with the same signal S9. I could barely hear the a good S9 signal because of the inherent noise characteristics of the antenna. This was not a one time event this constant all the time. I think that it is the traps on 17 and 20. I took it down and I feel guilty about selling it to another ham because it sucks. Mechanically it is poor as well. Most all of today’s manufactures build this stuff to fit in a four foot shipping box. Which doesn't make for a good mechanical design. Too many joints. The Butternut is better performer when it is ground mounted with a good radial system. Higher s unit readings are not what make the difference. It is about signal to noise ratio. My current antenna is a 32 foot long ground mounted aluminum stick that is matched with an Icom AH-4 with 32 ground radials 32 to 65 feet long and it is quiet and performs like gangbusters on 80 through 6. I’ll never buy a Cushcraft again!! Maybe I'll Give it away so I won't feel Guilty about selling junk.
KC6FLG
N4PSE Rating: 2002-12-03
Only if you have no choice! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had mine about three years but seldom used it because in every case my 40 M zepp/dipole outperformed it. Sold it cheap. The Zepp cost almost nothing to make and with a good tuner is a great multiband antenna. I made contacts all over the world with the R-6000, but signals were always an S unit or 2 down from the Zepp. Only used the R-6000 when I was too lazy to tune up the Zepp.

Had a trapped vertical 35 years ago too. Same results- some of us learn very slowly. Buy 'em only if you can't put up a wire antenna. Even a 20 M vertical zepp is a far better mutiband antenna in my opinion.
K4SNA Rating: 2002-03-31
R-6000 performs well and exceeds expectations. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought the R-6000 because of limited space and temporary set-up, as result of recommendation from nat'l ham supplier. Assembled OK, by myself. Mounted on 20 foot mast and have enjoyed GREAT success on 100w...have worked the world, even through DX pileups. Noticed a couple of instruction typo's and called Tech Support...Ed called back not once, but several times. He has provided excellent support and several suggestions for operation. Had another trap vertical years ago...R-6000 is vastly superior product! Good swr out of the box...only required minimum adjustment. Performance in high MS winds has been good, so far. Very pleased!
K3DLB Rating: 2002-01-06
Works good but poor product support Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased the antenna from a national amateur radio retailer. The holes in the base section of the antenna were drilled way off center. I called the retailer and was told to contact Cushcraft. Contacting Cushcraft's customer support was harder than trying to contact President Bush. Their phone is answered by a recorder and they don't return the calls. Also, they failed to answer my e-mails. I thought they went out of business. Finally, after numerous calls and messages to the recorder (I had to literally beg for a return call), a human being called me and had a new base section sent to me.

The antenna was easy to assemble. I have it ground mounted and it performs well. No tuner is needed. It's a great antenna for limited space. I hate to only give it a 3 rating but feel I am forced to because of the poor product support.
EI7GL Rating: 2001-11-10
Good antenna but ..... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used this antenna for over 2 years. Once tuned and set up, it works very well and lots of DX can be worked on it. However, the antenna is a poor choice for a windy location. After a few weeks, the vertical sections were all twisted and one trap went intermittent due to an overtightened screw (Cushcraft Fault). My R6000 needs constant maintenance during the winter months.
Overall. RF Wise - When it works, it works well.
Mechanically - Poor.
FORMER_AE5DX Rating: 2001-10-27
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Built following the instructions with no problems. Installed on a 10 foot mast at the back of the house. Raised the antena and mast upright by myself with no problems. Very easy to install. SWR is outstanding on all bands with no adjustments. Just worked many stations during the CQ DX Contest as a trial. I am very pleased so far.
KD7HZO Rating: 2001-06-22
great antenna!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I live in a restricted neighborhood and needed an antenna with a small visual profile. Enter the r6000. I have worked all 50 states and 109 countries in the last year using the r6000. Its receive capability is awesome as ive been able to hear faint dx stations. The only disadvantage is that I could probably be heard better with a beam. For limited space...Awesome antenna!!
JL1KRA Rating: 2001-06-21
Low SWR, light weight Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Really nice Vertical. I did not expect such low SWR for the multi band vertical. But the SWR is low in all bands 14/18/21/24/28/50. I suppose the new design technology using the computer had solved the problem.
The weight is light and you can raise the antenna by yourself.
Trade off of these advantage is mechanical structure. Method to joint and bind the elements are poor. They are simple but they are not
survive under Typhoon. My 6m element is brown away. Worth to buy to enjoy multiband with
multiband transceiver. I am a QRPer.