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Reviews For: Solarcon I-MAX 2000

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Solarcon I-MAX 2000
Reviews: 101MSRP: 80 SHIPPED
Description:
3 piece, over 21 foot tall fiberglass 10 meter base antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001014.5
VA3MLV Rating: 2013-11-11
Update Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have had this specific vertical which is a 5/8 wave on 10M with a total of 24ft in length. It's been a the very top of my tower at about the 50ft mark for a few yrs now out here in the open country land through winter after winter bending like a fishing rod at high winds and its still to fail. I don't want to gynx myself but there it is. 4 yrs out in the country in open area where winds get really bad and cold icy winters. I use this omnidirectional vertical on 10M, 12M, 15M and the furthest 17M but vary rarely. I personally think anything below 15M will not be very efficient and not a good performer.
VA3GNX Rating: 2013-10-13
Great multi band antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I originally bought this because of the low cost hoping I could use it on 10m by shortening it. But I decided to try it using an LDG pro600II tuner before I cut it so it is still 24ft. long It has been a pleasant surprise I have made numerous contacts across N.America on 10m and as far as the Canary Islands on 17m and recently to Argentina on 12m using 300watts.
It has the ground plane kit which I am not sure I even need and sits on a 1.5" pipe 16 feet off the ground at the feed point.
It has stood up to wind gusts above 100km/hr even thought the top section was bending to almost 90*.
AA2HA Rating: 2013-06-27
Not bad Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I previously owned an A-99 that had nothing but issues (see my review) so I thought I'd give the I-MAX a try. I have the antenna about 50 feet up with the radial kit. The SWR was as advertised and seemed to work well on 10 and 12 meters. The antenna whips around like a fishing poll in high winds, but didn't fail. I did A-B tests with the I-MAX and the Hy-gain SPT 500. Not only was the Hy-Gain much quieter, the received signals averaged 1 S-unit or higher and the tx was the same. There were signals I could not hear on the I-MAX that were perfectly workable on the 500 antenna. Although I have no ax to grind with the I-MAX,I would recommend spending the extra $40 bucks and get a much better antenna.
N2UJN Rating: 2013-05-19
Low Cost, Solo Install, Good Performance, 10m-17m Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
QUALITY and SURVIVABILITY: I purchased and installed this antenna last September, 2012. Antenna up during hurricane Sandy, and, several other fronts with sustained winds above 60mph. QTH is in Rochester, NY with snow, ice and temps below 20F on a normal winter basis. Antenna has no cracks in any joint after high winds, tough winter. Looks new. See picture of install at my qrz page link below.

SWR PERFORMANCE: I did not cut my Max 2000 or modify it in any way. When the base is mounted 6 feet from the ground, without the GPK ground plane, and rings set to the bottom of their range with a coax RF Choke, no ground radials. (w/ Bird Wattmeter)

Freq (MHz)....SWR.....Band
28.400.............1.2........10m
27.205.............1.8........11m
24.940.............2.9........12m
21.300.............2.6........15m
18.110.............2.2........17m
14.130.............11.9......20m

I added 6 ground radials 1/4 wave on each side of the mast, for 10m, 12m and 17m. This lowered 17m SWR to 1:1.8 but increased 12m and 15m slightly. Improves receive 1S unit. Antenna is not usable on 20m for transmit, but, receives OK.

I use the antenna on 12m, 15m, 17m with an MFJ-901B manual tuner at the radio. Lowers SWR to 1:1.1 for radio impedance matching needs. Homebuilt coax RF choke helps the antenna perform better on 15m, 17m. Data and results can be seen at below link.

http://www.qrz.com/db/N2UJN

CONTACTS: You can see my LOTW recent confirmed contacts at the above link. QSO's with 54 DXCC countries since December 6, 2012, on 10m - 17m using only the Max 2000. I even generated my own "pile up" on Jan. 13, 24.940 MHz, 13:41:00 UTC when a rare opening occurred on early Sunday morn EST to Europe. I called CQ and managed the resultant pile up without any other US stations. There were no spots showing the opening.

Total QSO's since HF entry on December 6, 2012 - 168 with very casual operating.

INSTALL: The total combined purchase and install cost, including coax, galvanized pipe, 2 ground rods, post hole digger to sink the pipe, and PL-259s, for me, was around $240. I can maneuver it on a no wind day by myself up an 8ft ladder. One person working solo can complete the install. Low visibility means fairly neighbor friendly.

BRAGGING RIGHTS: None, zero bragging rights for this one. During QSO you cannot say "Force 12" or "Mosley" or "stacked". I will someday, but, not yet.
PA5COR Rating: 2013-04-10
Good Time Owned: N.A.
Still on the roof where i put it 10 years back, survived some serious storms as well.
Using it for 10-12-15-17 i made worldwide contacts on every band using just 25 to 100 watts but can put in 1 Kw on each of those bands without the antenna failing.
It is an older original Imax 2000 the later ones are Max 2000.
Not seen one of them, but i don't think the quallity went down that fast.
Mounting the 3 parts i didn't use the washer, i filed the top of each section flat because the soldered wire was protruding and cause a small bump in the flat surface and might cause uneven pressure and cause the windings stud to break.
After putting it together each section that screwed together was fixed with selfamalgamating tape to prevent loosening.
Dont over pressure the fixing, just a gentle turn with your hands will fix the sections, no tools needed which might cause overfixing and breakingg the studs off.

Preparing an antenna on the roof here is mandatory, take the few extra steps to make it last longer.
Climate here is near the sea, salty, lots of wind and rain.
I got the Ground radial kit on it, and 4 wires of 17 feet laying on the roof, that way it worked beter at 17.
Could even tune it to 20 but there the limits of the antenna are reached, less reception and serious tuning.
17 and above all are within 1:2
73,
Cor
KK7NF Rating: 2013-04-01
Update Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Because I put the antenna up only three weeks ago today, I still have no longevity reports. The previous review from Europe does not sound promising.

Having said that, I have made the following contacts from Nevada since the antenna was put up March 3rd- 10m: Venezuela. 15m: Japan, Hawaii, Russia x2, Germany, Great Britain, Chile, and Croatia just this morning. None of these were during this last weekend's contest. This is with 100 watts and the base of the antenna at 15'.
PA3FPZ Rating: 2013-03-29
Antenna update Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had a chance to have a closer look at the antenna. It shows a crack at the joint between the second and third section. Asking around if this is normal, I got a real quick and disturbing answer, YES!!!!

Several HAM and CB operators have the same problem. We had a very cold and icy period, a lot of the Imax 2000 antennas did not make it though the winter. Quite a few reports of cracks, all at the same point. One mentioned the antenna broke at the joint between section one and two. It came crashing down with force, wrecking everything in its path. Digging around in several HAM and CB related Dutch blogs, I found there seems to be a real quality issue.

Has something gone wrong when shipping the antennas to Europe? Fiberglas does not like to be compressed, could this be the culprit when they stacked the boxes? For now, stay away from European sold Imax 2000 antennas, until they can solve this quality issue.

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Earlier 4-star review posted by PA3FPZ on 2008-09-19

The antenna does what it advertises, it works well on 10 to 15 meters. Though going down on 17 and 15 meters does require a bit of tuning. The SWR on those bands rises towards 2.1 in my setup. I use this antenna without a radial kit, as it stresses the mast to much. The radials pick up a lot of wind and tying down the mast is no option. Being in a coastal area, a fibreglass antenna is a must. The feared “static problem” does not occur in my case, or maybe I am already used to it. This antenna replaces another fibreglass equivalent, which finally broke after 28 years. Happy with the antenna there are two items of consideration.
1) The clamps provided do not fit a standard 40mm mast. Probably due to the difference in inch and mm sizes used in the USA and Europe. I had to drill out the holes and got myself slightly bigger 42mm clamps.
2) You do get some RF feedback on this antenna. This becomes evident when you use a speech compressor on SSB. I had the antenna low at first, just above a metal gutter and no RF was detected. After putting it up, RF came down in the shack. As mentioned earlier in the reviews, a radial kit is supposed to kill that. I can only imagine this gutter acted as a sort of radial. Unfortunately it also detuned the antenna outside the band, so it really needs to be away from metal objects as stated in the manual. The RF is not to bad in my case, turning the compressor down solved most of it.
So I give it 4 out of 5 and hope to enjoy this setup for the next 28 years HiHi.
JSANCH08 Rating: 2012-11-21
Low SWR and Durable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wanted to very briefly update the SWR numbers for my I-MAX 2000 posted previously. I re-did the measurements with a Bird Wattmeter using properly ranged elements for forward and reflected power (previous report used an element that was too large for the reflected power to be accurate - read too high). Rings set at bottom. 6 feet off the ground, no radial kit. Grounded to two four feet ground rods, and, the mast is galvanized, grounded in reasonably good conducting soil.

Band 11m
Ch 40 SWR - 1.38
Ch 1 SWR - 1.70

Band 10m
Frequency 28.4MHz SWR - 1.22

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Earlier 5-star review posted by JSANCH08 on 2012-11-15

I purchased the Solarcon Max-2000 Antenna 5 weeks ago and, for testing, placed it a mere 6 feet above the groud without the ground plane kit. The antenna feed line is 30 feet of RG-8/U, 52 ohm.

The minimum SWR at 6 feet is 2.0 for 11m use and 1.2 for 10m use, with the tuning rings set all the way to the bottom of the tuning range. I was suprised because the manual that comes with the antenna lists cut lengths for various frequencies and the document indicates to cut the top of the antenna for 10m use by around 8 inches but my antenna, as noted, has SWR of 1.2 on 10m. So, before you cut, test without doing anything....probably works.

The Antenna was left up during Sandy here in upstate NY and endured 14 hours of 30-70mph winds without any obvious effect.

I am continuously surprised at the good feedback from contacts transmitting and receiving only six feet off the ground, without the radial kit, with 4-50 Watt output. QSL with Scotland, Texas, Vancouver, and excellent local 4 Watt contacts, etc.

I am pleased with the purchase and plan to use this antenna with an MFJ-901B on 20m.
WA2DZO Rating: 2012-11-19
My best vertical so far Time Owned: more than 12 months.
5 years old now, bolted to the top of a 6ft ground rod driven 4 1/2ft into the ground. Wet sandy soil. Just take it down when winds top 40MPH Use it on 17/15/12 and 10 Meters Best on 10 and 12 hears well on 20. If it ever breaks I will buy another.

Joe
WA2DZO
KJ4DKT Rating: 2012-10-18
DISGUSTING Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Works on and closely around 28.400. OK on 15 meters. OUT OF SIGHT SWR on all else. Tuning rings have little effect. Could it be defective????? My bros 2000 works very well. Whats up???? QC issues!!!