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Reviews For: Cushcraft Ringo Ranger AR-450

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft Ringo Ranger AR-450
Reviews: 6MSRP: 36.99
Description:
Mono-band vertical for the 70cm band, made by Cushcraft
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraft.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0062.7
KT4WO Rating: 2020-09-23
MFJ-260C works better. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Works ALMOST as well as my MFJ-260C.
Save your money and build a 1/4 wave GP.
Makes a OK scanner antenna.

KT4WO
KC4YLV Rating: 2015-10-31
You can tell it's not Real Cushcraft any more. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Desiring a nice, wideband, omni antenna with DC grounding to hang my treasured IC-475 off of, I decided to forego the homebrewing this time and go commercial. The entry level "not MFJ" option was the AR-450 at HRO.

What a piece. Let's see. Maximum mast size 7/8" - get ready to hack a mount together. The matching ring isn't round, the ends are all bent so that the end screws and standoff tubes cut into it at an awkward angle, and worst of all - it won't tune! With 50 feet of LMR-400 and every combo of conductive mast, nonconductive mast, common-mode choke and not, I get random, unpredictable dips and spikes. And I can't get it to tune below 2:1 between 436 and 438 for the life of me, which was kind of critical as I wanted this to do double duty as an AMSAT antenna as well as hitting the repeater inputs (fortunately we're negative offset here in Colorado). We're talking taking it everywhere from 13" down to 11" in 1/8" steps, checking SWR every MHz from 432 to 449 along the way. Tremendous, annoying work.

I realized that I was wasting my time - which is money these days. Going back to return this hunk of crap for the Diamond X-30A.
DT593 Rating: 2003-03-19
Fine Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got one off e-bay for $20 TUNED it properly then put it up on the roof about 40' above the ground. I could not ask for more . It hears and gets out as well as my comet Hy-Gain version (8db / 11 db ?)dual bander. A direct hit by a tornado might bend it a bit but other than that it is a great antenna for them money
Bear
K9KJM Rating: 2002-04-04
TOUGH ANTENNA Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The little Cushcraft UHF Ringo is also a very tough antenna, And at DC Ground potential. Like it's two meter relatives, Do not expect any gain. But it will survive very strong winds, ice, static charges, etc..... This series of antennas needs its coax feed line (Use LMR400) to be tightly coiled in a few loops right under the antenna to decouple the feedline.......
In a 50 MPH gale, you won't even see it wiggle...and it should survive most any ice storm.
KC4FWC Rating: 2002-02-25
Works fine for its size Time Owned: more than 12 months.
First, the antenna AR-450 is called a "Ringo" and not a "Ringo Ranger" - the Ranger is a 5/8 wave over a 5/8 wave, and the simple Ringo is only a half wave.

A half wave vertical obviously has NO GAIN over a dipole, since a dipole is electrically a half wave. It should have 2.15 dB gain over a 1/4 wave, though. The Ringo and Ringo Rangers (with the exception of the Ringo Ranger II's which have added ground radials) usually have a rough pattern when mounted on the side of the tower, or if the feedline isn't secured to a mast at least a few wavelengths down from the connector. The problem is, the ring, which is an impedance matching device, does not decouple the feedline, and the coax in turn will radiate if precautions are not taken.

The best thing to do with a Ringo is place it out the top of a tower or a pole. Use at least a ten foot pole and secure the coax to the pole with tape or tie wraps. Dangling coax will cause distorted radiation patterns. So will wide mounting a Ringo on a tower.

Do not expect this antenna to be a whiz banger. It is a simple half wave antenna, just a little better than a 1/4 wave, and works fine if you don't need a tremendous amount of gain. I am surprised if a J-pole out performs it, because electrically, a J-pole is nothing more than a 1/2 wave radiator itself.
W2PSK Rating: 2001-08-26
Horrible antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Do not waste your time with this antenna. I put it up and compared it with a J-pole that I paid $20 for and the J-pole beat it hands down. There are not many 70cm repeaters in the area, but the one that clinched it for me was when I compared the signal on one and got an S9+20 with the J-pole and a S5 with the AR-450! It was a $35 lesson that this antenna is horrible. I just hope I keep someone else from making the same mistake that I did. For now, the antenna goes in the crawl space in case I ever need a paperweight.

Please note, this is NOT the ARX-450. That is a different antenna. Please see any reviews for that one before you decide to purchase one.