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Reviews For: Cushcraft MA5V 5 band vertical

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft MA5V 5 band vertical
Reviews: 69MSRP: 211.00
Description:
5 band vertical for amateur hf
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraftamateur.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00694.1
WA2PVK Rating: 2005-02-21
Better than I expected! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
At first glance one might be skeptical of an HF antenna with radials just 48" long. (I was!) My skepticism did not live long however. A MFJ antenna analyzer made short work of tweaking all 5 bands. I love this antenna so much that I purchased a second one for use with my secondary rig. My other HF antenna is a multi-band inverted V and I like running diversity reception using the inverted V and one of the verticals. This is a FANTASTIC antenna. The size is small but the performance is HUGE. I had a Hustler 6BTV but the MA5V is MUCH better!
W0DKM Rating: 2005-01-29
2 Years old, Looks great. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Best $200.00 I have spent. Took it down from 40ft this last fall. No lose parts. I live on high hill, with 30 to 60 mph winds several times a year. After a wind storm, I run out to see how she looks. And the little bugger looks back at me, like "what you looken at". I have dipoles on the same bands, and switch to the vert or poles for best signal. Never know which one will work best.I recommend both.
VE3WGO Rating: 2004-11-15
Great Performer & Easy Kit Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I found this a very easy to build this kit with no trouble at all. I mounted it 15 feet above ground on a TV mast in the backyard. Not highly visible even though it is in plain view, so it will keep the neighbours happy. Stands up to strong winds very well, and easy to mount and dismount from the mast with 2 U-bolts. I covered the end of the coax pigtail with a bit of Coax Seal. It does not take up a lot of space either. No TVI was noticed on any band, so I guess the coax choke does its job well.

Good bandwidth. Centre frequencies on all bands were mid-band, 20m a bit lower than I wanted, so only adjustment needed was to shorten the 20m stub on top by a half inch. SWR minimum is 1.2 or so on all bands.

With my FT-847, first contact was Sweden, followed by Brazil a few minutes later, through modest pileups. North America is easy to cover on most days. So it gets out well. Good reception, and good transmit reports.

Overall, it was a good buy, has good mechanical design, and its performance is very reasonable.
2E0GMW Rating: 2004-06-23
great antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
this antenna is simply superb IN THE DRY! it works a treat, the only thing negative i can say is it don't like rain on 20m this is now sorted but i feel the wether proofing should have been better. around 2 s points better on all bands comperd to my full size g5rv small antena but big performance superb if like me you live in a biult up area.
KG7RS Rating: 2004-04-10
A very pleasant surprise Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
In this day and age, it's always a nice surprise to purchase a product that exceeds your expectations. We recently moved to a neighborhood of new houses with CCR's disallowing visible antennas. Previously, our older home was complete with plenty of space and a literal playground for antenna experimentation. Since most of my operation is done in the field using QRP, I didn't concern myself with the ability to install an antenna at the new home. Finally, the desire to be QRV from the new home got the best of me. My desire was a multi-band antenna for 20-10m that did not require a tuner, without an extensive radial system, low profile to avoid complaints and of a design that I would reasonably expect to perform acceptably, all compromises considered. A vertical design seemed the best. Some research led me to believe the MA5V to be the best choice for my application.

Assembly time was about 2 hours, which included a pre-inventory and familiarization period. Assembly instructions were reasonably good. I was able to assemble the antenna fairly quickly, without do-overs or head-scratching. All parts were present. Quality was acceptable. As other posts have identified, there were lots of burrs on aluminum and fiberglass drillings. I don't personally find this a problem with a mass-produced antenna, which is essentially supplied as a kit. It does not seem unreasonable to me to perform a few additional operations such as minor deburring to produce a hand finished product of good workmanship. All parts fit together perfectly. The design is simple and lends itself well to easy parts replacement with commonly available materials should the antenna become damaged or through age.

The MA5V is very lightweight and easy to handle. It lends itself well to mounting in a variety of ways, a feature that is of primary concern to those living in situations that make errecting an effective antenna difficult. I chose to ground mount mine on a 6' section of TV antenna mast driven 3' into the ground, about 10' from the house.

The greatest surprise was experienced during testing and tune-up. SWR was essentially flat at 1.3:1 across the entire 17 and 12m bands, the vast majority of 15m and much of 10m. I was astonished at the bandwidth this antenna provides! On 20m, the SWR was lowest in the CW sub-band. All these reading were made with no tuning whatsoever, simply using the dimensions called for in the manual. I briefly took the antenna down, adjusted the 20m stub inward 3/4", reinstalled the antenna and noted the desired SWR shift to the middle of the 20m phone segment. Overall bandwidth on 20m was 2.2:1 on 14.000 and 2.7:1 at 14.350. SWR of less than 1.5:1 was experienced on most of the 20m phone band.

A quick on-air test was made on 20m phone with an Elecraft K2 transceiver operating at 12w PEP. A quick CQ was returned by a fellow in GA. Since then, I have worked several states all with excellent reports. On-air performance with this short, lightweight antenna continues to amaze me day after day.

Overall, the MA5V has well exceeded my expectations. The bandwidth offered by such a short lightweight vertical is astounding. There is a minor compromise in bandwidth on 20m, but this is far better than may be reasonably expected of such an electrically short radiator. The built in coaxial choke is a nice touch and does a good job of keeping the feedline from radiating. Fit and finish are acceptable. Documentation is good. I have not had an opportunity to deal with Cushcraft's support, but didn't require any for this product.

The few shortcomings I can foresee:
There is very little weatherproofing employed in this design. Resonators are covered with a coating that I suspect will not last long exposed to the high-UV environment of the AZ desert. Coaxial pigtail is fully exposed and should be sealed somehow by the owner. Cushcraft seems to market this antenna as an intermittent use antenna in deed-restricted conditions rather than one intended to be installed permanently. This would seem to be appropriate in high stress environments such as coastal areas. The only enigma...why does Cushcraft supply a PL-259 (male) connector on this product? It requires a barrel adapter to mate with your station coax.
KK0K Rating: 2004-04-05
An excellent indoor multi-band “horizontal dipole” Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I live in a neighborhood where the homeowners association’s CC&Rs prevent me from erecting any outside antennas. After reading a technical description of a ground independent, off-center fed vertical dipole, which very much resembled the MA5V, in the January/February 2002 issue of QEX (a picture of the MA5V accompanied the article), I decided to buy a MA5V and mount it horizontally in the attic space over my garage. I figured that if an antenna worked as a dipole vertically, it would work as a dipole horizontally. I assembled the MA5V in the attic and suspended it from the rafters using nylon cord. The antenna is approximately 18 feet above ground. After a minimal amount of effort, I was able to get the SWR down to less than 1.2:1 on 20, 15, 12, and 10 meters. The minimum SWR on 17 meters is 1.5:1. Obviously, other than keeping the homeowners association happy, there is nothing ideal about this arrangement, but over the past two years I have used the horizontal MA5V to work stations in Central Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Japan. So far, my MA5V has worked flawlessly, but then, being inside of the attic, it is well protected from the effects of weather.
KB4BJM Rating: 2004-04-05
ma5v6m add on kit Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Just received the add on kit. It is model ma5v6m and it was purchased at R and L electronics. Hamilton, Ohio. $29.95. Takes 5 mins to assemble and install. Good luck!
K0KVR Rating: 2004-03-15
Great for limited space Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I live in a crowded Boston area suburb in the 2nd level of a house. Since I rent, I needed a non-obtrusive, lightweight, good performing HF antenna. So, I installed the MA5V on a standpipe on the roof. I have found it works great for DX, and rag chew. Since putting it up in August, 2002, I have worked well over 200 countries with very good reports.

It is light weight so I am able to take it down myself and tune up the stubs on certain bands as needed. I did this last weekend, and other than the weathering coating on the coils, it is in great shape.

I wish Cushcraft had made the coils to handle 1KW. I am working on that myself.

Any suggestions, or anyone who has done this, please let me know.
M1RPY Rating: 2004-02-07
Poor Matierials choice Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Having owned one for just over a year I would not reccomend it for installation in a windy area close to the sea.Although it has generally held together through 75mph storms the choice of metal for the 50 meg addon is poor.The rod securing it at the bottom has corroded and snapped off due to metal fatigue.The coating on the loading coils has started to flake off and the top hat has fallen off due to fatigue in the bolts(still trying to find where its landed).It is probably ok for portable/temporary use but not as a permanent fixture.
VK2JAF Rating: 2004-02-03
Still going great!!!!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Ladies and Gents,

The antenna has been up now for 2 years...sure the loading coils could have been sealed better..although when it rains i have 1.1 swr on 20m PSK..when dries out good swr on 14.200.

Shortened verticals will never be the best solution....however in a suburban environment... where the amateur is the blame for every bit of tvi..this antenna is an inconspicious..relatively good performer..that has allowed me to work half the world!!..and from Australia using a max of 100W..i think that is a credit to the antenna and the installation.

If you want the bandwidth of a log periodic..and the gain that goes with it..then buy one!!!

However having Hy-Gain verticals previously.. this one does it for me..good DX..ing

Derek VK2JAF