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Reviews For: Cushcraft A270-6

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft A270-6
Reviews: 16MSRP: 130
Description:
2m/440 (3L/3L) yagi
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraftamateur.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00163.4
W1AEX Rating: 2018-12-10
Sturdy little beam that works as it should Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After unpacking the A270-6S I went down through the parts list and checked off the quantity of each item on the list. Everything checked out except that one of the three 8/32 x 5/8” stainless steel screws used for locking down the tuning straps was missing from the sealed plastic parts bag. Of course that made it necessary to make a trip to the hardware store because I didn’t have any 8/32 stainless steel hardware laying around. It was annoying and it should not happen but fortunately it only cost me 37 cents and I could move forward with the project without much delay. Overall, the parts quality was fine and I did not have any issues with the hole alignment through the boom that others have had to deal with. After assembly the elements were well aligned and no bending was necessary to get things looking right.

The assembly instructions were very clear and the antenna was easy to put together with basic tools. The specified tuning strap placement for the “Reddi-Match Assembly” of both bands was perfect for my uses. The 2 meter band was flat at just below 145 MHz and covered the FM portion perfectly. The best match for the 70 cm band was 1.5:1 near 443 MHz and the match was satisfactory (less than 2:1) across the FM portion of the band.

I mounted the beam on a tower leg at a height of 25 feet and pointed it in the general direction of a 440 DMR repeater 25 miles away that I could not access with my vertical that is positioned at about the same height. The A270-6S hits the repeater reliably with 10 watts and the relatively wide beamwidth does a satisfactory job of also reaching other area repeaters that are not directly aimed at.

I would have given the A270S-6S a score of 5.0 but took off one point for the inconvenience of the missing 8/32 x 5/8” stainless steel screw. The assembled beam seems quite sturdy so I have an expectation that it should survive the New England weather quite well.
KN6SU Rating: 2018-11-22
Poor Quality Control Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this to replace a 20 year old Cushcraft 2m 4-element beam (wanted a 2M/440Mhz beam). 2 major problems: 1) Missing the 440 radiator element; 2)misalignment of boom holes for mast clamp (they didn't align properly with the holes drilled for the elements...so the antenna would be about 15 degrees off when mounted vertically or horizontally). I called MFJ (who now makes "Cushcraft" antennas) and they said they would mail the missing part. I'll redrill the mast-clamp holes in the boom myself. I don't know how it will tune when I finally get it together, but if that is as bad as some other posters wrote, I'll come back and give it an even lower rating.
KB4VVE Rating: 2018-10-17
Correct asssembly is needed. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've used these in quantity for our linking, and they work fine if you assemble as shown - EXACTLY.
SWR flat and good directivity and gain.
Long lasting and have been thru several hurricanes.
Sometimes the drilled holes are a little sloppy, though and imperative to mount securely.
Greg
AD4IE Rating: 2018-10-17
Does not tune well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased mine recently and have the same problem. Best SWR is at 142.65= 1.72:1. At 144.20= 2.29:1 and 146.52= 4.82:1. Another ham and I disassembled and reassembled the antenna with same results. All measurements match the manual's. Cushcraft (MFJ) sent me a new balun. The results that you see are with the new one. With the original balun the best SWR was around 138 Mhz. I've built 3 of the A270-10S models some years ago and they were great. Don't buy this one.
K4MRR Rating: 2016-09-18
Quality Control Lacking Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Followed instructions exactly and ended up with a 3:1 SWR. Couldn't get the SWR much lower after breaking down the antenna and re-assembling it twice. Spent the day troubleshooting the antenna to no avail. Even took off the 440 elements and driven element to make it a monobander. Gave up after five hours and a bucket of sweat here in Florida. Just bought a new 4-element yagi from another vendor. Put together a Cushcraft 11-element yagi 15 years ago and it worked fine right out of the box. This Cushcraft seemed to bee made of cheaper materials.
DAVEW5LP Rating: 2015-11-06
Great little yagi Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've used both this model and the larger(a270-10s). Both were easy to construct and required no adjustments after they were built. Great addition to the station.
VE6AGE Rating: 2014-05-13
Works very well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well, what can I say. This little yagi does work wonders. Thanks to Peter at HRO out of San Diego, California for selling it to me while on one of my trips to the USA. I love it. Highly recommended.
KJ4IIB Rating: 2013-02-06
GOOD LITTLE YAGI Time Owned: more than 12 months.
HAD MY A270 FOR OVER 5 YRS NOW,NOTICED A HIGH SWR ONE DAY, TOOK IT DOWN TO CHECK IT OUT.A LITTLE CLEANING OF THE REDDI-MATCH AND TUNING STRAP....BACK IN BUSINESS..NO PROBLEM WITH REPEATERS 40-50 MILES AWAY WITH LOW POWER..HAD NO PROBLEM WITH ASSEMBLY OR TUNING...SETTING THE SWR WAS RIGHT ON FROM THE MEASUREMENTS OUT OF THE MANUEL.IVE ENJOYED MINE,I USE A SMALL TV ROTOR TO TURN THE YAGI.
N2DY Rating: 2011-08-20
Works Fine but Sloppy Factory Control Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The antenna works as advertised, but the one I received had the boom U-bolt holes drilled incorrectly. That is just poor quality control. It was not difficult to drill my own holes, but I should not have too. I cannot tell if mine was produced before or after MFJ took over Cushcraft. Once corrected the antenna has fulfilled the need that I set out for it. Bandwidth seems pretty good and gain is about what you would expect for three elements on each band.
W2UIS Rating: 2011-08-20
Pretty Good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a clever antenna design of two 3 element beams on one boom. My objective is to be able to operate Dstar via a repeater almost 40 miles from my home.

Follow the instructions and take your time. Read the instructions prior to assembly a couple of times and look at all the parts. Assembly of the driven elements with the Reddi-Match is the hardest part of the entire process.

Performance is just as I expected my target repeater for testing was received at full scale s meter reading, an improvement over the dual band vertical antenna.

SWR is not an issue with me, if the antenna works I'm happy. In my experience with Cushcraft products antennas of this type are designed for FM and Digital operations.

I forgot to mention in my review the price is now in the $120 to $130 range.