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Reviews For: Comet CX-333 Triband Base Antenna

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

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Review Summary For : Comet CX-333 Triband Base Antenna
Reviews: 45MSRP: 169.95
Description:
Triband base antenna. 2m/1.25m/70cm (145/220/440)
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cometantenna.com/base.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00454.6
K5DXR Rating: 2022-02-13
After twelve years in the elements still working like new Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I put this antenna up twelve years ago but left it when the house sold. The current owner let me retrieve it today. After twelve years in the Northwest Arkansas elements it still works like a champ. No cracks. No water intrusion. SWR is great on all bands. This one has been well worth the money.
KA4FIX Rating: 2021-07-29
A Great Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Antenna performs really well on all three bands. Highly recommended.
K6LCS Rating: 2021-07-29
Perfect Solution Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine has been up for more than 15 years. Flawless performance on its three bands.
W4IU Rating: 2021-07-28
Inconsistent quality, limited bandwidth. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is the second CX-333 I've owned. The first served me well over a period of 5 years. It was installed at 80' on a massive pine tree. I moved to a new location and had leave the antenna behind.

The second CX-333 I bought suffers from limited bandwidth. On the 2m FM Natl. Call Freq, the antenna has an SWR of 1.5. However, at 147.5 MHz the SWR is over 2.0. The same goes for the 220 MHz band; 1.5 at 223.5 MHz and 2+ in the repeater input range. On 440 it has an SWR of 1.4 to 1.6 across the FM portion of the band.
W7JSM Rating: 2021-03-21
Very dependable antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Have had cx-333 mounted to top of 25 to mast. The swr across all bands has been good. I regularly check into a simplex net and get nothing but great audio and 59 +. Been up for over a yr thru all diff weather. No problems.
K4CLL Rating: 2020-02-16
Great tri-band antenna. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After reading the reviews I decided to try the Comet 333 for my FT-736R. The antenna went together easily. The top center connection slides so you may have to tap the top section or shake the center down to be able to get the set screws in it. Get your glasses for that. The swr is good on all bands. I used the LMR 400 cable in a good brand. Reviews are helpful, but read them well or you might miss out on some good equipment. Well built and water proof. Comes complete with sealing tape. It is light, easy to install and works well on all 3 bands.
KM6YXJ Rating: 2019-05-26
Seems good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Put this up with 65ft of LMR-400 to my tri-band radio. Seems to work well.
I checked the SWR in the middle of each band and I got: 2m = 1.6, 1.25m = 1.4, 70cm = 2.0

I was interested in understanding this more, and so a friend came over with their RigExpert antenna analyzer. The reality is the the SWR curve is significant over the entire bands:
For 2m, the curve ranges from 2.0 to 1.1 with the low around 147Mhz
For 1.25m, the curve ranges from about 1.7 to 1.2 with the low at about 224.5Mhz
For 70cm, the curve has a series of 5 or more peaks and valleys (it is a relatively wide band), ranging from 2.5 to 1.1, with the low at about 433MHz.
Obviously, the cable run, surge protector, quality of the connectors and other factors make a difference. But for me, a new ham, understanding how the SWR actually varies significantly across the band was interesting.
As it is, I like the antenna!
KK6RPX Rating: 2018-04-19
Poor quality assembly Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was given one of these new in the bag from an elmer who had decided he wasn't going to put it up. After assembly the antenna had high SWR, > 3:1 on 2 meters. Took it back apart and found a bad solder joint on one of the sections, it pulled right out. Soldered it up and while it is better it is still not right. Took it back apart and I can see some cracked caps, just at the legs but still. So I guess I will go and get some foam and caps and give it a real work over. Good thing it was free to me. Called Comet and their attitude was "good luck with it". Thanks! A real pity, I have 3 GP9's installed at various sites and have always been happy with Comet up until now.
K1FPV Rating: 2018-03-25
Survived over 6 years & still works 100% Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine up nearly 50 feet, a couple feet above my Tri-Bander and still works great. SWR on all 3 bands is below 1.5 to 1 on all bands and handles 100 watts without even breathing hard! ;=)

Would I get another one....you bet! Ideal for working FM on 2 meters, 1 1/4 meters as well as 440 MHz.

Bill, K1FPV

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K1FPV on 2013-09-15

I've had my vertical up over a year. It has withstood 70 MPH winds last winter in a blizzard we had not to mention strong gusty winds this summer during violent thunder storms. It is 50 feet up in the air at the base.

It has a decent SWR on all 3 bands while it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. I highly recommend it!

Bill/K1FPV
W0VTT Rating: 2018-03-24
Won't Survive MN Winters Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The antenna works fine out of the box, but is not strong enough to survive winters on the MN prairie. It failed after only two years. The fiberglass radome split, water got in to the inside, and it became a leaky dummy load.