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Reviews For: Cushcraft R-7000

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft R-7000
Reviews: 75MSRP: 389.95
Description:
40-10M 1/2 wave vertical. 80M add-on kit available.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraftamateur.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00752.9
NG0G Rating: 2010-03-16
9 years great service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this used 9 years ago. It has survived a cross country move, and 5 Iowa winters. Ice storms, snow, temps to -25F, and 60 mph winds. I worked 3Y0X on it on both 40 and 20 with 100 watts. Finally after the most brutal Iowa winter in anyone's memory, it has developed an intermittent in one of the traps. I'll have it fixed this weekend. I have nothing but good things to say about this antenna. If you are unhappy with yours and can't stand the sight of it anymore, send it to me.
N8LB Rating: 2009-08-21
problems Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned a cushcraft r7000 for 10 years now and have had several problems. I have taken apart, cleaned and reinforced all traps four times now. The last time I used larger SS screws and SS clamps when necessary. I also sealed all traps with bear glue and things have been fine for two years now.

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Earlier 1-star review posted by N8LB on 2005-12-21

Needs help and more help. I've owned this antenna for several years and it has required more maintenance and modification than any antenna I've owned(erratic continuity, etc.). I've went back to a dipole and will use the aluminum tubing for another project. Could not sell it in good conscience. This comes from a ham since 1963 who has made many HB antennas.
W4NSC Rating: 2009-08-17
Great Anatnna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
got mine used 7 years ago works great!
I see that MFJ has purchased Cushcraft and i hope they will start to remake the R-7000 and the R-5.
if you use, love and want a new one send MFJ a e-mail let them know that hams want these 2 products.
AF1RE Rating: 2009-08-01
The R-7000 Works Very Well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased this used antenna online and have used it for over a year. I use 100w from a Ten-Tec Omni D. Initially it was mounted at 30' on a push-up pole, now it is mounted at 20' on a tower just above the roof line.

Acting upon advise given online, prior to installation I water proofed the traps, secured the trap wires to the coil form with rivets, and replaced all the clamps with high quality SS ones.

The performance is outstanding. If I can hear it, I can work it, with the exception of Japan and New Zealand. I can hear them, but can't get through. I hadn't heard these countries until the R-7000 was moved. I feel my reach has increased since lowering it ten feet to a permanent structure.

Upon moving the antenna I took the opportunity to adjust the length and now only use a tuner on 40m. I will adjust that band soon and then waterproof all clamped connections.

I have an amp in the closet and look forward to trying to stress this gem with a little power soon. Seventy-plus countries and counting.

I highly recommend the R-7000

HB9DSU Rating: 2008-12-05
I don't understand... Time Owned: N.A.
...what's wrong with the reviews on Eham. OK - I'm no mechanical egnineer or PhD in electronics, but I've been a ham for 25 years and I earned TWO DXCC Honor Roll from two different countries. I dare saying that I know a thing or two about ham radio and HF antennas, although purely fom the user/practitioner point of view. Now, I see 0 ratings about the R-7000, and people saying it's "terrible". I have worked the second DXCC HR *only* using the R-7000 and 1 kw out PA. I also enjoyed memorable qso's such as working VK6 from HB9 in the midst of the CQWW phone contest USING the FT817 at a blasting 5 watts! Now, I decided to write this review after comparing the R-7000 on 40 meters with a full size inverted L for 160, tuned at the base. The R-7000 consistently outperforms a antenna that's 40 meters long, both on DX and local signals. In short - the halfwave design rocks, and this is as good a multiband vertical as you can get. I wonder if people who are giving bad reviews are actually using the same antenna... 73, Pete
W4YA Rating: 2008-10-03
Works 6 meters, too. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I installed it 10 years ago, and no problems at 1KW all bands with the base at 6'. I added 6" to the topmost element to get a better SWR, 1:1, on the low end of 40M. I also use an MFJ 989C tuner when I run the amplifier. Otherwise, the built-in tuner in the 746PRO gets 1:1 on all bands.

My R-7000 loads fine on 6 meters at 100W, which is an unexpected plus.

My R-7000 works exactly like a vertical should, and I recommend it.
KE5GK Rating: 2008-05-02
"Lemon Laws" Should Apply Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The R-7000 makes the old Gotham vertical look like a DX champ.

Here's some hard earned ($350 of it) advice:

1. If a ham friend tries to give you this antenna, find a new friend.

2. The old cliche " A Vertical Air Cooled Dummy Load" was first uttered by R-7000 owners.

3. When kids in the community ask "What is that?" Tell them the R-7000 is a monument to failure.

4. If you take this wannabee antenna to a hamfest, wear a mask. If you accept money for it,
donate all of it to homeless hams in your city.

Protect your family, career and reputation by avoiding this miscarriage of justice.
W8ZM Rating: 2007-11-05
This antenna is poor and extremely unreliable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned this antenna for 10 years and have had nothing but misery with it. If you are happy with 100 or 200 watts, it is a reasonable antenna. However, don't plan to put 1500 watts or anything close to it unless you are prepared to replace traps and matching networks. Mine just blew up again for the umteenth time during the SS contest.

Yes I was running high power, just as the specs specify - on 20 meter cw, where the swr was below 1.5 to one. Boom, the swr jumps to infinity and the amp shuts down. No signal output what-so-ever. So, I open the black box today and the inside is charcoal black. I'm not even sure which components are fried, yet, but I've had it with this piece of trash. When I lived in WV, I had a 90' tower and yagis on all bands 40 to 10. Unfortunately, here in Va, I'm not allowed to have such equipment, so I must rely on the lowely vertical (I don't even have room for a dipole).

So, now I must find another vertical before the SS SSB contest. I have two old Hy-Gain 40 to 10 verticals, maybe I'll use those. Even a wet noodle will be better than this Cushcraft garbage.

Say what you will about this antenna, but to experienced hams, this isn't even a reliable dummy load. Dummy loads advertised to accept maximum power don't usually fail.
W6ZIM Rating: 2007-10-07
Could not get it to Work Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It probably isn't fair to rate an antenna that you acquired used. So I have taken that into account in writing this review.

By way of background, this antenna was purchased new by a ham in 1996. Beginning around the end of 1997, the antenna was taken down and put into storage for about 10 years (ham became a silent key) - some of the storage was outdoors. I acquired the antenna, and put it up last year, but never worked any QSO's with it. It seemed to be okay using an antenna tuner, and SWR's were always less than 2:1 with the tuner.

More recently, my interest in ham radio was re-energized, and with the purchase of a new transceiver, started to use the R-7000. I was stunned to see that, without a tuner, the SWR was 9:1 or worse on most bands. I took the antenna down, cleaned it, reassembled it, and still the same result. I tried everything I could think of - antioxide paste, tighten and retighten all connections (including trap screws), double and triple check measurements, experimented with different measurements, used both a transceiver and RF analyszer to check SWR, tried different lengths of coax, different mounting locations, etc. etc. In the end, I had to give up. I just could not get this thing down to a decent SWR on any band without as tuner. I have to assume there is something defective, possibly one or more bad traps.

My failure to get the antenna working correctly is what prompted the '3' score. On the positive side, this antenna is very easy to assemble - the instructions are clear and straighforward. It is relatively light in weight and easy to put up. It looks unobtrusive, and the fact you don't need to have radials makes it very convenient and ideal for limited space QTH's. The quality of the hardware is very good - after 11 years it still looks almost new. I would assume its replacement, the R8, has the same positive qualities.

Since the overall configuration of the R7 is perfect for my QTH, I ended up ordering a Hygain AV640 which is very similar, minus the traps.
KF4NI Rating: 2007-09-29
awesome antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is an awesome antenna when you have the correct instruction manual for it. There seems to be 3 different versions of the antenna and manual, According to the pieces included in the package. I purchased one used and found out it was assembled using the wrong manual for the physical pieces I had, and it did not perform well at all. I got the 'right' manual and re-constructed the antenna according to the manual and it is 'AWESOME' performance. I have it mounted 20 inches above ground and no added radials. It is 8ft. to the nearest obstruction.
I worked Greenland, Africa, and Antartica using 100 watts. They must have revised it 2 times and that is the reason for the different measurements on lengths of 1 piece, but that makes all the difference to the performance and tuning of the antenna. I love mine.