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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
KP4TR Rating: 2002-12-03
I sold mine.... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had this antenna for about 2 years. The antenna is too expensive and works OK if propagation is good, but felt unsatisfied with it. It performs poorly on 40M. I ended selling mine and decided to put up a G5RV. The R-7000 is an "OK" antenna if you can't put it too high and have barely a back yard, which was my case when I lived in an apt. with a small back yard/no trees for 6 months. Use the R-7000 and any other vertical HF multiband only if you absolutely have no other choice (no horizontal space).
W1EPM Rating: 2002-07-16
Solid Connections Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After erratic operation and having to use a tuner more often than not I pulled the antenna apart.
During the re-hab I cleaned all the metal out side and in side were sections joined together. Next instead of single clamping I double clamped all the sections. The antenna seems to be very sensitive to tight connections, loose screws etc. Now the antenna is working all all bands below 2.0 swr and better.My frustration factor went way done after I did these modifications. Hope this works for you if you try it. Not the best antenna in the world but much more enjoyable now. Not sold any more but probably a lot on the used market. 73's, good luck,Ed w1epm@hotmail.com
AA7ML Rating: 2002-07-08
Now I Understand Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I rated the antenna a '2' due to the fact it sure does need help. I bought this antenna just about when it first came out and hadn't had much problems with it for a good amount of time. It seemed fairly durable and exhibited low SWR behavior. About a year ago it started acting bizarre and its apparent resonant freq. would jump around like crazy on 15mtrs and sometimes the other bands below 21 MHz. It was quite frustrating to have the antenna jump 500 kHz one way or the other multiple times during a single transmission. This ruined many a planned afternoon of dx'ing on 15m. Now, it appears not to like 15mtrs at all but still work on all the other bands. I guess I'll have to take a look at the trap responsible for 15mtrs and see what may be the culprit. I'm very appreciative of all the user comments and inputs here. This antenna was driving me crazy.
VA3FD Rating: 2002-05-30
It's "OK" Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Have NOT had the problems others mention here about wavering SWR, etc. Run 100 watts thru it. It performs about as good as an older (1977) Hy-Gain 18-AVT 5-band trap antenna that I bought when I first got my ticket (and the 18-AVT still works, although one section curved a little from years of wind). Although the R7000 works on the WARC bands as well.
JT1FCR Rating: 2002-05-01
I thought it was me... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Perplexing, annoying, time consuming - all of these and more. This column has saved my sanity in realising that the 7000 caused agro to more than me. Mechanically and electrically designed flawed, unstable operating SWR and over rated power ratings means that using it only for a spider farm is more productive. Sorry Cushcraft. No wonder you stopped selling it. Embarassed - you should be. Your QA man was fired right?
Ive not been helpful here - but this has been good therapy.
former_W3BL Rating: 2001-09-29
good antenna for QRPer? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The CT3 smoked out about 1 years ago when I try to use the 500watts SSB.
after about 2 months, when I try to use the 400 watts or less again, lost the CT2, then CT1.
W7MHP Rating: 2001-07-29
Hard to beat vertical Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have my R-7000 up for about two years now. I has survived many storms with winds in excess of 100mph. No repairs were nessesary. My QTH is in the middle of the Rocky Mountains at about 4600 feet. It is exposed from the SE to the NW. This antenna has shown a amazing structural integrity over the past two years. I have worked over two hundred country's with this antenna and just my FT-1000D at about 130 watts. I had many times an very surprised OM on the other end "......what??!..just a vertical????!". This is a very good antenna if you know what to expect of a "vertical". This antenna, in fact, has convinced me to buy many more Cushcraft antennas. I now have at my QTH an X-9 for HF, an A506S for 6 Meter, an 215WB for 2 Meter weak signal, an 26B2 for 2 Meter FM, an 719B for 70 Centimeter and last but not least an AR-6 for an additional 6 Meter antenna. Needless to say, I do like Cushcraft antennas and their performance. The secret is not to expect the performance of a X-9 out of an R-7000. I just say to Cushcraft "...keep 'em coming! You products are hard to beat."
K6DXC Rating: 2001-04-08
Not a recommended purchase Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought one brand new about a year ago. Had it up for approximately six months.
Continual problems with loose connections within the traps. Wound selling it on ebay getting half my money back. Lesson learned ? NEVER BUY CUSHCRAFT AGAIN !
W0ZPE Rating: 2001-04-08
Garbage! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned this piece of junk for over 2 years, my experience reflects poor design, poor mfg and poor reliability. While the antenna performs well (without power) for short periods of time, you can be assured you'll be taking it down for repairs more than you'll be transmitting with it.
W5SBH Rating: 2001-02-27
Discouraging Junk Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My intermittent persisted to the point where I finally resorted to disassembling the traps (drilling out dimples). Discovered the cylindrical capacitor on the 15 meter trap in CT2 had a manufacturing error--it was stamped incorrectly, causing the riveted connecton to be loose and intermittent. It was beyond the warranty, but expected, under these circumstances, that Cushcraft would replace the originally bad trap. They would/did not. I truly have a piece of junk. The reviews about loose screws in quite true. Used pop rivets to replace the wire holding screws and replaced the other screws with slightly larger ones. Think that would have worked, except for the bad CT2 trap.