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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
KF6YLN Rating: 2000-03-05
I found it to be an excellent value Time Owned: unknown months.
I am a new ham and this is my first antenna, so my requirements are probably different than some of the other reviewers here. Having said that, I found this antenna to be easy to set up, and I am getting good performance on all bands. I am only a technician plus license, so am not in danger of blowing out the traps. I've guyed the antenna, but it doesn't seem to need it. My only complaint is about the technical support people -- I had a question about grounding which was not covered well in the documentation, and the e-mail response was totally insufficient. Other than that, however, the R7000 was excellent for my needs.
VE5CMA Rating: 2000-02-22
Poor Mechanics Lousy Tuning Time Owned: unknown months.
'Have owned this for two years and had nothing but trouble. In a weak moment I ordered the 80m kit too, which turned out to be a disaster b/c the whole antenna was unstable and could hardly hold its own weight (it was more like a whip than a vertical). Eventually I removed 80m kit but it is still is mechanically unstable. Also near impossible to tune. Starting at 10m and working my way down (up) when one band fell into resonance, another previously tuned fell out. Double and triple checked dimensions and parts. Even when double guyed, the R-7000 finally actually cracked, failed and fell down. Wind loading claims are clearly b/s. Save ur money. I also own Cushcraft X7, and am VERY satisfied w/ it, but R-7000 is so much garbage.
AB7RG Rating: 2000-02-15
Good for 200 watts or less... Time Owned: unknown months.

Well I had heard lots of great things about the Cushcraft R-7000, so I bought one while out in "five land" to compliment my full size 160-10 meter G5RV. Well, thank goodness for the G5RV! As I burnt out a trap the first day that I used it. It took me a while to get it assembled, it's kind of a bear, and after all that, I mast mounted it, went inside, hooked up my radio, checked the SWR on it, and then, no sooner than I started tuning up my Ameritron 811H, at about the 400 watt level, there went a trap. Poof! So, I called Cushcraft who sent me an upgraded trap. But warned me not to put too much power into it. I think it's supposed to be rated at 1000 watts, but I wouldn't put more than 200 to it, ever. So if you're looking for a nice vertical, that doesn't draw a lot of attention, this one's pretty good as far as performance goes, just keep it under 200 watts, or you may end up replacing traps on a routine basis. A Butternut might be a better choice with a similiar price tag.
WA4TUF Rating: 2000-02-10
Discontinued!!! Time Owned: unknown months.
I heard today, from my local HRO manager that Cushcraft, has dropped the R7000. It will be replaced by an R8 or R8000. There will be no 80 mtr add-on.

Remains to be seen whether this is a real "new" antenna or just an attempt to re-package a loser.

RIP

----------------------
Earlier 2-star review posted by WA4TUF on 1999-11-28

This is a hard antenna to rate because it is decent at some things and miserable at others. I give it a 2 overall. Here’s why:

PERFORMANCE ***** I really liked this about the R7000 or maybe it is just verticals in general. It got great reports and that low angle of radiation more than made up for a high SWR when you got out of the sweet spot. I had it mounted five feet above a tin roof about 30 feet up at the base. Worked a ton of DX and busted more than a few pile-ups with just 100w. In six months, I conquered over 140 countries. Receiving was a little weak but better than my G5RV and quieter (the opposite of what you would expect). However, the R7000 was much noisier than my GAP Titan.

CONSTRUCTION **** Overall, a pretty solid antenna But the tubing between the top traps is narrow and can bend when swinging the antenna up into position. It did withstand some pretty good wind without guys. The coil core in the traps is some kind of plastic that didn’t stand up to my amplifier. More later…

INSTALLATION *** Here is where we start to break down. This thing is hard to tune. You better do it on the ground because there is a lot of trial and error so you don’t want to be on the roof or on a tower putting it up and down. Bad part is that one adjustment affects at least two bands so if you are high on one and low on the other, you are stuck. I could never get it within specs. Now in all fairness, you have to remember I had the antenna only a few feet above a metal roof. I have heard of others, mounting in the clear, with better results.

BANDWIDTH ** My sweet spot is narrower than advertised and quite narrow on 40, 30 and 20 mtrs. My 2:1 bandwidth on 20 meters was LESS than 100khz wide because you don't ever start at 1:1. Their ads claim 250khz. It was even narrower on 40. I was never below 2:1 on 30. And it is tough to move the resonant point around much as each adjustment affects more than one band. My real beef comes from the fact Cushcraft doesn't advertise the following disclaimer but it comes in the box with the antenna: "Any attempt to extend or widen the 2:1 VSWR bandwidth through the use of a tuner or through any other means will result in the warranty being completely voided." The SWR was rarely below 2:1 so just where was I supposed to operate? Now, I don't live or die by SWR but it is important in a trapped antenna because of the strain on the traps when you run power. More on that later too…

CUSTOMER SERVICE * It is almost non-existent. It took me over five weeks of faxes, emails and phone calls just to get the costs for a replacement part and then only after my friendly Ham Radio Outlet manager made two threatening calls to Cushcraft. Their customer service/tech support email is never answered.

POWER HANDLING 0 (goose egg – nada – zilch – bumpkus) Cushcraft claims the antenna is rated for 1500 watts PEP. Bullfeathers! That is a gross and misleading exaggeration. Here’s another disclaimer you won’t see before you buy the antenna because Cushcraft hides it in the box: "Any application of transmit power outside of the antenna's 2:1 VSWR bandwidth will result in the warranty being completely voided." How much power they don't say (I emailed Cushcraft and never got an answer to the question). Running barefoot was not a problem but when I tuned up my KW amp on 20 mtrs with a 3:1 SWR, I blew out a trap in less than five seconds. I mean fried, burned to a crisp, smokin’, stinkin’, blackened, melted and charred. I think it is unfair that Cushcraft does not to clearly state the SWR disclaimers in their advertising. It’s a little late to learn these important limitations after the antenna is delivered and you have opened the box.

So, if you know you are never going to run more than 100 watts, and you are not SWR phobic this is a pretty decent antenna. Is it better than any other vertical? I don’t know. My Gap Titan cost less, has broad bandwidth and no traps to burn up. I understand the Butternut is pretty good too. If you plan to run power, or if you or your transceiver can’t stand seeing SWR’s over 2:1 – don’t get the R7000.
W8OB Rating: 2000-02-04
would be great antenna with a little more thought Time Owned: unknown months.
i have had a r7000 for over 2 years now, performance wise i am very happy with it. i compared
it side to side with a full size 40 meter vertical with 90 radials and the r7000 was only a hair
behind. on the other bands below 40 meters it works great its not a yagi but it does a respectable job. things i dont like. twice now i have had to take the antenna down disassemble
it clean cob webs out of the traps. when you assemble this antenna i highly suggest adding a
star washer to the screws that hold the trap windings to the exterior of the traps, then coat with
a good layer of noalox. all of my int loading problems with this antenna have been caused by
poor electrical contact between the two pieces of aluminum which when rattled by high winds
would shut the system right down. the other thing i dont like is the use of stainless steel more
or less one time mounting clamps i replaced these with galvanized ones i robbed from a couple
of electrical bean clamps and no more problem.also it would be nice for cushcraft to have a
real person to answer the telephone for parts and technical help
NT4I Rating: 2000-01-19
Piece of CRAP! Time Owned: unknown months.
Likewise, I have had nothing but trouble with Cushcraft products over the years. I thought that I also would give them an opportunity to prove that they got thier act together. BURNED AGAIN! and the junk is expensive. This is my last time with CUSHCRAFT.
K2ZF Rating: 2000-01-19
Is it R-7000 or R-TRASH Time Owned: unknown months.
I would have thought that by having the R7 and having trouble that I should have stayed away from Cushcraft, but NOOOOOOOOO!,I gave them another chance by getting the R7000. Take a word from the wise, it ain't worth the money. The same things about the R7 that bothered me has come back to haunt me with the R7000. The swr changes when, oh let me think here, oh, when it rains, when it snows, when it is sunny, when it is cloudy, when it is windy, when it is hot, when it is cold, when a bird sits on it, when my xyl looks at it and says I told you so, GET THE PICTURE ? Save your money, you may need it one day.
K5KOY Rating: 2000-01-19
If I could do it again..... Time Owned: unknown months.
I have an R-7000. It's bundled up in pieces in my garage. It never tuned right, it was deaf on many bands. My solution was simple, and inexpensive. I replaced it with a Antron99 and ground kit, a frances whip, and a center fed inverted V. Antron is good thru 20M, and I use the V on 40 & 80! My Hundred dollars outperforms the R-7000 by 500%. Not a ringing endorsement for a guy with an R-7000 for sale huh?..73 de Koy
IZ4AFW Rating: 2000-01-18
Just unlucky? Time Owned: unknown months.
The R-7000 has been my first antenna. I had several problems with it. Tuning is not really easy if you place the antenna over a tower or a pole. But this is just the first problem. In fact, after about 3 months of a moderate use, I got SWR floating from 1.2 to 4 and then return to 1.2 in a few seconds. Of course my output power changed accordingly. A friend of mine could solve the problem by adjusting some stuff in the matching network. Now, after about 5 months of good work, the problem is showing again. This time I think the problem is not in the matching network, maybe in the traps.
So... a good antenna (even if noisy) when it works... a nightmare when it doesn't (and it is rather often), because the problem is often difficult to find.
Anyway, if you have suggestions, please send them to me! iz4afw@amsat.org
IK4JQW Rating: 2000-01-18
Mechanical nightmare Time Owned: unknown months.
Good instructions, very easy to assemble. The problem is the nuts got stuck in the stainless steel u-bolts that hold the antenna to the mast.
I had to saw them but afterwards I got stuck again as in Europe is almost impossible to get items with such thread and width. Luckily I found an iron replacement by removing it from another old antenna.
After mounting, the weight of the upper part caused the bending of the whole unit. I'm going to guy the top part with light rope as suggested by Cushcraft via e-mail.
I mounted-unmounted the antenna at least 7 times in trying to adjust it but couldn't get satisfying result yet. During adjustment some stainless steel clamps wore out and had to replace them.
Now I'm not able to tune the 15mt band without affecting the others. The 20mt bandwith is just too narrow while thw 40mt is just a blade.
Apart all this the antenna works fairly well and looks good.
Final note, the antenna costed here something equivalent to 600$ I assume I have to pay the italian dealer and shipping oversea, but looks a bit expensive to me!