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Reviews For: SHAKESPEARE NBS-2010 /SHAKESPEARE ABS-1600 BASE ANTENNA

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : SHAKESPEARE NBS-2010 /SHAKESPEARE ABS-1600 BASE ANTENNA
Reviews: 8MSRP: $89.00
Description:
Army Big Stick
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0084.4
GI0ZGB Rating: 2008-11-22
Tough Antenna Update Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Some people expressed the view that fitting a groundplane to the ABS would detract from it's performance, rather than add. With that in mind I pulled my spare ABS from rainy day storage to test the theory. Both antennas were mounted at exactly the same height, and with the help of a friend we conducted a variety of TRX tests. On TX the modified ABS was noticably better, and on very weak signal RX the standard ABS could hear nothing, whereas the modified ABS could report R4 audio with no S-meter reading. It was also observed that the modified ABS was more broadbanded probably due to to capacitance to ground effect of the groundplanes. In a previous test with a modified eight ground plane Sirio 827 the Sirio was the better of the two having the edge in TRX experiments and having more usable coverage before a matching unit was required.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by GI0ZGB on 2007-09-21

I have always been impressed with the build quality of Shakespere antennas, in high wind they are simply the best! I have a couple of Army Big Stick 5/8wl at the moment, fitted with eight A99 ground plane radials on a home brew hub. The radials are angled at forty two degrees and it now outperforms the Solarcon i-Max 2000 a .64wl antenna. The i-Max is only useful down to twenty metres after that it's gone, but the Shakespere is useable all the way to 160 on RX and with my modified SGC QMS-37 auto atu fitted at the base gives an acceptable account of itself from 160 through six metres! The claimed 12Db gain is a CBer's ego trip, I calculate the gain on my ABS, as described, close to 3DBd. It's a shame this great antenna was discontinued, they are now as rare as hens teeth, if you find one grab it! I would recommend this antenna without reservation and rate it 5/5 the build quality is outstanding!
KD8IFJ Rating: 2008-08-28
The 2010 is a real talker!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the pleasure of using the Shakespear big stick 2010 and have alot of fun with this antenna!!I would not put a ground plane kit on this due to the constuction of this antenna,this is different from the a99 1/2 wave verticle because the 2010 is a 5/8 wave off center fed coaxial sleeve die pole and to put a ground plane would detact from not add to its performance,this antenna has a low wave angle and is good on 6m,10m,11m,15m,20m,40m,and i get a very low swr on 80m as wellwith a cheap tunner its a real talker and i have great rst reports ,i am only running it 22 feet above the ground,i would recomend this antenna ,i also see it take our Michigan winters and strong winds ,i have had it in the air for 5 years now with no issues at all,73
Murray McGehan Rating: 2008-05-18
Good Strong Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Good antenna and with an auto tuner was easily ale to operate on everything from 15 meters to ten meters this antenna is rock solid and does not whip around as much as the Imax 2000. Performance wise very similar to the Imax and suffers similar TVI problems. Here in Auckland New Zealand TV channel 2 tranmits on 55-60mhz and working 27Mhz CB and 10 metres I did have TVI problems. Although with the use of low pass filters and high pass on the tv as well as ferrite cores on everything I was able to reduce this to just a few small lines on our tv and thankfully not causing TVI to the neighbours. Now that our television services are going digital via satellite the TVI should no longer be a problem. Numerous contacts to the United States and also into Italy, Spain & France on both CB & 10 meters. Survived numerous mid winter storms with winds gusting up to 80mph.
If I was able to I would rate this 4.5 but
I don't feel I could have given it a 5.
KC0YEF Rating: 2007-09-26
Exellent I have owned for 3 years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
What a great antenna!!!

you can still pick these up in

Holland (Europe) for $350 dollars

I have had great results with a VSWR of 2.0 to 1

OR BETTER on all these

(Air Band 121mhz) (2m) (6m) (10m) (12m) (15m)
N7HYF Rating: 2006-11-03
SHAKESPEAR-ABS-1600 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I,ve own a Shakespear ABS-1600 5/8wave vertical,a good durable quick band antenna,great wideband capibility, than any other 1/2 wave 10 meter verticals i have tried.I,ve used my antenna going on 10 years,it performs good from 18 to 54 mhz ,On 10 mhz it is resonance is a 1/4 wavelengh.With an antenna tuner,even on 6meters ,it out performs my cushcraft 6meter vertical.its a hard antenna to find,,ive used other shakespear 10 meter pogo-stick vertical,there all great products.they hold up to highwinds also very well.ABS-1600 designed around Shakespears military Antenna lines,are good products,,goodluck if you find One! N7HYF 73,s
N2ETJ Rating: 2006-01-19
Still the best Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The previous review is unfair. The 2010 and 1600 are not the same antenna.... you can't compare apples to oranges. The NBS-2010 was their last version , was 21 feet tall, 5/8 wave and very well constructed. Will handle 1500 watts and on 10 meters, has a SWR of under 2 to 1 across the entire band. When the band is open, this plays very well.... remember it is not a yagi, but very close to performance under the right conditions. Mine has been up for several years and shows no signs of breaking down. The fiberglass and stainless fittings still like new . Just sorry they stopped making this but understand their costs began to almost exceed their selling price. They still make a Marine version for 3 times the cost.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N2ETJ on 2003-10-28

Replaced an older Big Stick with this Military Spec vertical and can say nothing but great things about it. It is improved, now 5/8th wave with a lower angle of radiation and extremely well built not like the Antron or Solarcon antennas. Will handle full legal limit with room to spare. It is heavy for a vertical, 12lbs. but very little wind load. Have mounted only at 25 foot level but does very well on 10, 12, and 15 and have even used on 6 with good results. The only problem seems to be in finding one, but when you do, buy it , you will be very happy. You wont have the problem of in 3 or 4 years the fiberglass coming off in your hands like the others. There is a noticable difference between the others and this one in performance , construction, and durability. Hurry out and buy one ...... great reference antenna and often does as well as my yagi (4 element Hy-Gain Explorer) especially on DX..........
KG6UYZ Rating: 2006-01-17
Not so good vertical Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have an ABS-1600 and it is a piece of junk. Literally, i dont like it at all, although it is my only base vertial for CB, and listining on the HF bands. I liked it a first but its preformance started to decrease after a few years. The antenna was given to me so i have no idea what it did before i got it. does not tune very easly needs to have tuning rings at the bottem of the antenna.

Jeff Ackerman-KG6UYZ
VE6XL Rating: 2003-07-23
Great high band vertical... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had a Shakespeare super bigstick for 15 years and it still worked. I recently purchased the NBS-2010. It works great and the match is slightly better than reported by Shakespeare.

I would recommend this antenna to anyone operating on 10m or tuning for 20m in a pinch.

I would have given it a "5", however the manual/installation instructions are a bit shaky, and the Shakespeare website are not very good. You cannot even find this antenna on their website....