| KC2KNF |
Rating:      |
2003-04-04 | |
| OK IM MY BOOK |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
the 13b2 has worked just fine for me
the only problem i noticed is that the rejection was pretty bad,but after a few convesations with hams who are much more fimilar with vhf,like sherman "w2fla" and dave "n3jfm"
i replaced the steel mast with a heavy gauge piece of p.v.c with a wooden dowel inside for extra strengh
no more problems and the antenna works great for
long distance simplex
im going to buy another and mount it horizontal
for 2 meter ssb |
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| NE0P |
Rating:      |
2002-11-20 | |
| Works great |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I purchased this antenna to replace a Cushcraft A14810S. Figured the longer boom and greater number of elements would work better, and that does seem to be the case. ALso, Cushcraft antennas are much easier to build than Msquared. ANyone who has assembled an M squared antenna will understand. I bought my 13B2 used, assembled it according to the directions, and it has worked perfectly since. No tuning needed to lower SWR, etc. It just plays and plays.
Mine is only up about 25 feet, which I know hurts performance, but I have had a couple of 1000 mile plus QSOs on Meteor Scatter in the past week. Also works good for the close in ground wave stuff, but doesn't hear as well as a longer yagi that is twice as high at a friends house across town. Of course he is also using hardline, and a preamp, and spent around $1000 for his setup, and I spent around $100 for mine. Still I have 39 states worked on 2 meters with this antenna, and over 100 grids works, and that is in 13 months.
This antenna is a nice compromise of size and performance. The 15 foot boom fits almost anywhere, and doesn't need support brackets. You can turn it easy with a TV rotor, and it is still lightweight enough to mount yourself. If you want a high performing compact 2 meter, get this one. |
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| KB5ZVV |
Rating:      |
2002-11-19 | |
| No Problems Here |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have had two 13B2's up for almost 10 years without ever being touched. I have one vertical, one horizonal on cocentric pipes with two rotators(must be seen to appreciate). The top (vertical) antenna is at the top of the mast, so it is only partially blocked. I have worked up to 200 miles FM simplex on it, and combined with my 160 watt amp, makes a BIG signal. I have worked both coasts from Texas on tropo and E skip. Works good on meteor scatter, too. I have had no SWR problems at all. |
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| KF4DEW |
Rating:  |
2002-04-01 | |
| not worth the money |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| The 13b2 is not the antenna i hope it would be. I had a 14810's cushcraft work much, much better for me. For me the 13b2 does not get out as good as i thought it would. I know where you live and how high the antenna is also helps. But if i could get my money back from cushcraft i would and buy another 14810's. |
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| N0KM |
Rating:    |
2002-01-15 | |
| Mixed feelings |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I had been undecided as to which beam to purchase. The 9 or 12 element M2 yagi, or the Cushcraft 13B2. Have had great results with M2 in the past, but the 4 Mhz bandwidth, and the ability to quickly loosen the elements so they are parallel to the mast for transport were desirable traits of the 13B2. Radioshack.com's sale of the 13B2 cinched the decision, so I ordered two 13B2s, one for myself, and the other as a Christmas present for a ham friend of mine. These two antennas went up and are so far working as horizontal antennas. However, a second friend decided to order one from Radioshack.com, waited, then was told the order was cancelled. I went to the Radioshack.com site, and the 13B2 was no longer listed. The third 13B2 was ordered from an alternate supplier, put together, and installed it on a mast above the tower. The VSWR was high, and almost no signal out. The third antenna was brought back down and we found that the coax inside of the 13B2 black box had not been soldered to the SO-239 connector. We repaired this, and reinstalled the antenna. It is working, but I now have concerns about the 13B2 antennas one and two failing soon due to the solder connection. Given the time and effort involved in these antenna installions, I may just decide to replace the 13B2s with the nine element SSB M2 model.
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| N0AH |
Rating:     |
2001-12-31 | |
| better Horizontal vs Vertical |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I was dissapointed with the performance of the antenna mounted vertically. But I agree with others that a metal mast in the center of the antenna is not a good idea on a beam of this nature. Mounted horizontally, it achieves good performance. I had a simplex QSO today after mounting this antenna for 2M SSB use with a station 115 miles due south of me. He was S7-9. I find it is very directional, with about a 30 degree noticable pattern. Side rejection is excellent and F/B is solid. If your thinking about getting this antenna for repeater use, stick to a smaller beam that you can mount in front of your mast pipe. My 4 element vertical cushcraft beam was a lot stronger than this antenna off Denver area repeaters 100 miles from me. But if you are into DX'ing, SSB Simplex etc for distance, this seems to be a good performer. |
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| K3ROJ |
Rating:     |
2001-11-07 | |
| Good Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| After putting the 13B2 up for FM operation (vertical) I also found that there were two forward lobes and was somewhat confused. I removed the antenna and constructed a new nonmetalic mast. A piece of 1 inch (id) Schedule 40 PVC and a 1 inch hardwood dowel. Using some caulking glue, the dowel was inserted and then end caps put on. My mast is 6 feet. It made a tremendous difference even with the feedline coming down the mast. I can now work a simplex station 60 miles away that I couldn't even hear with the metal mast. |
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| SWL1 |
Rating:     |
2001-09-06 | |
| Good for simplex operation |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Hi all !
I have owned this antenna for over 9-years and,have have very good luck with it.
I must admit that from what I've read and, heard from people the QC /QA isn't what it used to be?
I do have some suggestions for the fellow that said his wasn't very directional.
If the antenna is used in a vertical application as most of us would use it in, you might want to use a non-conductive mast to support it such as TWO pieces of heavy duty PVC one inside the other for support or,purchase a fiber glass mast from one of the amateur radio retailers?
A metal mast will distort the radiation pattern badly leading to poor front to side rejection,etc as the gentlemen had mentioned and, an apparent lack of performance as well.
In addition,it is best to lead the feed line away from the antenna at a right angle ie:90 degrees,the shield on the coax will also influence the radiation pattern negating the advantage of the insulated mast support.
Mine is mounted at about 50ft above street level here in Ca and, I have experienced very good long distance simplex contacts, I am NOT on a hill top by the way.
It may not be the best antenna in the world however,with proper installation it does prove to work well.
In comparsion to my high quality vertical I see a big difference in the received signal and, get great reports as far as 100+ miles away on simplex when comparing the two atenna systems.
I hope this is of some help to other operators?
73 ! & good luck! |
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| KD5OTV |
Rating:     |
2001-09-05 | |
| Could be better for the money |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| My first vhf beam so I can't compare it to other antennas but hoped it would perform somewhat better than it does. It seems to have some forward reflection to the side and I get identical readiings on remote stations at two headings (usually about 30 degrees apart). I am getting a stronger signal than my ground plane but not that much. If I had it to do over again, I would buy a H/V beam. |
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| KM4CU |
Rating:  |
2001-08-05 | |
| poor quality control |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| purchased this antenna new and had to spend seveal hours trying to figure out why it would not tune, rechecking antenna construction, coax connections and coax quality etc. finally i decided to open the black box for the matching transformer and found the inside connection for the so239 un-connected! Somehow this slipped through quality control. I'm wondering what kind of qc goes on at Cushcraft, have purchased several other antennas in the past, never having this kind of trouble. |
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