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Reviews For: Cubex Quads

Category: Antennas: HF: Yagi, Quad, Rotary dipole, LPDA

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Review Summary For : Cubex Quads
Reviews: 30MSRP: 449.95
Description:
Photo shows Cubex Model MK II-PT3 model; 2 ele, 3 band Quad
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cubexquads.com/index.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00304.8
KK6D Rating: 2005-02-23
5 band 2 element with 3 inch boom Time Owned: more than 12 months.
In 1997, a friend had a 5 band 2 element Cubex Quad on the 3 inch 8 foot boom. He lives in the mountains of Southern California at the 6000 ft level. We have had to rebuild and rework his Cubex on several occasions because the Cubex Quad has failed to make it through the cold winters and southern winds.

We initially had difficulty getting a good swr match with the transformer and the specifications given by Cubex. The single feed match point failed to provide low enough swr to all bands. 12 and 15 meters were especially problematic. After several attempts to match the 5 bands, an Ameritron Antenna Switch was used with stubs that allowed for good matches on all bands. Lots of time was wasted trying other fixes before going with the dedicated stubs.

The wire provided by Cubex at that time was not very durable, and several of the wires broke after a few months. The flexing of the spreader, with the wire threaded through holes in the spreaders, caused the wire to stretch and break. In addition, the boom to mast was not pinned and the boom spun in the winds.

The second rebuild replaced the wire with 14 ga copperweld wire and the boom was pinned to deter spinning in winds. The copperweld wire worked nicely and pinning the boom kept the future spinning problems from occurring during the remainder of the antennas lifetime.

During the second winter one of the boom to spreader spiders failed in a winter storm, and brought one side of the antenna onto the roof and other antennas. Cubex was good about replacing the failed spider. By the different color of the metal at the failure point, the failure appeared to have been caused by a bad casting. After the third rebuild, the antenna was replaced by a Force 12 C3SS, and it has survived without incident. Hope this is helpful!
WD1V Rating: 2003-10-17
5 Band 2 Ele MK II Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Arrived very professionally packaged. Assembly was easy.
Pre-tuned as holes in spreaders determine each loop's circumference. Uses Ameritron coax switch so can feed with single feed and select each driven element here in the shack. V.S.W.R. less than 1.5 to 1 on all 5 bands. Takes 1500 watts with no problems. Been a ham 43 years and this is a sweet one! Pictures and more comments on my web site. 73 - WD1V
WP4PR Rating: 2003-08-08
Poor Performance Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Parts are of good quality but the antenna performance doesn't match the manufacturer claims. Had problems with 15 meters and 17 meters and still do. Antenna elements were cut by the factory for all 5 bands. Very high VSWR on the 15 & 17 meter bands. Poor support from the manufacturer after the sale was made.
PY2BT Rating: 2003-03-21
CUBEX 6L6_3L10 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I´m very happy with my Cubex. Hardware is strong, easy and simply to put it on. Besides that, Norman gave me a fantastic support via phone or email. Cubex is my first QUAD and I´m very impressed with the reports and the good reception. I live in a noise city so these qualities make a big difference to me. If love 10 and 6 meters, get one of these, I´m sure you´ll be a happy Ham. 73!
N1TP Rating: 2003-01-25
Super Quad Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My MK-II-PT3(2 elements on 10/15/20)has been up on my 40 foot tower since July 4, 2001, and I've had had no problem with it whatsoever. I am amazed at the performance of this quad although it has an 8 foot boom. My CUBEX has stood up totally in the sometimes high southwest Florida winds. In my opinion my CUBEX is far superior to ANY of the many, much larger yagis I've owned, including the Mosley Classic 36 and very large Cushcrafts. It has no traps to be shorted out by insects. It is much lighter in weight than large yagis. If you have not tried a quad, try one! I doubt I'll ever go back to a yagi and I doubt I'll ever purchase any quad other then a CUBEX. I should have switched to my quad MANY years ago. I understand why I hear so many quads in Europe and why I've almost always been very favorably impressed with those signals. The Europeans have apparently discovered that quads are superior antennas. I operate mostly QRP and receive unexpectedly good signal reports from DX around the world. Breaking through large pile-ups with 100 watts (or QRP) is amazingly easy with this quad. Check out the responsible and business-like folks at CUBEX. You'll be very pleased with their products, their attitude and their service.
W2WO Rating: 2002-03-13
Very good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Installed a 40' aluminum tower, followed by the 2-element 5-band quad. Using the Yaesu 450 rotor. About 125' coax from the rig to the antenna boom. Huge improvement over a well-installed, ground-mounted Butternut vertical. (The Butternut does a good job, but is obviously a different class of antenna.) With all the options, the Cubex quad is an expensive antenna. Assuming it will be usable for many years, I think it was a good investment.

Quad materials are excellent. Once in the air, the SWR matches are all below 2:1 and usually below 1.5:1. (Near the ground, hanging from the tower, 15m was over 3:1 -- this corrected itself when in the air.) The fiberglass is good quality, smooth, and can be handled without special care. I have never seen wire like that used for the loops; excellent.

Any quad is a beast to handle during assembly and maneuvering on the ground. Fortunately, a cousin has a 60' cherry picker; otherwise, the quad would probably still be on the ground. (This is not a negative comment about Cubex; it is just the nature of quads.)

I decided to use a coax switch (also from Cubex) with separate feeds for each band. I needed to make two small aluminum brackets to firmly mount the switch to the boom. I have not tried the single-feed approach and can only repeat that I am very happy with the performance of my antenna.

I ordered an extra 8' (thick wall) 2" aluminum tube to use as a mast. (Same material as for the boom.) My rotor is about 3' below the top of the tower and the quad is mounted at the top of the 8' mast. This puts the quad center at about 45'. Don't know if the extra 5' (above the tower top) was worth the trouble.

I operate 95% CW. However it is nice to have a wide-band match on all bands, so I can move to the "far end" of the phone band when I want to do so.

Small gripes: The extra-cost option for the coax matching stubs should include stubs for all five bands. (It includes only three stubs made from RG11.) The mounting method for the coax switch needs a little more thought. The manual might contain a little more discussion about handling methods, wire tension, positioning the coax switch, and so forth.
NN2X Rating: 2000-08-19
CUBEX Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Cubex Quad (5 Band 10 -20) 2 element solid antenna. I have compared Cubex with Lightning Bolt and other QUAD antennas. The Cubex antenna exceeded in GAIN performance when compared with the other manufactures.

I went to several manufacture plants (Lightning Bolt and Cubex) I met both manufactures and actually did some testing and comaparison between Yagi's and QUADs for Lightning Bolt.(2 Towers at 65 FT) The results are in itself requires a review but in short the multiband QUAD had substanial gain over the multi band YAGI) Mono Bander to Mono Bander was some differences but in my opinion not worth screaming about.

Back with the review.. (Cubex)

The President of Cubex Quad (Norm) has a solid Grasp in the theory and design of the QUAD and as a result the GAIN of the MultiBand Quad out performance the Lightning Bolt. On the other Hand I felt the Lightning Bolt had better mechanical design.Not to say that the Cubex is not sound Mechanically, but evaluating honestly the Lightning Bolt System had a better way of attaching the Wires to the Fiber Class Pole.

In summary I bought the Cubex and put it up 70 FT. Also Note: I bought a QUAD (Lightning Bolt) with a 40Ft Boom and (6 Elements on 20/17/15) and 11 ELEMENT for 10/12) up at 45 FT, When comapring with 2 elements (5 Band) CUBEX QUAD at 70 FOOT, The 70 FT 2 element (10/20) out performed 40 Boom (90 Percent to 95%). Why I mention this, is to simply say beeter to put funds in the tower than lets say the boom! Of course all Senior HAM are aware of this (Lower Angle)


At the end of the day I ended up with a Cubex. The slight short coming of the mechanical design wer ing and meeting with Norm(The President of Cubex)
G0UIH Rating: 2000-01-14
Cubex 3 ele 10/12/15/17/20m Time Owned: unknown months.
Any review from a current owner would be welcome, as looking at a possible purchase soon.
KF8K Rating: 2000-01-13
Old CUBEX Time Owned: unknown months.
About 8 years ago I had a beautiful 4 element CUBEX that worked like a "truck". The only problem with it was the clamps that were sent to hold the poles to the spiders. They were cheap soft metal. It survived about a year until we had a strong wind and a little ice. Almost all of these clamps stretched releasing many of the poles from the spiders (This was less than a month after I had tilted the tower and tightened everything). The resulting mess broke many of the poles. If I had replaced the cheap clamps with good SS clamps the thing would probably still be up in the air. I now have a TH7 but still long for the time when the quad will go back up WITH strong clamps.
VA7DX Rating: 2000-01-12
Cubex Mantis II 30/40 4L5B has exceeded my expecta Time Owned: unknown months.
I've had my new Cubex Mantis II 30/40 4L5B up and operating since mid-July of this year and have to say that both the company and the antenna have exceeded my expectations. This antenna runs 4 el on 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 as well as 2 el on 30 and 40. Construction was straightforward, the instructions satisfactory and the quality of components very high. Norm Alexander (W4QN) the president of Cubex was extremely helpful in the early pre-sales stages, answering my many questions specific to the capabilities and construction of the system. He was also very helpful in accomodating a couple of modifications to the standard offering that I wanted to simplify construction and erection at my QTH - a standard 60' x 120' lot. Performance has been terrific, particularily on 30 and 40. Coupled with my Acom2000, its a screamer. Recent contest results (100w) have been more than satisfactory and have certainly validated the performance of the system on all bands. In addition to the Mantis II, I also installed a 4 el 6m quad in the middle of the array. Initial results show it at worst the equal of my 5 el Cushcraft at the same height ... plus its quieter. Would I buy from Cubex again? You bet - without hesitation.
My website detailing the construction process is linked to Cubex's website (www.cubex.com) - take a look at the photo section for a link to my site if you are interested in one way of raising a monster on a modest sized site.