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Reviews For: Cubex Scorpion - 88

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : Cubex Scorpion - 88
Reviews: 5MSRP: 170.00 + 10.00 shipping
Description:
* 14+ dbi gain-both bands; F/B 25db
* All fiberglass construction Wt. 8 lbs.
* No trimmer capacitors to adjust
* Direct feed each band with 50 ohm Coax
* Low SWR across complete band
* All weather construction for permanent use
* Handles 300+ watts of power
* Easy replacement of elements, if necessary
* May be either Horizontal or Vertical polarization
* 90" long
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
0055
OD5ZZ Rating: 2013-08-06
Big performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was looking for a good VHf and UHF antenna that will give me access to 5B4 land and TA land repeaters on 2 m and 70 cm FM from Lebanon , I did own few brand names antennas that none really impressed me or served the purpose as good I wanted so I was looking for something special that can make that difference , after talking to Rog from Cubex I decided to give Cubex Scorpion 88 a try.
The antenna arrived well packed , well labeled , and well documented.
After installing the antenna up on the roof , I was able to get all the VHF and UHF repeaters in 5B4 and TA land as well as the R0 SV5 repeater which is about 465 miles away , not to say over this distance I am having a stable signal it goes up to s9 , and at times it disappears but I was not able to even listen to anything from SV land before with any antenna combination I had before the rest of the repeaters which are between 100 miles to 335 miles are well copied , full scale almost all the time.
I am going to add a phasing kit and add another Scorpion to the VHF side to see how would the 3 dB add more gain to an already super antenna, so I hope to update this review soon.

I recommend this antenna for any serious 2m / 70 cm DX'er , till now I have not found any better.
K7ERK Rating: 2009-10-31
An easy fun to build antenna. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Antenna arrived about 2 weeks after I ordered it. Everything was neatly marked and packaged and of good quality. Instructions are well written and this makes for an easy assembly. It took me several hours to put it together, I do not rush, take my time, drink lots of coffee and listen to music, you get the pictures, ... I enjoy the building process and do not rush.

You have to come up with some kind of boom support to assemble this antenna, this supports the boom so that you can install the stays and string the wires. I used some old 1X4 scraps temporarily clamped to a motorcycle stand and this worked well. I set it up so that I could easily rotate the antenna boom.

The coax cable needs to be wrapped around the boom, 6.5 turns for 2M and 4 turns for 70 cm. At first I thought that may be a problem, but with the 9096 coax I use it was easy. Just turn the boom and let the coax wind itself around the boom after having securing one end of the coax to the boom, tie down the other end of coax with nylon ties when done or it will unravel. It was a slam dunk.

I probably spent more my time making sure all the stays and wires were "square" to each other than anything else, I like symmetry and probably overdid it a bit.

Actually what took the longest was getting in contact with Cubex, ... they can be a bit hard to reach, but so far I would say well worth the effort. When I ordered the antenna, I asked a few questions and they e-mailed me a copy of the assembly instructions and written answerers to all of my questions. Nice!

Once assembled SWR on 2M favored the bottom end of the band where it seemed to read 1:1 per my MFJ 259 and just under 2 at 148, but this was inside my garage. It will probably be a bit different outside. There are instructions on how to adjust the SWR if needed, but it looks like it will be fine for my usage.

My roof is too slippery for me get up to my mini tower, so I am waiting for a "dry" day to mount it and put it on the air. Can't wait!
W3RXO Rating: 2008-04-18
Simply marvelous! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Fantastic forward gain, excellent rejection, gets my signal out there, even though the installation is less than optimal. I have no desire to upgrade to anything else. It is the best, in my book.
N2RRA Rating: 2008-01-02
Fantastic antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have to say I'm very happy with the antenna. I couldn't put up multiple yagi's one per band, because I'm limited room on the mast, and for the same amount of gain I would've been hitting, and snagging a tree near by. The Stinger 88 was the solution to my problem.

Two bands on one boom, easy to build, no tuning process, delivers a great signal, and has with stood the elements so far with no change in SWR. Gotta love it!

My opinion is the choice was well made. Except! If you have any questions you better ask the folks at Cubex when you order, because their no where to be found. I've called many times, and left messages, and no return response's so they get a 0/5 from me, but this review is more about the product.

Have fun with your Stinger 88.

73!
KG4TBQ Rating: 2003-06-04
double fun Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Goes together easy,photo on instructions was of 2 meter only. Swr's across both bands are 1.1 even with 250 watts on 2 meter.I only have 35 watts for the 440 .It was a little tricky wraping the coax around the boom (4 turns for 440mhz/ 6 1/2 turns for 2 meter)because I used RG213. The picture on the web site of the 88 is not accurate.It's of an earlier version.The 440 band is up on the front of the boom now.I talked to them about putting a picture of the correct one in the instructions and on the web.They were very helpful and called me back.It's incredibly light and easy to work with.I am using a radio shack rotor with it on a 50' pushup.Right now on FM it's easy to talk across the state,north to south,east to west.It only allows for single polarization.But it's easy to rotate to either when you want.