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Reviews For: Cushcraft R-5

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft R-5
Reviews: 56MSRP: 539.99
Description:
HF Vertical
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraftamateur.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
14564.3
MM3CBO Rating: 2004-05-23
performance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
this is my first multi band antenna being new to ham radio.my r5 is mounted 20ft above my house,i bought it for £60 from a local ham,its in very good condition except the part that holds the 15mtr trap to the antenna is broken,the swr on 15 is to high for my atu in my ts570 to tune,dont know how to fix it so i mainly work on 12,17 and 20 and it works great,built in atu also tunes this antenna on 80 which has left me totaly confused.still its a very good antenna...73s
WB8RKQ Rating: 2004-05-23
great ant. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
this is a great verital ant. i got mine on the top of my house it works great on 10-12-15-17-20.it can take 1500 watts easy i have had great reports on my r-5 i love not haveing to have radials hanging every were all there is is 4 small radials about 4 ft long you can put this ant any were and it will work i have just stock it in a snow pile in the back yard and worked the world you can put it on your side porch in the gnd any were well 73
G0GQK Rating: 2004-05-08
Its back to normal now Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Since my last mail the R5 has been re-set and it is working exactly as it should. Within 30 minutes a few days ago I worked Israel, South Africa, Vancouver Island and Tokio on 17 metres, so its working OK. If you find one cheap, buy it!

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Earlier 4-star review posted by G0GQK on 2004-03-27

I have used the R5 portable for many years and it is excellent. However since I dismantled it last year I recently re-assembled it as instructed and found that on 20 metres the antenna is resonant at 14.380 and 12 metres is as flat as a CD !

It wasn't like this when it was new and I would like it as it was originally. Has anyone experienced this effect. I extended the top section to 12" from 10" and this brought down the resonant frequency to 14.330 Mhz with an SWR of 1:2 but I would like it resonant at 14.240 Mhz and the 12 metres SWR at 1:3 as it was originally
Has anyone solved this problem other than using an ATU ?
N4EBC Rating: 2004-05-08
Works well Portable Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Great antenna. Got it Free!!! Used it portable dirning the ARRL Sweepstakes and the ARRL Intl DX Contest. Works Great.

Tunes well. As others have said its very touchie where its placed. No metal near this bad boy.

Would recomend it to any one with limited space.

Have fun DX'ing!!!
WB2ABD Rating: 2004-03-20
adequate Time Owned: more than 12 months.
purchased used . Acceptable SWR except on 12M. Only serious problem is that the base insulator/tubing had become loose, causing the vertical to "lean" with the wind: this allows flexing of the strap between the matching unit and the tubing,and this will eventually break. I replaced the strap with flexible braid strap. I also inserted and clamped shims between the insulator and base tubing.I did not investigate the cost of replacing this part of the antenna.
K1WCC Rating: 2004-01-19
Great antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been using my R-5 for about 4 years after getting it for free. What a deal that was! I have no real complaints with the antenna-it works well 20-10 meters and is ideal for the space I have available. I have it mounted on a 10 ft. mast. The alunimum angle bracket from the coil box to the antenna snapped during a bad windstorm (in the middle of a contest)and was easily replaced by a heavy gauge stranded wire. The box is now held in place with two heavy cable ties and a block of wood. The fiberglass
base insulator looks a little shaky but should last for years.I occasionally take mine down for DXpeditions and that only takes a few minutes to do. They ought to bring this one back into production.
ZS6VJJ Rating: 2003-12-09
Very good performer. Good for holiday location Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I required a vertical for my holiday location. At that location I have got a 40 m inverted V. I have not managed to find R5 but only 10 years old R7.

I have removed 30m and 20 m traps and added 36 cm 19 mm diameter tube to the length of the 17 m trap. Now my R7 performs with less than 1,1 SWR on five bands. I obtained bandwidth of 270 kHz on 20 m. Antenna also can work on 6 m.

I am very happy with the performance. Releasing only one clamp under 10 m trap I can easily store this antenna at two 2,5 m sections. It takes me 5 min to erect or put down this "R5" antenna.
KG4WKR Rating: 2003-10-29
Couldn't be better! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
A friend of mine got hold of one that was storm damaged. He fixed it up and sent it to me. It beats my ideally installed G5RV (which works very well), and the 4BTV mounted on my dock over the water. I have my R5 mounted just above the roof (about 17 ft.) and it is the best low cost, low profile antenna I've ever used. In the world of verticals and wire, I think this one is hard to beat. Well made, tunes perfectly. If you can find one, get it. Should be available from time to time for $100-$150.
WV1K Rating: 2002-12-11
A success... why change it ? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I see WU1Z reviewd this antenna down below. Let me say that I have run it as long as he has.

It is currently my sole antenna for 20,17,15,12,10m and is mounted on the boom of a A3 tribander with the base at 14 feet.

I'm undecided whether to put up a beam, I'm so pleased with it.

My experiences are actually based mainly on running 100w to it. Now I have added an amp and can run 200w without it.

Have worked Ducie, etc. all with 100 watts on the first call in the middle of the oepration or beginning (this is important to note... anyone can work anything at the END).

Easy construction and reconstruction. It has survived several moves which is more than I can say for some parts of M2's antennas before they were even in the air.

And believe me, I'm careful. I can imagine what a slob would do...

I don't know about the current R series models aside from what I read here and it seems they had some bombs until the R-8... hope that one is REALLY as good if I ever (hope not) need a replacement all direction antenna.
NE0P Rating: 2002-07-03
Just OK Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I actually owned the R4, which was 10, 12, 15, and 20 meters. Never could get the SWR down really low on 12 meters, but as other reviews stated, it worked fine until it rained. Then the SWR jumped nicely. It was nice to switch bands without having to use the manual antenna tuner, since I did not have an autotuner at that time, but performance was average. Unless you are very limited on space, you would do just as good with a dipole, at a fraction of the cost. Also, cushcraft customer support is non existant. Thankfully I did not need it for this antenna. I will give the R4 points for one thing: It is not near as ugly or overpriced as a GAP is.