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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
NE4S Rating: 1999-11-29
R5 Works Well, and is Rugged too Time Owned: unknown months.
I use the R5 from the mobile. (not moving) A 2inch hitch fitting holds the R5 on 2 sections of TV mast. Or on a 30 foot pneumatic mast. It has been assembled and disassembled at least 50 times and is still like new. It tuned nicely using a swr analyzer, with a lot of up and down. Once set, I locked it down, marked the sections with tape, and with the replacment wing nuts, it goes up in 5 minutes. SWR is below 1.5 on all bands. I use a coax choke at the connection point. I have worked a lot of US Island locations with this set up and always get good reports. I like it, and could ask for no more from such a product. See http://www.homestead.com/ne4s for pics of antenna in use.
Mike, NE4S
K9DLI Rating: 1999-11-29
Dont use the R5 anymore Cannot resonate on most ba Time Owned: unknown months.
Never could get the thing to work properly. Resonates too high on most bands at lengths specified for sections bet traps. Cant get down to 17 or 12 meters no matter what I try.
N8DNG Rating: 1999-11-29
Ether Burner! Time Owned: unknown months.
I have been using my R-5 for several years now. The antenna is mounted on a mast at 25 ft. and just clears the roof of the home qth. No trouble with high SWR, I just measured and putit up. I have over 200 countries with it! It's been up there for a long time now, and the only thing I have changed is the coax feeding it. WHY DID I BUY IT? I WAS LISTENING TO WHAT THE DX STATIONS WERE RUNNING. I ACTUALLY HEARD SEVERAL EUROPEANS RUNNING THE R-5 BEFORE I BOUGHT MINE! I LOVE IT!
Steve N8DNG
WB9GKM Rating: 1999-11-12
VERY GOOD PERFORMANCE AND VERSITILITY Time Owned: unknown months.
Overall, I am very happy with the R5. Deficiency is very noticeable in those dx pile-ups on both ssb and cw. Generally, if I can hear them I can work them. To me, this is the best antenna to have in periods of peak sunspot cycles. On average you might not get dxcc too easily, but the ease of band switching can substansially increase your dx qsl collection.
WB8YYY Rating: 1999-11-12
R5 is a Good Value Time Owned: unknown months.
The R5 has been my main antenna for several years. In my experience tuning has been the most difficult on 17 meters. This antenna works well with a good match across all the covered bands, except for only covering about 2/3rds of 20 meters - but it is more bandwidth than is available with the R7. By accident I have learned that the antenna has a good match on 6 meters, and works well for E-skip. I have also used it on 30 meters with my manual antenna tuner - it provides useful DX performance. The convenience of the R5 is having a good match on 5 bands for quick band-hopping. It is rugged and not too tall for mounting. However, before spending the money on an R5 or the current R6000, determine if you can get by with multiple homebrew antennas.
AC6IJ Rating: 1999-09-26
A nice antenna, but limited bands. Time Owned: unknown months.
This is a fine antenna, but it lacks 40 and 80 mtrs. It does have some drawbacks like repeated putting up and down until the bands are set right, but it does a great job when aligned right.I would really be interested in the R-7000+ and it's performance.