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Reviews For: Cushcraft MA5B Mini Beam

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

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft MA5B Mini Beam
Reviews: 155MSRP: 365.00
Description:
Cushcraft's newest multiband HF antenna provides 5 bands
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraftamateur.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001554.6
M0SAS Rating: 2006-02-05
fantastic antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
i bought my ma5b xmas 2005 i took my time in the construction of the beam fitted it to my tennamast its a remarkable antenna i can certainly here things on it that i have proved to myself that i cant here on a g5rv i would reccommend the beam i have a very small garden but it works great well done cushcraft i would certainly get another one .
K8QV Rating: 2006-01-13
Excellent Value and Performance Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The sunspot minimum is a good time to evaluate antennas. The MA5B has made the most of any available propagation this past month I've had it up. It's at 40 feet and is a great DX performer. I've made five to 100 watt SSB contacts and held my own in some pileups. On CW I'm at the top of the heap with 100 watts. On 20m the gain is small over a dipole, but the directivity is very pronounced and helpful, particularly on receive. Ten and fifteen meters show noticible gain and outstanding directivity for such a small piece of hardware. The WARC bands perform much better than wire dipoles at the same height for some reason unknown to me!

Assembly and tuning by the book went perfectly. Bandwidth is greater than advertised. Sturdy, if you don't strip the worm clamps.

More dollars, more weight and more height will always gain a few dB of signal, but I don't contest anymore (with a 4 el 20m monobander at 70 ft.) and at this point I am satisfied to work the good ones with an S-9 rather than S-9 plus 10.

This antenna is one of the definitions of "bang for the buck."
M3OTM Rating: 2005-09-16
excellent Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
what more can be said mine only 25ft above ground,not many stations I hear and not able to work.Really happy with my MA5B and TS-870 & TS-480 one happy family hihi 73 to all congrats Cushcraft....
M0PTT Rating: 2005-04-29
HERE TO STAY (FANTASTIC) Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
THIS IS MY SECOND MA5B, SHOULD NEVER HAVE SOLD THE FIRST ONE, A FREIND TOLD ME I HAVE AN INSATIABLE CURIOUSITY, GOT RID BECAUSE OF PLANNING REGS BUT THIS TIME I WILL GO ALL THE WAY TO GET PERMISSION AS THESE BEAMS ARE WORTH THEIR WAIT IN GOLD, I HAD FORGOTTEN JUST HOW GOOD THESE ANTENNAS ARE, CUSHCRAFT DESERVE AN AWARD FOR THIS MARVELOUS MINI BEAM, ALL YOU NEED IS A TS870, A RANGER 811 AMP A MA5B AND GO MAKE A NOISE,
ENJOY WORKING THE WORLD,
BEST REGARDS ROB M0PTT (CUMBRIA)
MM3XPG Rating: 2005-01-21
Great Performer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my MA5B s/hand and was very lucky as it had little use and was like new. Easy to assemble,instructions are clear and concise and tuning it was easy. Mine is mounted on a three section telescopic / tiltover mast (20-40'AGL.)
Due to a small garden and tight planning constraints it fitted the bill.
So far, worked 150 entities, 36 zones and 40 states to date on this antenna (10W initially but I now have the other UK licences.)
So my advice, go and get one and if you're like me you'll be anything but disappointed.
Just one tip, the X hats need to be added once the beam is mounted unless using something off the ground. They bend with the weight of the beam on them if you add them on the patio!
Recently we've had some pretty high winds and apart from a loose X hat it stood up when I struggled to.
WELL I HAVE TO SAY THIS ANTENNA HAS DONE ME PROUD AND WILL BE STAYING ON MY MAST.
WD0EWT Rating: 2005-01-14
Great Compact Beam Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I put this little beam up on a telescoping 40' mast, using a TV rotor to turn it. I have lots of guys (16) but this thing laughs at high winds and has stood a year and a half, through Minnesota summer storms and winter blasts. I never installed the WARC element, choosing to use that as a stand-alone rotary dipole on a separate 40' mast. Both work excellent. I plan to put it on a 40' tower and at that time I will install the WARC element as intended. I would recommend this beam for anyone who wants a good performing, inexpensive, low impact beam, with the added bonus of a rotary dipole for 12 and 17M. K0JJH
WD4AQX Rating: 2004-12-20
Great little mini beam Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Put the mini beam up on the ezway tower last week at about 40 ft. It was easy to assemble and easy to put up. The instructions were perfect. The swr was phenominal. less than 2:1 accross all the bands, except a little higher on the low end of 20 meters. We had some high winds and snow this weekend and I saw no windmilling or any detrimental effects. Signal reports have been great over the G5RV. I highly recommend this beam for light weight towers or minumum space applications
AH6RR Rating: 2004-10-21
Excellent Antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have had this antenna up for 4 months now. I have been able to work the world and have had no problems at all. This antenna is solid, well balanced and easy to put together. I have it at 33 feet and hear so much more than the wire antennas I had up. I was turning it with a Radio Shack rotor but I added a 2 meter beam so I up graded the rotor. You can not go wrong with this antenna for small lot installations.
Unlike some of the other mini-beams it is not fussy about swr problems. Get one you wont be sorry. These reviews led me to getting one and I'm glad I did.
KC8YKQ Rating: 2004-08-26
Nice for beginners Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The MA5B is my first directional HF antenna. Assembly was easy as was tuning the beam. I'm using a second-hand TV rotor which turns this small beam efficiently. My MA5B is mounted 40' high.

Working DX on 20 and 15 meters has been very easy with the MA5B. Reports have been great, and I've been able to work all continents except Antarctica (I haven't heard any from there yet!)
Having a rotatable dipole for 12 and 17 meters is also handy.

Complaint - I'm not sold on the worm clamps. I managed to strip two of them and had to buy replacements at the local hardware store. You are best off using a nut driver to tighten them rather than a ratchet to avoid stripping.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this small, economical yagi. It does a fine job for such a small antenna.
KI4CME Rating: 2004-08-20
Love it Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this antenna on ebay for $190 bucks plus shipping from Connecticut. I was advertised as new, but I didn't expect much. However, the price was right. When it came I opened it and found that while it had obviously been assembled previously, all the parts were there, and there was no evidence of weathering so I expect it was used as a demo. Anyway, it went together in a couple of hours and I was amazed at the way it works. I initially had it roof mounted on a tripod which got it up about 25 feet. A cheap rdio shack TV rotator turns it easily although since the rotator has no brake I occasionally have to correct the direction after a good wind storm.
The VSWR is better than as listed in Cushcrafts spec sheet and with my tuner it will get to 1-1 on any of the 5 phone bands.
I have worked the world since putting it up and now that I have it atop a 70 foot tower the performance is spectacular. What more can anyone ask for from a 200 buck antenna!I have friends that still think it's crap, but "the proof is in the pudding as they say."
Try it you'll be surprised.