| K4MFD |
Rating:  |
2004-06-22 | |
| Great Beam For The Money |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I have my MA5B beam up 40 feet on a Rohn self supporting tower and turn it with a light weight rotor and a Rohn thrust bearing. The difference between my 20 meter double bazooka and the MA5B beam are like night and day. I can hear stations with the beam that are only noise with the bazooka. The beam is light weight, easy to assemble and easy to turn. You get your money's worth with this beam. As for the wind milling comment I have had my beam up a little over 6 months with no problems yet and we have had two very bad storms come through here with very high winds. My MA5B has very low SWR across the bands including 12 & 17 meters.
I know a larger beam (A3S A4S) would give you about 1 or 2 more S units but look at the extra price, work and wind load. If you only have a small space with a boom length of 7 feet and the longest element length of 17 feet the MA5B is the way to go. Cushcraft has done it again with a great beam at a great price.
|
|
| DL6AN |
Rating: |
2004-06-05 | |
| Not bad |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have now my MA5B for 2 Weeks and i can say it is a different to my G5RV, i live here in Alabama and i would have for each day a connect to europe, now with this small beam is that possible, no problem to reach europe or whatever, the different to the G5RV approax 10DB on the same high 30feet, i can confirm the good reviews, the first thunderstorm wasn't a problem.
For small places or something a good deal..... |
|
| W5RL |
Rating: |
2004-06-04 | |
| Excellent Performance |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
My heavily wooded property has two small open spaces, with a vertical antenna in one space. I put up a 35 foot tower in the other open space with only enough clearing for a compact hf beam.
I decided to go with the MA5B after reading the reviews. I took a whole afternoon to assemble the antenna outdoors using two small tables to support it off the ground during assembly. The finished assembly is a bit awkard to move with those capacitive spokes sticking out all over the place. With a helper, the antenna installed easily onto the mast. A low cost TV rotator turns the antenna beautifully. During assembly, I made some minor modifications in element spacing and length. Check out this link:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/finham/g3zbe/ma5b.htm The antenna performance has been amazing for a compromise beam. Low SWR across each band and have worked lots of DX with good reports. Front to back seems real good. Overall, very happy with this antenna and can highly recommend it. |
|
| W9VHN |
Rating: |
2004-05-23 | |
| good antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I assembled the center sections of the antenna on the ground. My tower cranks down to 12 feet & is next to my patio so I was able to complete the element installation on a 5 foot ladder on the patio roof. The assembly went without a hitch & the quality is excellent. I was pleasantly surprised that the bandwidth is considerably better than the published specs. I installed a sheet metal screw in the reflector end of the boom to prevent windmilling. Also, I was warned that the matching network construction is very poor. I founf wire clippings in it & had a dead short from the coax braid to the center of the coax connector. Repaired same. Looks like a 6yr old put it together. I did some length adjustments & got the swr flat on the warc bands. I adjusted for the ssb portions of the other bands & the worse swr was 2:0 to 1 at 29.7mhz. Overall, the antenna is well worth the money & operation is excellent for a trapped, loaded beam. |
|
| KA5V |
Rating: |
2004-05-19 | |
| Very Good For a Mini Beam |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Before relocating to my current QTH I operated with a TH6DXX and A4S at 60 feet. They both were great yagi's. I moved near a golf course which cannot have anything too conspicuous. Selected the MA5B Mini Bean and installed it at 28 feet. I was amazed at the performance, very good. SWR was the best I ever saw as it was tuned to perform. All parts were present and installation went as instructed.
Cushcraft had a note not to distroy a lable that listed the weight of the package, just in case all parts were not present. According other comments, this seems to be Cushcrafts biggest problem, missing parts. If Cushcraft knows the weight, lbs. or ozs. or grams, why would they release it untill the box has the correct weight. Cushcraft wake up! You have a great mini beam, back it up with soom intelligence.. |
|
| ON4CCR |
Rating: |
2004-05-05 | |
| nice antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
nice antenne ,i had a r7000 before,and made only one qso with ZL ;signal report was s5.Now in de last weeks i made several qso's with VK and ZL with signals up to 10db over 9,and all that was with 100w.
The antenna setup is about 10mtrs 30feet,if i hear them i work them.
For me its a winner. |
|
| N9RC |
Rating: |
2004-05-02 | |
| Works as advertised |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| All parts included in this one!. Went together in a couple hours. SWR and performance as advertised. Durable so far. |
|
| AC7WX |
Rating:  |
2004-05-02 | |
| NEVER AGAIN |
Time Owned: N.A. |
I bought the antenna from AES Milwaukee, and had it shipped to Japan, which cost an almost $200 just for shipping totaling over $550. Next, after I checked the contents of the box against the list two tubes were missing, the MA5BEC, there were suppose to be four of them.And believe me I looked into the other tubes just incase they were hidden there, NOTHING found, so I put back everything in the box and shelved the project till I find a solution, I contacted AES, and Paul was a great help, no complain there, I sent Cushcraft e-mails I got reply from ED Hummond, a very helpful guy, after a week of e-mails exchange, they shipped the parts, so two weeks after I received the antenna I got the parts and I deceided to start assembling it , I started with the Boom Assembly as per the document"manual" and guess what, the Boom To Mast piece was missing as well, I was really upset, and felt cheated.I sent an e-mail to Cushcraft about the missing Boom to mast plate, I also told them that I will look for a replacement in Japan.
I jumped into my car drove to the nearest ham shop with the MA5B manual to show what I was looking for, no chance there, and nothing similar, back home and put back everything in the box again, I cursed my luck and Cushcraft.This maybe a great antenna, as people are saying, but fox, when you buy this antenna,do yourselves a big favour and avoid any nasty surprises, open the box at your ham shop and check every darn item icluding the nuts and lock washers , I had an MA5V before no problem there, this was my second and last Cushcraft antenna.
73's de Sommer JA6DMH/AC7WX |
|
| VE2CU |
Rating: |
2004-04-05 | |
| Small but Powerful |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had mine roof mounted on a Glen Martin 4-1/2" and a 10 feet, 2" H.D. aluminum mast, using a Yaesu G-800DXA, although such a big rotor is NOT necessary. With the elements properly secured & tight, never had any "windmilling" to report, even in very strong winds and a rather severe ice storm. At a total height of some 30 feet and an average swr of 1.3 on cw, worked the "rare ones" barefoot and with ease on 10, 15 & 20m. The warc bands center element being a trapped dipole, obviously, is not as efficient as the actual 2 elements but it still works fine. Bottom line, quite pleased.
73's & have fun, Michel
|
|
| K9TTT |
Rating: |
2004-04-05 | |
| Great Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have found this to be a great antenna as far as assembly. The instructions for one who is not mechically inclined are simple enough that I can follow them! I have noticed some comments regarding "windmilling" and before I finish getting it up in the air (I can't wait); I would be interested in your experiece with this and your solutions. You may contact me direct at k9ttt@earthlink.net if you don't want to clutter up the board. |
|
