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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
M0WAD Rating: 2002-10-08
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned the MA5B for 2 years and I was amazed
at the number of contacts around the world I made. I know it will not compete with the BIG BOYS but anybody with a small garden THIS is the antenna for you.The instructions are so clear that even I could understand them,it took about 1 hour to put up and the setting they give were spot on can't praise it enough.
K9MRK Rating: 2002-09-08
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Somewhat restricted in space I jumped at the
chance to finially install a small beam. I
scoffed at the claim of being able to rotate this
thing with a TV rotator but having a RS unit lying
around I figured it was worth a try. So tossed
the MA5B topped with a 2/440 vert. fed with 9913
coax on a 33' push-up mast bolted to the side of
my deck and guyed it with 3 3/16" Dacron lines.
The TV rotator still irks me but after 2 years and
several 40+ kt. storms it's still fine. VSWR and
bandwidth exceeded all specs. With the low mount
and proximity to trees and my HF vertical I didn't
expect much especially with 100w. But after
working virtually every point on the globe, much
of it in contest pileups, I'm not touching it!
There was hardly a time where I couldn't work any
station I could hear. I realize there are better
antennas and installations. I've yet to feel the
need for one.

K9MRK - Mark
NR1SS Rating: 2002-09-08
Excellent Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Excellent package for "portable"/FD operations. Check my mods at http://www.newpony.com/ham/ma5b-project.html David
M3SDX Rating: 2002-09-08
great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
i have owned my ma5b for 2 months now and i cant believe how good it works for a small beam,the ma5b works has a 2 element beam on 10,15,20m and a dipole on 12,17m,the boom is approx 7ft and it only weighs 33kg..the performance is outstanding both on tx and rx, swr is lower 1.5.1 on mine on all bands,before the ma5b i owned the force12 c3ss and a mosely ta32 and my choice is to keep the ma5b now i know how good it performs,it knocks socks off the ta32 and that performed very well and it gives the force 12 c3ss a good run for its money and in my opinion has the edge over it,the build quality is very good on the ma5b compared to some of the other antennas they have produced,im very happy with my ma5b performance and build quality.

jim, M3SDX
NX2R Rating: 2002-09-02
A lot of antenna for the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my first beam and this report must be evaluated with that in mind. A good friend steered me to the MA5B based on product reviews read on this site. I was a tough sell as my prior experiences with Cushcraft were not satisfactory.
I have used this little gem for almost a month now so this report may be a little premature.
All parts were inventoried against the complete parts list and included with the shipment.The instructions were very good as were the sketches. It took me about eight (8) hours working alone to assemble as well as make sure all parts were included before proceeding. I had two minor questions and emailed them to Cushcraft who responded within a day. Very good service .
It is installed on a home brew push up support and is only twenty two (22 feet) feet above ground
VSWR readings are well within published specifacations. I compared this beam against a 20 meter dipole and the results would indicate that the dipole was better on 20. Having said that my on the air contacts indicated otherwise. I have worked Dx and managed to crack a few pileups including one to Kuwait.Fifteem meters is better in my opinion. As for ten meters the bands have not been open for me to try it there.12 and 17 are satisfactory.

In conclusion when you read Cushcrafts specifications ths antenna does not appear to be very good. DBI is used as a reference and even using that and converting to DBD it is not impressive. The surprise is that in use it far exceeds my expectations and appears to be a good performer. If you are considering a beam and can only put up a small one give this a try and I am sure you will be more than satisfied.
K9IUQ Rating: 2002-08-25
Best Bang for Buck Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had read the other reviews here of course before I bought the MA5b. But none of it prepared me for the wonderful surprise of outstanding performance of a very small beam.

Been a ham for 40 plus years and had tried small beams before, most were barely better than a dipole or a vertical. But this MA5B has excellent performance. I wont bore you with all the dx it has worked. That is meaningless to most hams. Be ready to be surprised if you buy one. Make no mistake this antenna has the most bang for the buck you can get for HF bands.

My location is in the hills of Southern Illinois and my home is on one of these beautiful hills. I have 1.5 acre and have the room for a large beam. Unfortunately while hilltops are great for hamradio ops, you also have to deal with High winds and lightning. Hence I decided to put up a small beam which should take the winds better. The antenna is mounted on a 50 ft tower and an old CDE 44 rotator I got for cheap at a hamfest.

The antenna went together fairly easily in about 3 hours. The parts look like quality. Once I got it in the air I checked all freqs for SWR with my MFJ SWR analyzer. At first I thought I had my dummy load on - the readings were that good.What a wonderful surprise. All bands were near perfect low SWR. 10 mtrs has 1.3 to 1 thruout the whole band. The only band that isnt low thru the whole band is 20 meters, but the autotuner takes care of that.No twiddling of fiddling or swearing at the SWR on this antenna. The first antenna I have EVER put up that I was perfectly happy with all the SWR readings. And another pleasant surprise - this thing has a SWR of 1.3 to 1 on 50.125 mhz! Yes it works on 6 meters, a bonus and yes I have made contacts on the magic band with it.

If you have a need for a little beam antenna , get one of these.
M3SKF Rating: 2002-08-06
good beam BUT......... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I chose the MA5B largely on the grounds of cost,it also had the Warc bands included.I
did not expect the beam to be as good as my homebrew 15 metre quad but it most certainly is.
This is not a conventional 3 ele.. beam so check the spec before you buy it acts as a dipole on 17m & 12m.Performance on the said bands is great so dont be put of by this,its a 2 ele.. trapped & capacity loaded beam on 20m-15m-10m.On paper this
beam should not work that well but in real live it works a treat its well made,light & insructions are clear.The only problem i had was that parts were missing SEVRAL EMAILS TO CUSHCRAFT
& NO REPLY FROM THEM thank god for my local dealer he sorted it with the uk importer who took one from another box & mailed it to me.
KR4LC Rating: 2002-07-31
One tuff little antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After my MA5B was up about a week I decided to lower and tilt the 60' tower to make one more adjustment. The antenna party consisted of me, assisted by Mr. Murphy Law. You guessed it, the tower tilted right to the ground driving the boom six inches in, flattening the cap rods and bending the mast. After I threw up, I beat out a few bends and hoisted it back up. SWR changed not a bit, 18Mhz got better infact, but I don't reccomend the method of adjustment. Thanks Cushcraft for one little tuff antenna.
HP1HEW Rating: 2002-07-30
best Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is the best antenna I have had...Mine is up 220 feet, 12 yards away from the ocean...helps....its on top of my condo...I have worked my DXCC with it,my WAC and many others...a ++++++ for Cushcraft!!!
W8XF Rating: 2002-06-21
Great Value! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My new MA5B is a superb small beam. When it was received and erected, the MA5B had horrible SWR on 10/15/20, but was perfect on 12/17. A quick note to Cushcraft netted a timely phone call from Ed Hammond. Cushcraft is obviously "customer-focused". Ed and I narrowed the problem to a bad component, and I received said component in 2 days. Another antenna party followed and now the antenna tunes <2.0:1 for all 5 bands. On-air performance is exceptional for it's size.

Thanx Cushcraft.. another wonderful American-made product!