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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
PC4U Rating: 2007-08-11
Bad experience with the new Cushcraft Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had the same problems with the MT1 Traps as ON4BHQ. Because i was in my warranty i received in november 2006 two new traps (just after a few e-mails, great service at that moment). Due to bad weather i wasn't able to replace the old ones before the end of january this year. Then i found out the old traps were melted . As i had promised Cushcraft i tried to contact them severall times, but no reaction at all. I did receive messages my e-mails had been opened by them, but nothing more.
The antenna was and is working good for such a small beam. But if you want to use an amplifier, find yourselves something else. Don't believe the cushcraft specs at all!!! And remember, you will find out the famous Cushcraft service has been disapeared after it has been acquired by the Laird Group PLC in february of this year. And what about a product if there is no service at all? Think twice i should say, before you buy a product from the new Cushcraft.
ON4BHQ Rating: 2007-07-24
Good antenne but not for QRO Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Antenna gives very good performance for its small footprint. I worked about 200 DXCC in 1 year of use.
Negative point: traps are not suitable for QRO use!
They NEVER handle 1,2 kW! After a few hours of RTTY operation @ 600 W and 50% duty cycle the 20 m traps were melted! I could repair the traps by making a new coilholder, but the resonant frequency was not the same anymore. I am very disappointed about the Cushcraft helpdesk... they never answered, not even when I wanted to order 2 new traps (I didn't even claimed any warranty!!)
Conclusion: MA5B antenna is doing a great job when staying below 500 W. (so rating = 4/5)
Cushcraft service is rated 1/5.
In general the MA5B gets 3/5 from me.
So please Cushcraft... ask a few $ more and make better traps!!
KC8YTY Rating: 2007-05-26
advice Time Owned: N.A.
I have not had any problems with my Ma5b since I have bought it. But Be sure to make sure you put the traps upside right the holes should be facing towards the ground once installed in the air. Keeping the water out of the traps
M3SQS Rating: 2007-05-15
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I managed to purchase mine direct from The US via my office in New york saved £250.00.

Anyway checked all the contents all ok pheeww.
Assembly took around 3 hours inc mounting it on the mast. Its a good idea to leave the capacitance hat assembly last when you have the antenna on the mast.

SWR is pretty flat on all bands 20 metres is fairly narrow this is resolved with the ATU.

Transmitting blew me away bearing in mind I can only use 10 watts and the antenna mounted at 18ft. My first contact was Hawaii (5/6)followed by Alaska (5/5) swinging the beam around to the east contacts with Western Europe and as far as Eastern Siberia. On the receive side I was hearing a pile up from a station in JA made a call but I was competing against stations running anything between 500-1000 watts maybe when I have my full licence I will be up there with the best of the bunch.

This antenna has given me a whole new opening to the world of amatuer radio I never heard stations from VK JA ZL before on my G5RV. You will not be dissapointed with this mini beam its ideal if you have a small garden and neighbours in close proxcimity.

Good DXing.
PD9JO Rating: 2007-04-05
Great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Now after A few weeks working with the MA5B I can say it works great, even with the rain and wind..
I worked Australia, Indonesia, Puerto rico and ofcource a lot of european stations.
Why is it so hard to find a place where you can buy this antenna in Holland??
73's PD9JO
For pictures, check www.pd9jo.nl
KG6POG Rating: 2007-04-03
Great Limited Space Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had pretty decent results with this antenna over my many mono-band dipoles and my Titan DX. I know that’s not saying much, but I have a lot that's only 25 feet wide, and from what I've seen this antenna is about the best choice out there for a 5-band mini-beam.

I live in Big Bear California and the winters get brutal here at times. The first year the antenna was up was one of the heaviest winters we've had in at least past 10 years. With high winds and a few storms that dropped from 2 to 3 feet of snow at least 3 times, and winds breaking down very large long standing trees causing electrical outages loss of our cable and phone services too many accidents to list, in our small community.
More recently March 2007. We had slush turn popcorn then to snow after dark leaving ice on just about anything made of metal, and of course the roads where all iced over. Then add winds up to 75 miles an hour plus gusts and the antenna still works great.

Comparing this antenna to the dipoles and the Gap Titan DX just isn’t fair. Most of the time I can hear stations and make contacts with the MA5B that the other two antennas can't even hear.

The only wish is that it had a little more TX/RX gain. I've had people in Hawaii tell me while running 500 watts into the South Pacific that people in Australia where calling me back and I really couldn't hear them.

Over all if you take the time to put it together well, it seems it take just about anything you through at it, and for a limited space antenna for the five top bands you would have a hard time finding an antenna that performs as well as the MA5B.

So I've taken down all of my dipoles except the 40 and 75/80 meter dipole, and the Titan DX.

Just my opinion, but I've had a great time working DX with the MA5B and an Ameritron AL 811A.

Best of luck
73
Bob
KG6POG
K4ZNC Rating: 2007-03-04
Good Compromise Beam Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I give this antenna a 5 even though it is a compromise antenna. It has been up for two years and has performed well on all five bands. The instructions were very clear and the beam went together easily. Light enough to be turned with a TV rotor. I don't believe that there is a better antenna on the market for small properties with antenna restrictions.

John K4ZNC
PD2SO Rating: 2007-02-23
WOW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As a live in a small house i needed to find a small beam.
My eye felt on the MA5B, with just the right (read maximum) size elements.
I bought one in belgium at HF-electronics.
At home i unpacked the box, and i must say that the quality is very good, and the manual is simple but clear.
Also building had no problems for me, the fit of all components was very good.
Well the fibreglass insulators, maybe it was better to use solid fibreglass rod.
After reading one of the reviews here i opened the balun box to see how the construction was;
I must say, it was soldered very well.
After assembeling the beam it was time for the first tests.
HMMM SWR way to hi on every band.
Due to: not reading the manual properly i placed the coils the wrong way.
Now everything is as it should be.
No problems with high noise levels or interference and the best of all no TVI.
Well i can only compare it with my G5RV dipole, but the beam is much better.
I'm very pleased with this beam.


N3LKA Rating: 2007-02-02
Needs work. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I purchased my MA5B used along with a tower and rotor. Considering the package price, not too bad. My chief complaint is that the cables from the matching network going to the elements both went bad.

When I first started to put it together, I had some really bad swr issues with 10, 15 and 20 meters. Here after looking at the issue the cable feeding the front element had opened up where the coax splits to feed each side of the element. Then about 6 mos. later, the cable feeding the center element did the same thing, affecting 17 and 12 meters, easy enough to fix, but a cheap set of cables to say the least.

For the size it's still not a bad antenna. Nothing close to my friends stepir, but I love the fact I don't need a major rotor to turn the antenna. I'm using a yeasu g-450a rotor.
MM0DVZ Rating: 2006-12-31
Good for the size Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wanted a small beam that would cover 5 bands.I had tried other beams including the cushcraft A4s but due to high winds i had to down size a bit.This antenna seemed to fit the bill.I got this antenna second hand but unused.All parts were there and just a matter of putting it together.It went together ok but would not tune on 17m or 12m.The swr on 17m was very high and didn't drop until 19.7mhz.After reading the reviews i decided to take the traps MT2 and turn them the wrong way ( i.e the arrows facing in) Guess what the swr was perfect 1.1:1.Obviously marked wrong from the factory.All the bands have swr lower than 1.3:1 and the antenna works very well for the size of it.Pretty good performance on 17m considering its a dipole! I've worked VU2 VK3 and DU8 on this antenna every bit as good as my Force 12 c3ss,better on 17m.All in all a good performer for the size and i would give it some thought if you need a small beam.Oh yes definately drill and fit self tapping screws to the boom and elements as the worm drives are poor.