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Reviews For: Arrow Antenna Corner Reflector

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : Arrow Antenna Corner Reflector
Reviews: 8MSRP: 145.00
Description:
In the logical progression of antenna evolution: The ordinary dipole gave way to the Yagi-Uda, which utilized directors and a reflector. The single reflector was turned into a screen for a greater back & side rejection. The screen was then formed into a right angle (90 degrees) to improve the forward gain & front-to-back ratio, which created the corner reflector. The Corner Beam gives you the gain of a 10+ foot Yagi, with almost double the front to back ratio and much wider bandwidth.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.arrowantennas.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0084.6
N4ECW Rating: 2020-09-21
Excellent Antenna For Certain Installs Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased an Arrow CR 146/440 corner reflector. It is definitely well made. It was perfect for my working situation.

I live in a condo about 30 miles outside Tampa. I could hit a few repeaters to the north and west with a 2m/440 vertical. But, my goal was to be able to activate repeaters to the north, west and east from my screened lanai. Any 2m/70cm repeaters to the south, southwest, and southeast were, and mostly still are, blocked by the building itself.

The CR 146/440 was larger than anticipated when assembled. The center boom was about 30 inches and the total spread between the left and right reflector arms was almost six feet! However, with a 60 degree beam width, a hand turn gave coverage to about 215 degrees out of a possible 360 degree coverage area.

When assembled the SWR varied from 1.1:1 to 1.3:1 across the 2m band. The SWR, only measured in the repeater and simplex portions of the 70cm band, was consistently 1.3:1 to 1.4:1.

The antenna was mounted at ten feet. The feedline consisted of 25 feet of LMR 400. I used a 35 pound cast iron patio umbrella stand and 1 1/2" diameter, thin walled, steel mast.

In the 215 degree wide coverage area(s), I could regularly activate 2m repeaters in the 75 mile range running a maximum of 85 watts. My longest full quieting repeater contact was 156 miles in a direct line from the antenna's center.

On the same coverage area for 70cm, and running 100 watts, I could regularly activate repeaters at a distance of 45 miles with my longest full quieting contact being 70 miles.

The mean elevation for Florida is 30 feet. The altitude at my QTH is only 69 feet. It appears that the corner reflector is doing most of the work.

Pros:
-- the 10dbd gain gave me a significant outgoing and incoming signal boost.
-- with an up to minus 60 dbd rejection to the rear of the antenna, there was no extraneous noise and no rf safety issues inside the condo with the sliding glass doors closed
-- the 7.5 pound weight made the antenna easy to turn

Cons:
-- the deployed size of the structure and mount took about a third of the condo's small screened lanai and some mild complaints from the XYL
-- unless your situation seeks a unidirectional deployment, the CR 146/440 could be unwieldly with a rotator, especially given all its weight is in front of the mounting bracket. This might be remedied by adding a 222 MHz corner reflector antenna at its reverse on the mast.

Finally, and I realize this is antithetical for hams, but before assembly: read the instructions, inventory the parts, and examine the pictures on arrow's website.









KB6BOB Rating: 2017-11-01
Excellent Antenna & Customer Support Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Great antenna for my application, living outside the main city limits and trying to push as much RF in essentially one direction. Mounted at the top and on the side of an RV garage, painted to match (HOA issues), this antenna performs very well. Less than 1/2 watt reflected for 40 watts forward. Had minor problem with damaged package upon delivery and minor problem with two holes aligning correctly, otherwise all was great. Emailed Tim (owner and maker of this antenna) and got great responses both times. While this antenna would not likely survive mountain top applications, it is build well enough for most other applications. It also out performs my five element yagi with a bit wider beamwidth.
N0TES Rating: 2016-12-17
10+ years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have always lived well outside the city limits and found that I can hit every repeater from 30 miles out with this antenna and 1 watt. Point it to space and I work satellites! Pump up the power and the fun just keeps happening!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N0TES on 2009-10-19

I'm able to hit repeaters on 10 watts that are over 100 miles out with the antenna 8 feet off the ground hanging from one of those L-Bracket TV satellite dish mounts. To get it home (after buying it at a HamFest for $100) I hooked it on the roof rack of my XTerra with three short bungee cords, and drove at 55MPH to my QTH, Doing so didn't phase the antenna at all. It's built more solidly than ANY antenna that I have ever seen made for amateur radio. Flat SWR on 2 meters and 440, even when I upped the power to around 80 watts with an amp. I hit a repeater 180 miles out with that power. Guess I should mention that I'm using this antenna to communicate with the AO-7 satellite and as you can tell, I would recommend it.
KK4CF Rating: 2015-12-20
Excellent Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
We use two CRs (CR-146 & CR-440 since early 2015) for all of our VHF/UHF contacts on FM, SSB, and Satellite. Having been hams since the early 80s we have used many different VHF/UHF and always wanted to try a CR. The Corner Reflectors are very good and the service from Arrow is great. SWR is less than 1.5 across both bands. Very pleased with them and would not replace with anything else.
W5OP Rating: 2007-06-28
Nice construction, poor engineering Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased two 144 mhz. corner reflectors to use as receiving antennas for my repeater system. The antennas began to fail after about two months. The mounting blocks are too soft and won't allow you to tighten the antenna on the mast tight enough to prevent it from weather vaning in the wind. The biggest problem is with the thin reflector elements. The elements are drilled and tapped for a small mounting screw. Any breeze over 40 mph will break the elements in half at the point where they are drilled. My two antennas have lost 13 elements so far. My yagi antennas have had no problems with the wind.
WA4HPH Rating: 2006-11-23
Quality, and Performance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased the dual band 144/440 corner reflector after I saw the qualty of the 2 m ground plane I purchased earlier. The gain is outstanding and the bndwidth is very impressive. If you are looking for the best, look no further!

It has survived several S. Illinois ice storms with NO Problems. The quality, performance and workmanship are unequaled.

KG8CO Rating: 2004-07-26
Well Built Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the 220 version of this antenna, and just put it up this weekend,and the antenna is working great.

The antenna is very well built, and was very easy to put together. The antenna doesn't take up much space on the tower, and was easily installed on one of the tower legs.
WB8NDC Rating: 2003-08-17
Outstanding construction and bandwidth. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For quite a few years I have purchased several brands of vhf yagi to serve as a point to point MARS packet circuit with another station approximately 50 miles away (as the crow flies). I always had problems with these antennas functioning outside the ham bands while maintaining some sort of gain. So, never having a Corner Reflector, I went ahead and purchased one from Arrow Antenna. I was first impressed with their manufacturing process in the material. Everything fit exactly right and the material used is first rate. The manual was nicely written and I had the antenna put together in no time. The performance is outstanding! The bandwidth for this antenna far exceeds any yagi I have purchased. If you are interested in an antenna built to withstand a "direct hit" with outstanding performance, this is the one. There are also other models available for UHF and VHF/UHF combination. I also appreciated the companies quick response to my questions. Outstanding product/excellent service.

73,

Rog