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Reviews For: Lightning Bolt 5 band 2 element quad

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

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Review Summary For : Lightning Bolt 5 band 2 element quad
Reviews: 43MSRP: 340.
Description:
NOTE: I AM MIKE DUDDY FORMALLY LIGHTNING BOLT ANTENNAS. WE ARE NO LONGER IN BUSINESS. WE ARE OUT OF BUSINESS AND WE DO NOT WISH TO SELL THE BUSINESS OR THE NAME. WE HAVE REMOVED OUR WEB PAGE. THANK YOU.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00434.9
M0CEL Rating: 2002-09-23
Great antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've relocated to the UK from Toronto and have a Yagi set-up. I can tell you I sure miss my Lightning Bolt quad, which I plan on shipping over here in the near future.

It's a great antenna and built to take the harsh weather. I had it up for a few years in
Canada and did not have a single problem with it. Those who say that Quads aren't built to take northern winters don't know what they're talking about.

I found the performance to be outstanding. Pile-ups were a non issue. I knew, with a bit of power, I was going to get through and usually did. I would recommend this antenna to anyone, they wouldn't regret it.

W2HTW Rating: 2002-07-29
Wonderful DX catcher Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I Purchased the quad in March being qrt from radio for 13 years I originally was lookin at log periodics. I called H.R.O. in NH and was talking to a salesman about best bang for your buck antennas and he started telling me about lightning bolt quads he had one up and it was a great antenna.I was interested and did some research talked to people who had them. What signals they had 10-20 over s9 called Mike Duddy had him send me info the rest is history easy to put together a little bulky to put on a tower mine is on a 40ft self supporting using a Yaesu g-800dxa rotor. The minute I started using it I new great things would happen like having pileups on yourself.Breaking European pileups on the first or second call being told you are the strongest signal heard on the band.The list goes on and on.I ordered the 6meter kit also and the heavy duty 3 inch boom for rough upstate NY winters. Try ONE I'M SURE YOU'LL LIKE IT GREAT ANTENNA
73 & GUD DX DEAN W2HTW
KG4HUP Rating: 2002-06-16
Big Signal all DX bands Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hello Everyone, Have had this 5 band lightningbolt up for about 2 months an it is fantastic!! I can usually point out east an us 600-800 watts an have my on pile-up from europe to asia with 59+10 signals reports. I have mine mounted about 42 feet high. Mike Duddley an his wife will answer the phone an help with any problem you have with assembley, I called late Saturday or Sunduy night an he got on the phone with me no problem. The best 289.00 dollars you will spend on ham equipment. There not as easy to put on the tower or mast as a yagi but once its up there, you've got a real antenna on all five bands. I tuned mine on a step ladder about 12 feet off the ground with a MFJ analyzer an got it flat across the whole voice portion of all bands on one band I have 1.6 on the cw portion. Its a little big but once the neigbors get use to it your OK!! If you want real gain 5 bands one antenna get one, well worth it!! Thanks an if you have questions email me. Tom KG4HUP
KF2XN Rating: 2002-05-26
An outstanding performer with major bang for the buck Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my 2-element 5-band Lightning Bolt quad in 1995 and worked just about anything DX-otic I could hear. Believe me, that is a lot of exotic DX. I finally lost the quad Jan 2002 after ice buit up on the boom, spreaders and wire loops and then, a strong gust of wind kicked up, snapping the boom in two places, like a saltine cracker. This reduced my quad to a mass of distressed fiberglass poles & tangled wire. It was a rare weather event that I had not properly prepared for. However, my loss may have been prevented with a truss support for the 8' boom. If you live in snow country like I do here in the Buffalo, New York area, you need protection like a truss for your boom. My quad survived many bad winters but finally met its match no fault to the design and quality. Any antenna would have come down in that storm. This may sound crazy but a week after the damage, I ordered the retrofit kit to convert the salvaged parts to a 4-element 5-bander. The 4-element model is basically like its little brother except it has a 24' boom with a 3" diameter. I could be wrong on this one, but I don't recall that LB offered a truss option for the boom and that would be my main criticism. If you live in an area that is subject to winter ice storms coupled with gusty winds, a truss for the boom should be standard equipment. As far as the quad's performance; You could not find a finer antenna for your buck. This is a no-compromise DX-er's antenna that is easy to construct,very broad banded and a sheer delight to work with. In talking with many DX-ers, I could summarize that most real DX purists, would rather have a quad instead of a beam or vertical. Most folks that use anything else, do so as a compromise and will likely admit this to you. Service? The owner of LB Quads, Mike Duddy is friendly, helpful & very knowledgeable about quads. With your purchase you receive a kit consisting of fiberglass poles, machined aluminum spiders and other parts, bulk rolls of special alloy welding wire for the elements, wire holders and all other needed hardware for basic assembly. The photo-copied hand written assembly directions are a bit spartan by today's standards but it gives the whole project a personal touch. Anyway, the quality of the informational content is what really counts. Cutting the precision lengths of wire is tedious and must be exact. Mounting the wire loops on the quad elements is not a one-man job. The fiberglass spreader poles are very well made and will survive the worst disasters and like my situation, were salvagable for the upgrade to the 4-element model. Don't forget to wear gloves when handling the fiberglass or your hands will feel as though someone handed you a wet bag of old razor blades. Some hams like to change to separate feed lines for each loop. I prefer using the single feedline to the balun which provides an excellent match across the 5 bands. Whichever model quad you eventually decide on, you won't regret purchasing a Lightling Bolt Quad. The 2-element model can be later upgraded to the 4-element model for a fair adjusted cost. I give this antenna 5 stars.
KC4YLX Rating: 2002-04-12
Update Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have moved the quad to a 40' Universal Tower and mounted my HD-73 rotor on a shelf. Thanks to Bill, W4BLL and my son KG4NXW I how have the quad installed like I want it. The quad was looked at while it was on the ground and all looked good. I slid the wire connectors out a bit on each wire to tighten up the elements. By the design of the antenna, this was easy! No holes to drill like "other" quads. The antenna still works better than ANY antenna I have had or know of. I also have the 6 element 2M and 12 element 70cm antenna built on one boom. This too is fantastic.

Great product. Great value.

Is yours on order?.....

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KC4YLX on 2001-07-17

After installing the quad, my eyes were opened to a new world! To give you a better understanding of my station here is how it got to where it is now. I have a IC-756PRO and AL-811H. I started with a dipole and thought I was doing good. Got a GAP Titan DX in March and then DX got a LOT better. After looking, talking, emailing folks and working quads on the air, I decided to buy the Lightning Bolt 2 element 5 band with 6M kit. I did upgrade it to 3" boom. I got it installed on 7-15-2001 and have had my eyes opened again! This antenna is fantastic. I called a OX3NUK last night on 17M and after a nice QSO I got called by other DX stations! Later I switched to 20M and answered a CQ from a new mobile in TX and then I got called by many stations again! All with reports of great signal. I felt like I was king and I thank Lightning Bolt for this. I also have a 6 element 2M / 12 element 70cm quad from them and it too is a super antenna. The quality of the spiders, spreaders and wire to spreader connectors are super. I have not adjusted anything yet, just used the default lengths from the instruction manual. I have 1.6:1 or less on all bands. I will later tweak the lengths of the elements and lower the SWR and repost back after a few months with an update. If you like, you can go to http://www.cstone.net/~elang and I'll keep that page more updated with station additions and improvements. I made the right decision in buying this antenna. Maybe later I'll upgrade it to the 4 element but I'll have to find the pileup I cannot bust before I'll think about that!

Email me with any questions and I'll be happy to try and help.
NT9E Rating: 2002-02-17
Best value for the money! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one in the summer of 1994. I could not believe how well it heard! I used it for Amateur Radio and SWLing and was amazed by its working bandwidth. It replaced an old Cushcraft ATB-34(earlier model of the A4). It was in use until 2000 when I sold it and put up an A4S. I hated to sell it but in my area in N. IL it is very windy and I am using a an older tubular tower with the rotator mounted at the top of the tower instead of the bottom of the tower. In my sutuation there was just too much stress from windloading on the rotator. I had to rebuild the rotator (HAMIV)every year. Even though the wind loading of the LB quad was about the same as the A4 the stress on the rotator was diminshed when using the yagi. If I had the bottom rotator mount for the tower I would still be using the quad (I like working 12/17 meters). It hears very well because there is a lot of wire up there! Super antenna!
WA6IPD Rating: 2002-01-15
It's a TEN!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Everyone comments on the excellent construction of this antenna and they are right. I have installed the Cubex Quad and now the Lightning Bolt and clearly the Lightning Bolt is the best. However just because it is the best in quality don’t expect it to have any more gain or any less for that matter than another quad of the same electrical characteristics. This and the Cubex are identical and will have identical gain.

The spreaders come in two pieces, which make them stronger than the Cubex, which comes in three pieces. The spider on the Cubex has V groves for the spreaders to sit in then two worm gear hose clamps crush them into place. Not so with Lightning Bolt, the spreaders slip over an aluminum pipe and one clamp holds them in place. One nice thing about the spider is the way it attaches to the boom; it slides into the boom and then is bolted to the boom via pre-drilled holes. This prevents the spiders from becoming misaligned. The wires are fed into little heavy-duty plastic tubes, which are attached to the spreaders by worm gear hose clamps so they are easily adjusted. On my Cubex I had to drill holes in the spreaders, then every time I wanted to move the wires I had to drill new holes. There were two things that I did not care for in the Lightning Bolt. First the wire provided is #15 hard drawn solid aluminum. The problem here is if for some reason you want to add on a piece you’re out of luck, no soldering here. However if you are careful and follow the instructions exactly this wire will hold up in the most severe icing conditions without stretching or breaking. I live in Southern California and we keep our snow and ice in the mountains where it belongs so I used #16 insulated stranded copper. I would have preferred to use #14 but with insulation it was too large to fit in the plastic tubes. Second, Lightning Bolt provides a balun for matching; all driven element wires are tied together then attached to the balun, which has a coax fitting. This is nice because there is no antenna switching necessary and it works fairly well except SWR is a little high and I am from the old school so I feed each element separately via an Ameritron antenna switch using 72 ohm matching coax quarter wave stubs.

Some thoughts on Quads.

1. Everyone compares the quad to a three-element mono-bander and they say the quad has a little less gain. Fine, but who has mono-banders up? I have been a ham for 47 years and I have never had a twenty meter three element beam, I have always had tri-band beams as most of my friends. So how does the quad stack up to a three-element tribander? Quite well, it will out perform them all and will even out perform some four-element tri-banders.

2. Have you seen any good five-band beams for sale at the same price of a quad? Neither have I, if you want to operate on five bands with one small antenna that has reasonable gain then a quad is the only choice, and Lightning Bolt is the best choice.


EX_KO3Q Rating: 2001-11-07
Excellent antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna replaced a 12 year old Cushcraft A3 which was mounted on my chimney at 28'.I must say
though..the Cushcraft gave me excellent service as
in spite of the low height I've worked all but two
"entities"..P5 and BS7H.
Once I placed my order with Mike Duddy,the antenna showed up within a few days.The instructions were easy to follow and the antenna was built in a few hours.If you cut the wire as per the instructions you will have an excellent 5 band quad.Once on top of my 40' tower I did check each band for SWR curves and they came out with all bands (except the 15M CW band) with 1.6:1 or less..the highest SWR on the 15M CW portion was 1.8:1 so hardly a dummy load.F/B ratio appears to be about 25 dB as stated in the specs as I did not tune each band on the reflector but used the preset tuning directions instead.Maybe some day I will tweak it but for now it plays..
Good workmanship,good materials and customer service make me rate this a "5".
K8DIT Rating: 2001-07-11
Great Product! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just put it up 11 days ago and it played right off the bat. Flat on all 5 bands, looks good, Good F/B and F/S at 52', light weight but sturdy, easy to assemble and erect, good instructions and
its quiet. I use it with my Omni 6 Plus, Centurion, as well as my Drake TR7, Heathkit 301/401, Atlas 350XL and Corsair. It's on a Hygain 52' crankup tower using a Ham IV rotator. This antenna replaces a TH6DXX which of course worked FB, but didnt play at all on the Warc bands. I did purchase the six meter add on but did not install the 6 meter reflector yet, i'll report on that some other time. I believe I did not loose a thing replacing the yagi and gained quite a bit with the quad. What a nice product!
NX9T Rating: 2001-06-14
Gotta like it! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my second LB 2 el. 5 band quad. The first one I had on a 40 foot tower for about 7 years. It played VERY well and survived two significant hurricanes. Well built and works great.

When I moved to a new QTH, I sold my quad to a friend. After moving, putting up a new tower, etc...I elected to go back to the LB quad due to lightweight, 5 bands, good swr bandwidth, and my previous experience indicating good rx/tx performance. My new one is at 74 feet and is working out even better! I am very pleased. I don't think it can be beat as far as value/performace go. My tower could have handled a lot more boom(Trylon T500) but I chose this antenna and have not been disappointed in the least. LB quads are sturdy and built to last.