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Reviews For: Maldol AX-75

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : Maldol AX-75
Reviews: 6MSRP: 59.95
Description:
Dual band (2m/70cm) mobile antenna with PL-259 base, 1/2 wave on 2m, 2x5/8 wave on 70cm
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.maldol.co.jp/maldol/p1.html#apex
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0062.3
K4MC Rating: 2013-02-10
Falls apart Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Mine died the same way as the others reviewed here!

W6SH Rating: 2011-04-27
Beware! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased a Maldol Apex AX-75 from HRO in January 2009 for $59.95. I own several Comet antennas and was pleased with the AX-75’s appearance and form factor as an excellent match for my wife's vehicle. Initial performance was good. A year after purchase, I noticed the cylindrical base of the antenna, which appeared initially to be brushed metal, had paint flaking off, and the base was actually made of a white plastic. This was a surprise as my other NCG/Comet mobile antennas have all-metal construction. Last week the AX-75 broke off through the plastic just above the UHF connector after applying minimal force, destroying the antenna. I complained about this to NCG, and the rep told me that NCG had stopped making this antenna - he's not sure why. He also stated that NCG makes their antennas with a "weak link" since somebody successfully sued after driving a roofmount antenna into a garage and sustaining $1200 damage to his roof when the antenna refused to break. Sounds pretty weak to me. The AX-75 is still sold online - avoid!
VE3PLO Rating: 2010-07-06
Design flaw... Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Antenna worked well-when worked. Plastic barrel that everyone mentiones here broke after 6 months of using the antenna. It was taken down every day and put up every day. I guess it just didn't withstand the use??? If you can put it up and leave it there, i would recommend one.
DMOES Rating: 2010-03-16
not for Canadian Winter Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This antenna preformed well for the first 9 months or so I was really pleased. Then I began to notice that the signal wasn't getting out as well. it was winter with road salt and always wet as time went on it got worse I had to be closer to repeaters and was not receiving we well either. I checked the mount and Coax and found some problems fixed them but still poor reception. I put the meter on and found that the SWR seemed fine. I then tried another antenna and had good reception again. it proved that the AX-75 was at fault. I disassembled the bottom coil assembly and found it wet inside and one of the two capacitors had completely deteriorated and had fallen apart and the other fell apart when I touched it. The wet salt had destroyed both capacitors and had badly corroded the wires. the seal between the plastic and metal was hard and brittle and had let the weather in. this is not a good antenna for wet conditions like the roof of a car in winter. If anyone knows the value of these capacitors I could fix it but until then it will sit in the scrap bin until I find a better alternative.

K8KET Rating: 2008-08-12
Okay...but a design flaw Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my AX-75 about a year and a half ago. I thought it was an good antenna for my IC-208H and it performed fairly well in general use. It seemed like an excellent compromise between longer antennas (which would get smacked by tree limbs over my driveway) and shorter, lower-gain antennas. For reference, a friend of mine has the AX-50 (short) and the AX-95 (longer). All three provided good reception in my repeater-rich environment (Dayton OH area).

Okay...why did I give it a 3/5 then? On first examination, the AX-series antennas appear really well made. They have nicely machined parts and they feel "tight" for a lack of better term. What I discovered is that there is one part made of plastic that should not be, and it's a serious design flaw. The base of the antenna has a plastic barrel, not metal. I didn't know this because it's painted, and quite honestly, I never thought about it until it was destroyed.

I was at the car wash, trying to unscrew the antenna from the mount and the antenna kept unscrewing between the base connector and the base coil rather than at the mount. I used a rubber pad and a plier to get the antenna base connector loose from the mount and when I got home, I unscrewed the loose part a bit and put a few drops of thread locker on it and tightened it down. When I went to thread the antenna back onto the mount and it began to snug, the plastic barrel just crumbled. I guess the thread locker dissolved the plastic. The whole base of the antenna fell apart, resulting in a total loss of the antenna.

When I went to R and L to buy a new antenna, I found that there weren't any models that had the gain-to-length ratio I was looking for. All of the antennas were longer (remember the tree branches?) or much shorter with dismal gain. My friend graciously offered to loan me his AX-50 indefinitely but what I learned next changed my mind.

Be sure to check the dB rating of the antenna to make sure it's not "dBi." The smallish mobile antennas (1/4 wave) usually are measured in dBi, which is a gain figure based on a theoretical isotropic model that doesn't really exist in the real world but allows makers of low-gain antennas to list a higher gain figure than what the antenna would have using a traditional dB scale. Armed with this useful-but-embarrassing fact (embarrassing because I didn't know the difference), I opted to get a Diamond NR-770HA, which is larger but built much better and has better gain. I paid about $3 more and got 3 dB more gain.

The AX-75 was decent antenna while it lasted. Just be sure you're aware of the plastic parts and be sure to do an apples-to-apples comparison when comparing gain figures (subtract 2.0-2.5 dB for anything listing gain in dBi).
W4KTF Rating: 2005-07-08
Works well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just received my antenna, RS-720 mount, and 3D5M coax assembly. Using this combination with my Yaesu FT-7800R it works wonderfully. I checked the SWR's and on both 2 meters and 70 centimeters the SWR's are under 1.5 to 1 . I have it mounted on the hood of our truck, because we have a garage and I cannot mount anything on the roof. I'm sure the performance is a little downgraded because of the mounting position, but it works pretty well. I had several QSO's on repeaters, and nobody has complained about my signal yet.