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Reviews For: Cushcraft A3S

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

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft A3S
Reviews: 87MSRP: 599
Description:
3 ELEMENT BEAM ON A 14' BOOM
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraftamateur.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00874
W0YN Rating: 2006-06-02
Nice Beam Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just installed a new A3S several weeks ago. High quality parts and an excellent performer. Antenna looks heavy duty and well built for weighing 27 pounds. Low SWR on bands and low end of 6 meters also. Not advertised for 6 meters, haven't tried it up there. Mine is up 30 feet and have worked some good DX. Very good front to back. Like most of the other reviews, I'm pleased with this beam and Cushcraft has a nice product.
XE1ZVO Rating: 2006-06-01
Great Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this antenna new, boxed and installed about 2 years ago. Great Low SWR, worked many DX including 3Y0X with only 60 Watts. Later i added the 40 Meter KIT and found in 40 meters a little bit high SWR. I have a TS-2000 with a TL922 and so far it has not failed, SWR never goes up. I live on the highest place of my city and all the day winds are dealing with it; still, no problem at all

73 de Alex XE1ZVO www.dxxe.org
LB1UE Rating: 2006-04-24
Good antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
If it were'nt for the installation manual, I would've given this antenna a 5.

1: The tubing should be marked with codes.
Due to an error in the manual (188cm) should be (118) cm. I lost 30 valuable minutes because I had to disassemble one of the elements.

2: The tuning examples from the manual (CW - Center - High SSB) should be marked on the tubing. You will save 5-10 minutes total time.

3: The spacing inbetween caps. is not possible to achieve.
In the manual you have a 15.2cm spacing, the tubing is. 13cm. and you should have 0.95mm spacing between the tube and the cap.

0.95 x 2 = 1.90
1.90 + 13 = 14.90 ... woops, we're missing 3mm here.

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I spite of these details, the antenna is very simple to assemble, it's light weight makes the installation easy, and it looks pretty impressive.

The construction is not so dofferent from other antennas in alu. I'm only worried about one part, and that is the fibertube used for the driver elements. It's hollow, should be solid.

I also missed a balun. I had to extend the cords on my old balun, and I do not like it at all.
I have to order a new one. This should be an option with the antenna.

I noticed Cushcraft recommend RG-8. I'm young, but this cable is old. I can't even get it here in Norway. RG-213 is it's successor and even RG-58 is capable of doing HF without any considerable loss.

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Mounting and placing the elements along the boom is easy. After you decode the schema (if you try before you decode it won't fit) it seems the antenna is unbalanced. I would like the mounting bracket for the mast to be in the center, and antenna tuned for this option.

To get the antenna horizontal, I need to force it, using the brackets, hence the extra force pushing it up, will make the metal vulnerable for heavy winds / temperatures.

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Since the antenna at my QTH is mounted only 21ft above ground, I can't give any test results yet. Although, I ran Ghana with 100W and got a 55. I guess 9 more ft will make this a 59, will do so during the spring/summer.
NU0R Rating: 2006-04-01
fantastic beam Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my A-3( not A-3S) since about 1984. I have never had to take it down in all of those years. It has been a flawless performer from the first qso. I run PSK mostly and with 3 to5 watts I consistantly work the world. I find no need to run over 10 watts on PSK31 with this antenna. It is rare that I call someone who does not return my call on the first try, even in the current solar minimum. The elements are still straight and no problems at all with the traps even though I lost the plastic trap end covers many years ago. Apparently they are more cosmetic than functional. I also use it on CW and RTTY and SSB. Again it is a great antenna. I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking to greatly improve thier stations performance. I don'[t have the stainless model, but I will have if and when this one dies on me. At 53 years of age, I have had it for over a third of my life and I would not be surprised if it outlasts me. HI HI If you get a chance to buy one, do it. You will be very happy you did!
KF4EOM Rating: 2006-01-15
Crap! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Complete crap! Had it up for a few months and it was ok, took it down and installed the 40 meter add on kit and it all went down hill from there. Could never get the swr down from 2:1 on 20 or 40. The tubing wasn't cut to the right size. The traps were for the wrong antenna. The instructions were vague and blurry and full of inaccuracies.

Had a big wind storm today, 30 mph winds continuous for 36 hours. The director, which is attached to the boom with one C clamp, just wiggled itself right off and fell 50 feet to the ground. It was tightened to the point of bending the aluminum when I put it up.

Bad quality control, bad support from Cushcraft and cheap components equals a complete waste of money.
VY0CF Rating: 2005-11-09
A good hard weather dx antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought the A3S in 1993 for price and shipping weight/ease. Easy to set up and mount. Another ham and I have used this over the years in two locations on 30 foot towers. Great SWR but I use an MFJ tuner to trim the outside ends of the phone bands. The A3S required no real maintenance and has withstood winds of 135km and weeks during the winter months at -35 to -45 c. Even did split working "the bird" on 15m and 10m with success. No trouble to work DX under most conditions. 73 VY0CF Mike
W5GW Rating: 2005-10-31
Good value for the $ Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I actually have a 1980 circa A3.

One trap went out and I attribute that to my loading up at 700 watts during a very rainy storm that probably filled the trap with excess moisture.

I also have the 30/40 meter add-on although it is not currently installed. It works pretty good, but I notice some reduction in F/B ratio when installed.

Much of the hardware has been replaced over the years by preventive maintenance, but no bent aluminum even tho the antenna has been in 75 MPH wind.

I recently put it up on a new tower and my 4th contact was Angola, West Africa on 20 meters for a distance of about 7,700 miles at S9 running 25 watts on 20 meter PSK31.

Overall, very pleased.
N4ES Rating: 2005-06-20
Light weight, heavy duty performer! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Operating two DX contests from WP2Z using an A3S gave me the incentive to finally put up a tower and beam - Cushcraft A3S, of course! If a lightweight beam like the A3S can take the constant beating of the tradewinds on the 900 foot high mountaintop at WP2Z in St. Croix, USVI, with serious high power contesting from the Alpha 87A, it should last forever here in Florida running modest power. I'm a skinny guy, and most full-power tri-band beams are massive beasts. The A3S is light weight, attractive, and very easy to handle. I had no trouble lifting the A3S onto the porch roof, then the upstairs roof. My wife pulled the rope on the gin pole as I guided the A3S onto the mast, and viola! On installation set for the CW bands, the VSWR was high, especially on 10m. 15m and 20m worked best in the phone bands. I pulled it down and found that the 10m traps were tuned for 30.5 MHz - from a bad lot. WHY did I skip the ground test recommended in the A3S instructions??? A Sunday email via the Cushcraft web site prompted multiple emails and calls from Ed Hammond, WN1I, until he reached me at work on Monday. I explained the problem, and Ed had a complete set of ALL TRAPS tested by Cushcraft engineering and rushed to me by UPS 2nd day air. I reassembled the A3S, checked it on the ground, and put it back in the sky. Now, it works perfectly. Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you deal with it. Cushcraft gets AAAA++++ for "how you deal with it," and the A3S is a real performer. Rich, N4ESS, and I just earned 2nd place for DX in the 2005 ARRL DX CW High Power Multi-Single category from WP2Z using the Cushcraft A3S tri-bander and the XM-240 40m beam, plus dipoles for 80m and 160m. The "other brand" beam had broken insulators from the sun and wind needed repairs. 73 DE N4ES.
HR2PAC Rating: 2005-05-02
Just got it!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just bought this antenna used from a local ham buddy and it comes with the A743 40 meter add on kit. So far the only comment I can say is that they are built out of good quality materials and it seems like the antenna provides good performance as well. I cannot complain much considering that this ham buddy of mine practically gave it to me for nothing (He just bought a huge Tennadyne log periodic) and so I'll have to come back and update my review once this "pig" is up in the air, till then 73's from HR land.
I2BGQ Rating: 2005-04-07
GREAT ANTENNA Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had up this antenna from 2 years, bought it used, I never had any problem since the first tuning. I installed it on a 8 meters tower above my house roof with a 35 meters feeding coaxial line, rotator is CDR45. No problems with traps nor with SWR wich is optimal on all 3 bands, close to 1:1. Very good antenna design, excellent front to back ratio, good gain in spite of the reduced dimensions.