| K3HW |
Rating:  |
2008-07-23 | |
| WORKS WELL FOR ME |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| This will be my first review of this antenna and I will do another one at the 6 months mark. I have only been using this antenna for a week but since I put it up with base at about 18 feet off the back roof I have had no problem working anything I can hear. I have made 27 contacts in about 2 hours total of casual operating time. Contacts made were on 6, 10, 15, 20, and 40 meters. I have not really tried it out on 80 meters yet. SWR is flat 1-1 across all the bands from 80 to 6. It is a compromise antenna and if you have the space and desire to put up another vertical with as many radials as you can then go for it. For me that was not possible and this antenna is low profile, keeps the XYL happy, and makes me happy with being able to work whatever I hear usually with 5-9 and 15 to 20 over results. I understand the comments made by some on here but this compromise antenna works for me. |
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| KC1RS |
Rating: |
2008-04-12 | |
| Pick your battles.... |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The CHA-250Bx vertical from Comet is a decent vertical antenna for 20m and up. In fact, it works very well on 15m as I have worked most of S.America on it using only 100W. With a tuner you can go down to 160m but don't expect much. It is a surprisingly good receive antenna and will pick up everything from LW to UHF and I've had great success on MW/BCB piping it into a Misek phasing box with an aircore loop (gotta pad down the Comet about 10dB here for it to fly).
I have mine up 20' fed with LMR-400 and have a substantial ground sytem. I like the looks and lightness of the thing but am a bit perplexed as to why just a light wind storm in February put kinks into the top two sections. Comet replaced them free of charge and only required that I submit a pic of the antenna as proof.
The older models are prone to bending, especially if you have it on a mast that might whip the thing when exposed to 40+ mph gusts.
Don't get your hopes up for 40 and 80 meters although it will get out and you can make contacts. It doesn't compete even with a very low height dipole on these lower bands though there are times when it might receive better.
The antenna is not really worth the money for a location where you have wire or rotatable dipoles as alternatives.
If Comet optimized the CHA250 for 40m and higher, beefed it up for more power, and sold it for around $325....it would be a real winner.
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| W5WSS |
Rating: |
2008-04-09 | |
| a performance report |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I operated in the recent CQ wpx contest using the Comet with non conductive support poles and rope the antenna base was at a low height of only 20' lashed to the cabin balcony. A temporary installation indeed. The extent of my participation was a total of 6 hours so I do not qualify to send my log to CQ. Anyway I used 100 watts pep power and the results were 172 contacts. One was with nh6p on 40. Considering that the majority of the time I operated the bands were insanly crowded,(3khz qrm was much stronger than my signal) I am ever more impressed with the Comet vertical. Later During the 4:00am to 6:00 am cst. early morning I listened to zl's and vk's on 40 at S-9 signal strength and s-0 noise level! One in particular called qrz contest repeatedly during the time frame...he made zero contacts,he took no calls yet his signal here was 599. So I think we can become used to our average height horizontal antennas propensities that better hear a different layer of signals than a vertical polarised radon or vice/versa! And more often than not some mistakenly use that as a comparator. The same can be said that the vertical hears better a certain layer of vertically polarised signals(DX) so take your pick! Just a thought When making antenna comparisons we should not compare the horizontal dipole to a vertical radon during a propogation mode that favors the horizontal polarity whether it be a dipole or a beam etc. So you may be asking how do you know when that is the absolute case? There are no simple,absolute answers... I can speculate indefinitely such as(horizontal antenna height and the relationship that is intrinsic to ground proximity as it pertains to its lobe formation, focal points of toa resulting in strong signals yet short distance hops(nvis)etc. So why the vk was S-9 here on my Comet yet for 2 hours he replied to zero calls? The answer is found over time with experience of using your antenna. Careful..when comparing the vertical to a horizontal radiator via skywave remeber that the vertical has a better propensity to DX due to low toa not <800 mile hops using high toa nvis. I am just reporting what I accomplished while using the vertical during a contest environment...the antenna works good. Regards w5wss 73 |
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| KC9JAR |
Rating: |
2008-04-07 | |
| very good performance |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| This vertical operates very well. I am very pleased with its performance. I have this antenna mounted on a telescopic mast. The base of the antenna is 27 feet above ground and 2 feet above my roof line. I have QSOs all over North America also Canada, Mexico Central America plus DX in South America, Western Europe, Caribbean and I expect to make more DX QSOs to other parts of the world. I would recommend this vertical antenna to anyone who's looking for a stealth operation or a light weight antenna that's roof mounted or on a balcony a deck or another stealth application. Because of its light weight you can use your imagination.I will do a another review in a few months. |
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| N7SSB |
Rating: |
2008-02-02 | |
| VERY STRANGE |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
VERY STRANGE THE MIX OF REVIEWS ON THIS ANT.
I HAVE HAD MINE ABOUT 6 MONTHS AND I AM IMPRESSED WITH IT TOTALLY.
IT IS MOUNTED AT 25 FT TO BASE OF ANT ON A CHIMNEY MOUNT.
I DONT EVEN HAVE A GROUND WIRE ATTACHED ETC.
I HAVE MADE CONTACTS HERE FROM ARIZONA TO NC, NY, AND ALL NORTH AND IN BETWEEN ON ALL BANDS.
DONT NEED TO USE THE INTERNAL TUNER ON MY PRO III.
EASY TO ASSEMBLE AS WELL, I WOULD RECCOMEND THAT THOSE THAT GAVE IT A 0/5 CHECK ALL CONNECTIONS AND CO-AX ETC. NOW,I WAITED FIRST TO BUY MINE DUE TO ANOTHER LOCAL HAM BOUGHT ONE FIRST AND I WAITED TO SEE HOW HIS DID AND IT WAS ONLY 15FT TO BASE MOUNT AND I WAS IMPRESSED WITH HIS AS WELL FIRST. AND SO IS HE. |
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| VK5ZDB |
Rating: |
2008-01-24 | |
| Average for what it is. |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I purchased this as my secondary antenna. For what it is (i.e. a broadband vertical antenna) the performance seems about average. It's never going to be as good as a resonant dipole. The construction quality appears to be very good. The unit is solid and has stood up to everything nature has to offer (so far). I have it mounted at about 8m and fed with RG-213 to my IC-7400.
Having said that, mine failed after 4 months. This turned out to be due to corrosion on the ground wire to the coax socket. To satisfy my curiosity, I decided to attempt repair rather than resort to the warranty. For those that want to know what's inside, the details can be found here: http://www.vk5zdb.com/cha250bxii.pdf
73's
Iain |
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| KD4DWP |
Rating:  |
2008-01-15 | |
| Does not work at all. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I Installed this antenna about 30 feet off of the ground. Observed 1.5 or less swrs from 14-28 MHZ. Heard some hams on 20, 17, and 10 meters. Could not work any of them. Comparing this to an IMAX 2000 at about the same height. I can load the IMAX from 17-10 meters. Talked to 4 hams and noticed from 1 gentleman 7-9 s units. Switched to the Comet and he went down to 0-1 S unit. That is just not acceptable to me. Returned to store. Either this antenna was a lemon or just does not work at all. Stay away from! I am in the process of getting my money back and will update this review. I did check and double check all connections. That did not help. Rig used was an Icom 746 non Pro. Thank you. |
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| VA3GRP |
Rating: |
2007-12-06 | |
| not worth the money at all |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
A friend and I bought a Comet CHA-250Bx antenna this past month. Because both of us don't have lots of room for a longwire ant., we decided to give the Comet a try. My friend and I live only 40 miles apart, and there is no way this antenna wil allow us to Qso. I can't hear him, he can't hear me, even though we're using 200 watts of output power towards each other. I admit the matches are within what they say they will be,around 1.5 to 1, and at times it brings in some, not all distant signals. I realized quickly that this antenna was not for me. Signal loss on both receive and output told me so. I should have taken the time to build a vert. antenna. I would have been better off, by far. Not only would it have cost less money, but would have worked, (at least from 40m. down to 10m.) and would have been a 95% more efficient antenna all round. The only problem I have (like other hams abroad), is room to erect it in such a small space we have in our yard. I find this antenna not worthy of it's high cost, or rating on the ham market. The price should have been, either Comet gave it away as a gift or pay me to take it off their hands, either one I won't accept after this ordeal. How others fine it works good is beyond me, it simply is a dud structure attached to a mast pipe, with coax connected to it. Outside dummy-load is more like it. I can't even call this an antenna, it's totally not worthy of it being named that, by anyone. It's simply junk at the end of a 35' tower mast. Anyone want to buy mine off me? It's now up for sale to whomever wants to buy junk. That's both my friends oppinion as well as myself....simply a costly piece of JUNK!!!!!. This should be forced off the market, and all money spent on them, refunded back to buyers of this so-called, Comet CHA-250bx antenna.
Rate this antenna...out of one to ten,..... I'd say it didn't make even a half point up the scale to one, if it even raised the scale at all.That's my oppinion about this piece of whatever you call it. It's certainly not an antenna that's for sure.
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| N5JBD |
Rating: |
2007-10-22 | |
| No Dummy Load Here |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Purchased in May. I settled on the Comet because of its very low profile look. I live in a "no antenna" community. It went together fast and did not need additional tuning. I have the antenna mounted 15' above ground and run 250w.
Since upgrading to General in September I have worked 25 states and 6 nations. The Comet works well on 10m, Great on 20m and I have a host of contacts on 40 & 80m. I was worried about 80m after reading some of the reviews but I'm very happy with it. I can depend on it to work TX, LA, OK, CO, KS, MS nets on these bands. At 15' I'd say thats no Dummy Load.
After we move to a more antenna friendly home next year I plan to keep the Comet.
N5JBD
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| W6DTW |
Rating: |
2007-09-12 | |
| Reasonable antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I put one of these up last weekend. It seems like a fairly decent antenna; pulls in signals and seems fairly quiet. This surprised me, since verticals tend to be a bit noisier. I'm surprised by the bimodal distribution of the ratings; some people seem to like it and some hate it. Leaves me to wonder if *where* you install; height, surroundings, etc makes the difference.
By the way, for those who think the big black cylinder is a resistor; I ohm'd it out and it looks more like an inductor. (About 1.7 ohms.)
Full article on the antenna, install, etc is on my blog:
http://sparqi.blogspot.com/2007/09/new-antenna.html
...dtw
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