| WB3IGR |
Rating:      |
2016-10-25 | |
| Well worth it! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I can't say anything negative about this antenna. Six meters 80 meters, this is a "NO TUNE" antenna. SWR is virtually flat on all bands. And I have mine ground mounted. |
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| KG5MNE |
Rating:      |
2016-09-12 | |
| Great vertical |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Only have room for a light vertical due to having to mount to ladder on motorhome, but this antenna exceeded my expectations, even with the current poor band situation. Contacts East to West thus far, with only 100 watts. SWR no problem on any band. Highly recommend it! |
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| VE6CWG |
Rating:      |
2016-03-31 | |
| It Works! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Got this antenna last year, have it mounted about 10 feet AGL about 25 feet from houses, 100 feet low loss coax.
To be honest, I wanted simple (first HF station, only 2 years a HAM). Did my research, and picked this as my choice.
Simply put, it is a solid 5 on the Simple and Works scale! Had it up in less than 1 hour, and was on the air to California from Alberta, Canada. Wow! Since then, I have added Japan, New Zealand, Russia, France, most of Canada and the US, Brazil and keep chocking up the DX list.
I have sunk a concrete mount into the ground and have a setup that I can take the whole thing down in 2 min (or less). And hope to try it a bit higher this summer (stay tuned). I can also grab it and use it in a portable sense (about 15 min to dismantle it), took it camping, threw it up tied to the back of the trailer, and was working most of North America that weekend.
Is it the best antenna, no, it's a compromise, I knew that going in. But the simplicity and low profile make up for that. And like I said, it does work!
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| KK6ZTI |
Rating:      |
2016-03-27 | |
| Followup on my Mar 23, 2016 01:40 Review |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
This is a followup on my review from Mar 23, 2016 at 01:40.
I'm upgrading this antenna to a 5.
Over a few hours last night and an hour today through the CQ contest pileups, I've had consistent 59 QSOs from my station in urban Los Angeles to Northern California, Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Hawaii, Alaska, British Columbia, Australia, Japan, Barbados and Portugal. All contacts made with 100W on my FT-450d on 80m, 40m, 20m and 15m using the stock hand mic. SWR basically flat throughout. Most contacts responded after my first call and rarely asked for a repeat of any information.
Noting a key change in my setup made this possible. I've placed a HyEnd Allbander Line Isolator right at the Yaesu FT-450d coax feed and a Unadilla Big One HF isolator at the Comet CHA-250b coax feed point. I also removed the MFJ-931 Artificial Ground (2nd floor shack) because it mysteriously won't work once the isolators are inline. As for coax, I'm on a 100' run of LMR-400 and there's an 8 loop air-core choke of it right after the Unadilla isolator near the Comet CHA-250b feed point.
Although I find this antenna remarkable at this point, it's latest performance here probably wouldn't be possible without the isolators.
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Earlier 4-star review posted by KK6ZTI on 2016-03-23
I'm a new HAM. This is the first antenna I've ever owned.
Took about an hour to roof mount it with guy wires. Roof is about 25' high. Location is urban Los Angeles. Tall trees and other structures nearby. Barely within a safe distance from power lines.
Running 100' LMR-400 from it to a Yaesu FT-450d in a second floor shack. Using MFJ-931 for artificial RF ground.
Low SWR as advertised. In conjunction with my 450d auto-tuner, I'm rarely above flat on all working bands. Never seen it above 3 without the tuner on.
I get great results on 80m, 60m, 40m and 20m. Getting great RX on 10m but no QSOs yet so can't opine on TX. There's rarely traffic when I'm on 10m and it's mostly local FM repeaters. I often go to websdr.org, load up in and out of state stations and hear most of what they do on 80m & 40m nearly as well, the same or sometimes better. Those stations run mono band dipoles, big log periodic and loops. Some may argue I’ve no prior antenna ownership to compare the CHA-250B to but the foregoing tests render my opinion worth considering.
I've had solid QSOs with CA, FL, NJ, NM, WA, OK, TX, Aruba, Mexico City, Baja and probably more that I can't remember at the moment; day and night, mostly during fair ionospheric conditions. Some stations acted surprised when I told them I was on a CHA-250B. Am I ever not heard or get weak signal reports, yes… just like everyone else does.
Two weeks ago we had a big storm here. Lightning struck a power line a block away, knocking out neighborhood service for about 8 hours. Winds were between 40-60MPH for many hours. The WX was broadcasting fatal hazard warnings. The tall pines outside moved more than I thought possible. Lived here 42 years and never remember anything like this in L.A. before. Was cursing myself for recently setting up a radio antenna while frantically disconnecting it from the shack, unplugging everything inside and cutting off the gas. My point? CHA-205B looks and performs like it never happened, although I doubt that would be the outcome without my guy wires and tape seals over all joints and connector points.
Due to polarity and other design characteristics, it's occasionally easier to be heard 1,000+ miles away vs. 100 miles away. Regardless, I've had plenty of local QSOs.
The only selling point I disagree with is that it's supposedly stealthy. In my opinion it looks like what it is, a 24' antenna with guy wires. There've been a string of burglaries on my street lately, some just a block away. We haven't been hit and I occasionally wonder if this thing on the roof smells like the law to unintelligent crooks. I'd prefer a less noticeable antenna, yet standard dipoles or end feds might not improve noise, RX or TX much amidst nearby obstructions.
I'll soon install a crude counterpoise of wires. Didn't realize it has pre-drilled holes for this at the base housing. Owners who've done it claim significant improvements. I believe it.
Although I was still getting out before having one, the MFJ-931 artificial ground majorly improved my TX. If you're on the second floor like me, use one. Chances are you'll realize what you thought was a antenna problem is an RFI issue.
It's expensive, at least compared to a good dipole or end fed. Then again, it works more bands than most and you won't tear up the yard installing it. If I had a big budget, a giant plot and had Army Ranger climbing skills then I’d probably operate a big yagi putting anything less to shame. Until and unless I meet the above criteria, I’ll stick with my CHA-250B.
If you still think this dummy load sucks, check out these excerpts of my six year old daughter’s QSO on 40m with four stations during poor ionospheric conditions and a 4MHz MUF propagation forecast. Two of them were in Mexico…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mELHzoODY5c
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| KT8DX |
Rating:      |
2016-02-14 | |
| Update |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Moved the comet to the top of my house (about 35 feet up) and have 100 feet of LMR-400 feeding it. Still working well for me - in fact I installed a GAP Eagle and didn't seem to be much difference between the two. The Comet was better than the Eagle on 40 by far.
Its durability is good too. So - I continue to be happy with this carefree antenna. |
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| G4VVQ |
Rating:  |
2015-12-31 | |
| Rubbish |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought one of these about 5 years ago, its been blowing around in the wind ever since, it started to go intermittent, I ended up taking it down and looking at it, I have never seen anything made so bad, I took the bottom off, and it seems the only connection was 2 screws that touch each other at 90 degree angle that makes the antenna, mine got loose the hole got elongated and the two threads would touch and not touch so it went on and off, there is no lead from one bit to the other, terrible thing, and there not very waterproof, you need to dill holes in the bottom to let the water out, and the top bush on the loading coil, it was waltzing about everywhere...i'll never buy another one, i cut it up and threw it in the bin, I have put up a dipole instead hi...works much better...from Fred g4vvq. |
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| WA6BFG |
Rating:     |
2015-10-26 | |
| Wow much better than I thought |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Wow much better than I thought. I've had numerous vertical Antennas in different locations in my 43 years in ham radio. Have had very good luck with verticals some better than others most the other verticals I used where following R6000,R7000 to name a few and they worked quite well. I have moved into a location six months ago that provides a little limited space so I thought I might try one of these 250B. I worked the contest last weekend just to give this guy a work out. Although I didn't open any bands I did manage to work quite a bit of DX with the 100 Watts. I'll give you a little rundown worked Bonaire , Asiatic Russian, Australia, Hawaii, Alaska, State of Maine sundry other US stations. The primary bands that we worked 10 and 15 and just a couple on 20. I could hear quite a few Europeans but I couldn't get through the pileups from the East Coast. About as far south as I could get was Mexico I heard some South American stations but no joy. I've got everything installed on aircraft aluminum tubing in the backyard at 12 feet I'm feeding it with Low loss coaxial cable 75 foot run from the ham shack to CHA-250B |
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| N7DKL |
Rating:      |
2015-10-24 | |
| Much better than expected |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I have very small lot that is almost all cement, so radials are not really an option. I thought I would give this antenna a try and really didn't expect much but WOW, I have been very surprised! I have it mounted about 20 feet in the air on an expandable flagpole (thank you Harbor Freight) and the only "radials" are the three guy wires from the base. I run a Kenwood TS-2000 at 100 watts and use a MFJ-929 tuner. I get less than 1.3:1 SWR all the way from 1.8-30 Mhz. I have made contacts all over the USA including Alaska, Hawaii and PR, as well as Canada, Australia, Finland, Cuba, Croatia, Japan, Cyprus, Estonia, Aland Islands, Russia, Columbia and the South Cook Islands. Not too bad for an aluminum stick. |
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| AD4C2006 |
Rating:  |
2015-10-22 | |
| Not a good antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I always has been very curious about this "misterious" vertical that has a very low SWR from 3.5 to 55 Mhz and certainly its amazing how well matched is in all HF and VHF bands, the highest reading I have is on 3.8 Mhz which is just 1.7 but in the rest of all bands including 6M is less than 1.5 been only 1.1 in several bands.
But low SWR don't mean efficiency, I can put a dummy load in a pole capable of handling 250W and radio/amp will be happy but nobody will hear me far away and that is what this antenna is, I will call it an efficient dummy load.
I have it installed over a 20 feet galvanized pole without any radials and the bazooka dipole is also at same altitud but horizontally mounted.
The radiated energy compared with any other antenna is much less, I have compared it with my bazooka for 40M that is flat in that band but could be tuned in any other bands over 7Mhz and the difference is day to night.
When I get a solid S9 with the bazooka dipole, the received report from this vertical will be S4 to S5, an average of 50% less power radiated so be prepared to lose that amount of power if you are going to spend big bucks on this low efficiency vertical.
The antenna is quite and I guess is precisely because of lack of gain but is not the choice for a home restrictions place like I am living at.
Chances are that eventually I will put it down and replace it for any other more efficient multiband antenna but at least I fixed my curiosity. Nobody will tell me how good or bad this antenna is because I have tested it by my own.
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| N5UXT |
Rating:  |
2015-10-05 | |
| Design Flaw |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This antenna work fairly good until about 4 years. The SWR went up on all frequencies. After talking to NCG the cost for a new Transformer is around 189.00 plus shipping. I only paid a little under 300.00 for the antenna back then.
After doing some research, I found there is a design Flaw in the seal for the 12:1 transformer. Water gets into the coil and causes the SWR to go up.
For a good Web site about this, feel free to look at http://www.vk5zd.com/CHA250/CHA250.aspx .
I would recommend the copy version of this antenna From Jetstream which is a lot cheaper $289.00 and according to NCG, it is just a copy.
Overall, I would not recommend this antenna all. It will end up going bad.
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