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Reviews For: Comet CHA250B

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Comet CHA250B
Reviews: 138MSRP: 449.
Description:
The Comet CHA250B broadband vertical antenna will amazingly cover 75/80 meters through 6 meters with no gaps! Transmit range is 3.5-57 MHz and receive range is 2-90 MHz. SWR <1.5:1. This 23.5 foot vertical requires no radials and weighs only 7.1 lbs. The antenna consists of five sections of aluminum tubing that slide into each other. The bottom section has the matching network built-in. Only two simple measurements are required during the easy assembly. It can handle 250 watts SSB and 125 watts FM. SO-239 input. Mounts on a 1 to 2 inch mast (not supplied). Rated for 67 MPH wind survival.

Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cometantenna.com/amateur-radio/base-antennas/multi-band-hfvhfuhf-2/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
24.51383.7
KC3AAF Rating: 2015-07-10
Works well for multiband vertical Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I am in an antenna-restricted area and did some comparisons with other vertical antennas before choosing this antenna. A bit of advice I took from Elmers is always use low loss coaxial cable, so I used LMR-400 and have good results using this antenna. SWR is lelss than 1.5 across all bands. RX is a little better than TX, more so on 10m. I feel location of any antenna system greatly affects RX/TX. My location is elevated, and using a maximum of 100 watts has provided QSO's in WA, OR, WY, AZ, NM, SD, TX, MO, MN, KS, and most every state east of the Mississippi river on 40m SSB and 80m SSB. With 20 watts on 10m, 15m, and 20m I have also done PSK31 to South America, Spain, Italy, and England, besides around the USA. Overall, I am very pleased with The Comet CHA250B.
T88SS Rating: 2015-06-28
Poor Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Later on, I will provide the pros and cons of my new Comet CHA-250B vertical antenna. I’ve only had my antenna up a little over a month so my review is based on the amount of time it has been up in the air. As many of you are aware of, HF band conditions have been at their worse so I am taking that into consideration and just basing my comments on the stations that I have worked.

I was so excited when my antenna first arrived here in Palau. I was also surprised that it could be shipped via USPS without any special shipping and handling.

As so many other reviews have stated, this antenna is very easy to install and put up. And only requires two(2) measurements. One of the other strong points and one of the main reasons that I ordered this antenna, was how small and lightweight. Only 8 lb.

I guess the biggest problem if I really must pick one, is just how poorly this antenna receives. I work a lot of JA’s from Palau and 99% of the time, my transmit signal is always stronger (much higher) than what I receive. Most of the time, my receive signal is 3 to 5 S-units lower. This varies from band to band, but not much improvement no matter what band I try.

Some good news and I will report back later once this matter is taken care of. I purchased my antenna from HRO in the states and they are aware of the problems that I am having. This is still in the works and I may write more about this later on.

I guess one bad thing to report is that I was told by HRO, to install some ground radials. What? Their ad states that ground radials are not needed. That was a big disappointment. I’m living in an apartment surrounded by a concrete paved parking lot no matter where I look. And the other disappointment (which I did not see stated anywhere) is that Comet recommends mounting this vertical 35 feet up in the air. My apartment building is only 30 feet high. No way can I do this.

Even though this write-up does not reflect favorably on my new Comet antenna, I am not a quitter and I am still working to improve its performance. If I am successful, I will write a new review saying what improvements were done to make this happen.

Pros:

1. Very easy to install
2. Extremely lightweight for a vertical 23 ½ feet long.
3. Well built strong polished aluminum and uses stainless steel hardware
4. Seems to transmit okay on most bands whenever band conditions are up

Cons:

1. Reception is very poor
2. Advertisement does state that ground radials are necessary
3. Advertisement does not state recommended operating height is 35 feet
4. Also states that being guyed is not necessary (guy wire ring is included)

Summary: How can such a beautifully, well-made antenna, not perform well? My guess is, they (the designers) tried to cover way too many bands and just failed to obtain optimum performance as advertised. Maybe they should consider making a high band and a low band HF antenna and see if that will work.

If everything else fails, meaning things that I try and whatever HRO recommends that I try, I will shop around and look for a replacement vertical. I just do not have the room for wire antennas. Cheers – T88SS


KD9DLR Rating: 2015-06-15
Exactly as advertised Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased this antenna as I am space limited - no room for a wire, and definitely can't install ground radials. This was shipped fast (from HamRadioOutlet), assembled in under 20 minutes. SWR 1.5 or lower across the band, climbing rapidly as you neared the 160 band. I only had it up a few minutes on a tripod mount about 8 ft off the ground, but was able to test the radio and find some CW and data traffic. I hope to have it mounted on a mast by next weekend, but I would recommend it.
WB2JNQ Rating: 2014-10-09
I LOVE IT!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I live in a typical Brooklyn working class neighborhood. As such, my house sits on a huge 20' x 100' lot..... and you all know what they say about a "tree growing in Brooklyn". So.... Not much chance of running a wire that would require any length. Looked around and finally bought the Comet CHA250B, mounted it up on my roof with the recommended 100' of low loss cable, (I've got to say that NCG offered great customer service in answering any questions I had), and BAM! I'm on 80 meters being told I'm blasting them with only 100 watts of power... A crystal clear 5 x 9 !! I then Played around on some other bands and got similar results! All of this without the need for radials or having to pound an 8' grounding rod into the ground with the heel of my boot :-). Yeah... I know that a Yagi will do even better, but from where I am in Brooklyn... and the limited space I have to work with... I LOVE MY COMET!!!
KC9JZF Rating: 2014-09-08
Great Service! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My first attempt at installing this antenna resulted in my helper (neighbor) dropping the 20 feet of mast and the antenna into some bushes, bending 3 of the tubes. I called Mick at NCG and he got my replacements out the same day! They even arrived before they were scheduled!

The second attempt went much better. I have the base at only 24 feet and I am working DX like crazy on several bands. This antenna is very broadband and I can even use 160 meters with my built in tuner. I am replacing a Gap Titan and I am very pleased.
KK6OCN Rating: 2014-08-11
Worth the price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm a new ham and I wanted to start out with a decent, easy to use, multiband vertical. I researched alternatives and even though there were some negative reviews on the CHA250B, I chose it over all the others and am glad I did. I've been on the air for around a month and have made contacts in the U.S., Russia, Lithuania, Australia, Chile, Finland and other countries with mostly 59 reports. I even got picked out of some pretty heavy DX pile ups. It is a bit noisy, which I understand is typical of verticals. What I like most is that it is so broadbanded. I get my best SWR of 1.1:1 on 20, but at its worst,I get 1.6:1 on the lower bands without a tuner. I have had good signal reports on 12, 15, 17, 20, & 40 meters with only 100 watts on SSB. I have not attempted any contacts on 80, 10, or 6 meters yet. I was looking for a reliable, easy to use first antenna and this one fit the bill. I'll probably put up some home built single band dipoles to experiment in the future, but I'll always keep the Comet to rely on.
KC9YGN Rating: 2013-12-12
It's a decent antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had the 250B up and running here since Feb. 2013 and it's been a reasonably good antenna. I wanted an antenna that I could get up quickly, wouldn't require a tower or extensive guying, and didn't require a lot of ground radials, and this one fit the bill.

Putting the antenna together literally took just minutes. It was fully assembled in less than half an hour. All you do is put the sections together and put in a few screws and attach some clamps and it's ready to go. The only tools needed are a screw driver and a tape measure.

SWR without using a tuner was 1.7:1 or better across all of the bands it's advertised to work on. The internal tuners on my transceivers easily bring that down to 1.1:1, even on 160 mHz.

And it does work. I generally work fairly low power (usually 60 watts or less) using PSK, and I've made contacts in Europe, South America, and all across the U.S. with this antenna.

Pros:

>Very easy to assemble. It can be put together in half an hour or less using just a screwdriver.
>Doesn't require ground radials. It's basically just a big, aluminum pole.
>Compact in size and unobtrusive.
>Sturdy. it's handled 60+ mph winds with no problems.
>Easy to mount. Mine's mounted at ground level on a 2 inch pipe driven into the ground.

Cons:

>It's a multi-band vertical antenna, which means a lot of compromises have to be made to get it to work at all. Don't expect that it will perform as well as a full size dipole or Yagi antenna.
>Can only handle 250 watts of power.
>Expense. At $350 - $400, it's not exactly cheap (although cheaper than a lot of other mutiband verticals). You can easily make your own (and better performing) antenna for a heck of a lot less money if you have the space to string up some wire outside.

PY2ONU Rating: 2013-10-03
Good Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This antena is a good antena for little areas. iT has a huge gain as a yagi, a large vertical or a dipole but does what it says it should do. The materials are of high quality and good antenna well above location. I've made many DX with it too, make Puerto Rico and Trinidad & Tobago on 6 meters with cha-250bx, good locals qso's in 80 meters also in 40 meters good contacts and some DX in South América. In 10-12-15-17-20-30 meters already made ​​many DX contacts. If you listen to will be able to work. There is an antenna for DX professional to work pile ups or DXCC in all bands but will be able to work well and make many DX with SWR of 1:1 in all bands.
KI6OMO Rating: 2013-09-03
Temperamental Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this antenna because I don't have the room for a beam or wire, well it is very easy to assemble I will give it that, tested the antenna on a tripod with excellent results low SWR readings from 6 meters through 80 meters, finally decided to put it up on my tower, tested out great, after about 3 months it decided to have problems, SWR's were off the scale, checked everything found no problems 3 weeks later it decided to work and have low SWR's. I would't waste my money on one very TEMPERAMENTAL.
JH1OQW Rating: 2013-04-13
I tried 30m band,good result Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I found that 30m band with JT65HF was exciting because
I have contacted USA's(NM,GA,TX,CO)VK6,BA1,RA0,UA9
at UTC11:03 to11:50 on Apr 13 2013.