| WA4ET |
Rating:      |
2006-05-04 | |
| Still happy after 3 years |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Best antenna I ever had. I have had this one up for over 3 years, at 2 different qth's, and it still is a fine antenna. Built like a tank, and is second to no one when you compare it to others. I think force12 could learn a thing or to, when it comes to this antenna, and I was not the only one who thought that.. CushCraft designed a fine antenna. It's really what I would call a hybrid Log antenna. It's log driven driver section is optimized by tunes elements for 10,15,20. No traps to burn out, and It tunes edge to edge, flat as a board. You can easily squeak 12&17 meters in with a little tuner. This is an excellent intermediate size antenna, that really puts out, and receives well also. I never heard a VU before I put this antenna up, the first week or two, I must have put a half dozen in the log.
You might do better, but I think you would be hard pressed to find a better antenna in it’s class |
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| VE2JKA |
Rating:      |
2006-01-30 | |
| Fine Antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Hello everyone
Previous to the x7 I was using a Mosley 6 band 7 element beam. In comparison the x7 kicked the Mosley's ass both were at a height of 70' on a self support trylon tower the Mosley weight in at 120 Lbs wile the x7 was half the weight at 60 lbs.
My 8 year experience with the x7 was an awesome one since day one when the Mosley came down and the x7 went up the tower there was a very noticeable difference in noise level and signals alike my ts-870 came to life I was able to hear the slightest audio with no signal on 20 meters. SWR was incredible on all three bands although not designed for 18 & 24 MHz I was working these bands with a SWR of 2:1.
This antenna made me get rid of my tuners my setup was simple ts-870 + Al-1500 @ 2KW+rock and roll.. BTW I did push 3KW P.E.P. in to the x7 many times over and never had any problems.
The antenna survived winds of 60 to 70 miles per hour many harsh winters and 1 really bad ice storm. Unfortunately I had to take her down for cosmetic reasons since we renovated our home and I'm now waiting for the cushcraft minibeam to put up in her place will report on that one as soon as she's up and running.
In conclusion after a long 8 years this antenna got me around the world many many times with always s9+'s coming my way. Great buy worth the 1K cdn funds I paid at the time.
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| N9MWL |
Rating:      |
2005-01-03 | |
| works great !!!! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
HI I LIKE TO SAY THE X7 BY CUSHCRAFT.. IS VERRY IMPRESSIVE... DID LOTS OF COMPARING TO MY FULL WAVE WIRE UP 30 FEET WELL IT DEFINALLY 100% BETTER.. HEARS STATIONS THAT THE WIRE DOESNT....I DID REPLACE THE ALUMINUM TUNNING STRAPS WITH COPPER ONES...UNDERSTANDING COPPER IS A BETTER CONDUCTER THAT ALUMINUM..
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Earlier 2-star review posted by N9MWL on 2004-04-30
HI ABOUT THE CUSH CRAFT X7 BEAM....GOOD LUCK ON GETTING ALL THE PARTS... THE TUNING STRAPS WERE MISSING WENT TO LOCAL HARD WARE STORE..FOUND WHAT I NEEDED.....COST ABOUT 30$.....CONTIACTED CUSH CRAFT ABOUT THE MISSING PARTS AS OF NOW 5 WEEKS LATER NO WORD!!!! SO NOW ITS READY TO GO ON 40 FOOT TOWER ..I HOPE WHEN YOU BUY YOURS YOU GET ALL THE PARTS THE INSTRUCTIONS CALL FOR...THATS PRETTY SAD HUH... AFTER PAYING NEARLY 700$..........SO HOPEFULLY IT WORK OK......GOOD LUCK.....N9MWL |
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| F6GIB |
Rating:      |
2003-11-15 | |
| my opinion |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Hello,
Probably the best antenna i never had.
I tried in the past other directives, like dj2ut (unstable), ta33, th3, but this antenna is really the best. Nice improvement in my dxcc score, and i lost my tl 922 !!
Needs only the right time for mounting, exactly and precisely take the good length as described in the manual, and no problem: swr curves follows the theorical, mesured with an aea analyser (an other good - very good) product. Antenne is mounted here on a telescopic tower, 60 feets, and works fine for more than 3 years.
If you can, test it, you will be surprised |
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| KP4TR |
Rating:      |
2002-10-05 | |
| This is a great antenna! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had this antenna for a week and I am really satisfied with it. It ships in 2 boxes. It has alot of parts, so I identified each part prior to assembling, which made it easier to put together. Make sure you identify ALL elements and make sure they are not stuck in the larger diameter elements. I had to disassemble an element only to find 2 hidden elements stuck in them. I was missing a clamp and had extra of others, but it was easier to purchase it at Home Depot ($1) rather than calling Cushcraft. SWR is low on all of 20M, 15M and 10M and highest is 1.6:1 on the edges of each band. Using it has resulted in working any station I can hear. If you would like to see pictures of my installation visit http://www.pbase.com/kp4wk/big_thunder.
I used to own the A4S but this one does it one better. I highly recommend it. |
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| CT3FQ |
Rating:  |
2002-01-19 | |
| ISO 9001 Certification ?? |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I had a X7 for more than two years . I Mounted the X7 one year ago on a 40" Tower. I mountend in 4 hours (slowly because I have to check twice the conversion errors between inches and centimeters).
I Haved tested the X7 and the the swr on 10 and 20 m was very plan and excellent(due to the log cels) but on 15 m I had more than 3 and only 3 db FB. I checked once again if I got a instalation error, but all seems ok.
Later I wrote an E-mail no Cushcraft Support (!?) , and Mr. Eddy from Cushcraft support reply to me that the 15m TB traps "never worked and was replaced by new ones called T9 (...)"!!.
Well, I ask them several times by e-mail and Fax (one year ago) to send me the news ones via the Portuguese Dealer, but still today I have no answer from cushcraft.
CUSHCRAFT IS A ISO 9001 USA COMPANY?
73
Carlos
P.S. Sorry for my poor English
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| K8SWD |
Rating:      |
2001-10-15 | |
| Nice, rugged, good performing antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I met the designer of this antenna, Danny Horvath, who was assembling the new Big Thunder series of mono band 5 element beams at the W9EFL Cuschraft test site in Michigan (next door to my sister's house). Danny was assisting Matt Strelow, KC1XX, of XX Towers, with the assmbly. I really liked what he had to say and was particularly impressed with the hardware, especially the boom to mast bracket. I was not in the market for a monobander tree, but wanted something close in performance, yet not as big as the X-9. The X-7 would fit the bill nicely.
Finally it arrived and I spent some time assembling it, along with the 40 meter XM40 kit. It all went together pretty well, until I discovered that I was missing some parts and had a few extra of others. My box arrived broken open and re-sealed by UPS. No fault of AES or Cushcraft. I had what I needed in 2 days. I finished assembly and tripple checked all the hardware and measurements.
The antenna went up pretty smoothly. I got the feed line hooked up--½" CATV hardline and 9913F jumbers--but SWR was out of the band on 15 meters! I tripple checked everything. 10 and 20 were fine, but 15 was out of band! Cushcraft was no help. I got a direct line into Danny Horvath. He advised that there were some bad or mislabled traps that may have been sent out I may have some. There were also new measurements that went along with the replacement traps. When I got back to customer service, they seemed to be upset that I knew about the trap problem. They were going to simply blow me off, in my opinion! I had new traps in 2 days. Cushcraft refused to contribute to the $500.00 crane charge and labor to take the antenna down, swap out the traps, and change the measurements.
Up goes the antenna in a 25mph wind to 100 feet. Now it seemed to play pretty nicely on all bands, but 40 meters--somehow 40 went a bit high. Perhaps 15 meter traps affected them? Anyway, no more time or money for the crane to hang around, and it was the day before firearm deer season here in Michigan.
That was about 2 years ago. We have has some winds close to 60 mph here since then. I don't even bother turning the antenna. There is a world of diffence between signals I was getting on a Hygain TH3JR at 50 feet and the X7 at 100 feet. I am sure that hieght alone does not make such a big diffence--at least 2 to 5 S units. The antenna even played well on 12 and 17 meters with the use of a tuner (MFJ-986 or MFJ-969). I can usually work first call who I point at, unless there is a lot of big guns in a pileup--then it takes a bit of calling. My AL-1200 and ATR-30 will change all that however!
There has been some price increases since I bought my X-7 and XM40 ($700.00 total) and I don't think the set up is worth what they are getting for it now. Would I do it again? Yes, but I don't think I would put the XM40 kit on it--I would get the 2 element 40 meter beam instead! I probably would not put it up so high--maybe 70 feet. I would also consider an M2 or Force 12.
Danny designed a good antenna and was very informative and helpful. More than I can say for the others at CC. However, CC still makes a good product. In fact, all my commercially made antennas in use at the present time are CC. The CC 12/17 beam has replaced the Hygain at 50 feet. I have 13 element 2 meter beam, a 5 elemement 6 meter beam, and the little 3 element 2/440 beam above the X7. They all work as advertised, although the 6 meter beam has a rather narrow bandwidth in my opinion.
I still give the antenna a 5--more for the benefit of Danny than CC. My next antenna will be bigger, and have NO traps! |
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| A41MO |
Rating:      |
2001-07-30 | |
| An excellent performer |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I had mine for more than a year now. Mounted on a pole and only 4 meters from the roof top. It took me some time to put it together. The elements measurement need to be checked as the instruction leaflet gave two different measurements in centimeters and inches. I had no problems otherwise. It has worked without any problems. the gain is excellent and the SWR as advertised. On 20 meters, it was on par with a four element monobander from a well known manufacturer mounted 20 feet apart at the same height. this is not a scientific comparison but it does reflect the quality of the X7. For the price I paid, this was one of my better investments. 73s. |
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| WD4NGB |
Rating:      |
2000-08-17 | |
| A outstanding antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I am very pleased with my X7. Like many, I did check the matching unit, and
found it to need the connections tightened, and resoldered prior to
installing.
I found that log cell allowed the SWR curve to be extremely flat on 10,15,
and 20m, and also to perform very well on 12m, and good on 17m with a tuner.
The antenna is designed to be VERY strong. A tip I learned many years ago
about assembling antennas applies with this antenna also. To get the longest
trouble free life from any antenna:
1. Only snug all connection 1st, then when done, recheck EVERY measurement!
2. Since you are tightening on soft aluminum, tighten all hardware only enough
to hold it, then let the antenna sit for 1 week, then retighten everything.
Note: All antennas except for short DXP or Field Days type operations should
be retightened after the soft aluminum has compressed for 1 week. If you
over tighten to compensate for this, you will most likely break the hardware.
If you do not retighten, chances are very good it will bit you latter.
3. Wrap the fiberglass insulators on the log cell with UV electrical tape
to extend the life by blocking UV deterioration. It is also a good idea to wrap
the trap caps, and the the boom caps to protect them from UV deterioration.
4. Make sure you use the thinnest film of the paste to go in the joints. Any
more will dry to a power, and cause a problem at a latter time.
You can see pictures of my antenna being installed at
http://www.qsl.net/wd4ngb/x7.htm
I worked DXCC on 15m the 1st 9 days the antenna was up, and in 1 month
had also 58 countries on 20m. |
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| IK7JWY |
Rating:      |
2000-08-17 | |
| Very good antenna |
Time Owned: N.A. |
I installed this antenna 5 months ago and till now i'm really satisfied on its performance. I have only one problem with the SWR pattern on 20 mt band, but i think that the reason is the hight above the roof of my home (only 6 meter, at the moment). You can see some shootings and notes on my X7 by visiting my home page at www.qsl.net/ik7jwy. Click on "X7-Antenna" section.
Bye guys. |
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