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Reviews For: Cushcraft D4

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

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Review Summary For : Cushcraft D4
Reviews: 9MSRP: 369.95
Description:
40-10 Meter Rotatable Dipole
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cushcraftamateur.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0093.4
W6APX Rating: 2019-04-29
4/29/19 follow up Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just a follow up on the D4, still have not recieved the missing parts from CushCraft so I went and bought some Aluminum and made the parts to their specs. Antenna wouldnt tune at all so I removed the traps. 4 out of the 6 traps were not tinned on one end so there was no connection at that point. I repaired all the traps and now Im just trying to get the SWR below 3:1 on 20m and 40m. I will post a picture on my QRZ of the trap issue.

73
W6APX
PY2ONU Rating: 2014-12-12
More or less Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna works great in 10-15-20-40 meters and with antena tunner it's work on 6-12-17-80 meters with good results when the propagation is well.
But the mechanical is very poor (mfj bought Cushcraft), the antena does not stay straight (even with lashing) 30ยบ inclination after first coil. I'm afraid that the antenna twist with medium or high winds.
In 21 mhz i need to use antena tuner because the ROE is not very well, the coil is longer than it should be and allows no adjustment.
W8BYA Rating: 2013-12-03
Absolute Garbage Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Never in my almost 40 years of hamming have I ever been so dissatisfied with a purchase than this dipole from CC (MFJ). I normally am a fan of CC antennas and own or have owned over a dozen over the years. I still use a R8, several 13B2, 2x17B2, a 5-el 6m, and an X7 to name just a few. Thinking I would be getting something of similar quality to those I had purchased earlier I went ahead & purchased this POC new for almost $500.

The antenna from a mechanical standpoint is completely inadequate to be left alone on a tower top in even a moderate wind. I cannot imagine what it would look like if it had survived until this winter and an ice storm came along.

Any picture that you see where this dipole is nice and straight and horizontal is staged as even with a set of supplied Dacron ropes you will have trouble keeping the heavy traps on the ends of the element from almost breaking off. The 3 traps on each side are just too heavy for the thin sections of tubing and single hose clamps they provide. I had to add an additional set of Dacron ropes attached to the next set of traps to keep mine from breaking off. Without the extra ropes the element ends would sag down at almost a 30 degree angle.

Electrically mine would not tune on 15m when installed in the clear at 60'. No other antennas were on that tower during testing. It resonated well below the 15m band. A call to MFJ suggested that I cut off the protective ends caps of each trap and tighten up some self tapping screws that they say are known to be loose and could cause this. I did so, found several that were loose, but did not help with the SWR issue. I ended up cutting off over 2" of tubing on each 15m trap which brought resonance into the band ! By doing so the traps are now almost touching each other.

The manual was written in 1983 and has not been updated in any way ! And, most of the hardware is NOT stainless steel ! Just how long do you think plain steel is going to last ouside in the elements ? You pay $500 you would think they would at least give you SS hardware !

After just a few months of use one of the 40m end traps flamed on and is now useless. I did run 1000W SSB to it because the manual states the antenna is good for 2 kW.

This very expensive antenna has been a complete waste of my time, energy, and money and I wish I could go back in time and stay clear of it.

For those people who mounted this antenna in an attic or under a balcony, that may be fine, but I can promise you, as delivered and installed per the manual, this antenna will never survive a single storm here in the midwest.

Jake Rating: 2013-01-02
A Good Starter Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bough mine used from a ham in Las Vegas, and it was a bit roughed up, but well worth the price I paid. It was missing one of the X capacitance hats, so I made one up out of 12AWG bare copper wire, and it worked fine. I followed the measurements to the letter and it was supposed to resonate on 7.150. Mine tuned to 7.156, so I was very happy with that.

My AT-100 LDG Tuner tunes this thing like a dream, and it even tunes up on 80 meters!

I recommend it for a starter station, but if you can use a drill press and assemble this antenna, then you can build your own G0KSC beam with much better gain than this antenna. Just think about it!
KR4RA Rating: 2008-08-16
Good antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have this antenna mounted in the attic due to neighborhood restrictions. It tunes very well with little tweaking after assembly. Materials are average grade. I'll have to give a 4, however, due the very poor instructions it comes with. It's not that it's difficult to assemble, but for $400 you'd expect more than something that looks like a 12 year old wrote.
KL1AS Rating: 2008-06-25
Good limited space antenna. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the D4 for almost three years. It is suspended from a short piece of mast anchored to the balcony of the condo above mine about 20 feet off the ground. I use a 1:1 balun instead of the rf choke recommended in Cushcraft's instructions. I have made many contacts icluding Japan and Puerto Rico from my Juneau, Alaska location. I occasionally experience difficulty in tuning the antenna on some bands(I usea Ten-Tec 238B tuner) but overall it is a great fit for my situation.
KY6R Rating: 2008-03-24
Nice compromise Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wanted to replace 3 antennas with just one - that would cover 40M - 10M, and mount it at 45' on my Force-12 42' tower.

Even though for the last several years I was smug not having trapped antennas - I'm very happy with the D4 - it works very well given its limited size, and I was very happy to work several new DXCC band mode slots on 80M (with a tuner of course).

While it may not be as efficient as a full size antenna on each band, it is a very good compromise.

I will order a set of traps though - just in case. It was very easy to assemble and put up on my tower, and is more "stealth" than what I used to have.

It solved the problem I attempted to solve.
YO3VU Rating: 2006-10-07
Good design Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It is a great antenna which will give you much more satisfactions than a vertical. The attenuation front to side is great. Buy a balun 1:1 instead of coax coils. I have it on a rotator Create RC5-3 together with a D3W at 90 degrees offset. The best combination. In 10 months 175 DXCC worked with no more than 200W.

73's from Mike in Bucharest
KC5R Rating: 2006-08-09
Good performer Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought from R&L. Antenna does the trick. Surprising directivity. Easy to assemble. However, had to adjust to get SWR right in center of bands from where manual said (I put it up 80'!). Also, the 15 mtr adjustment is too tough since the section length is too tight due to the spacing of the traps and the mechanical support needed. Maybe I should cut the section down in the future. Finally the manual must have been written by a co-op student - the balun has two different # of turns listed in the picture and the text are different). I used 10 turns. On 10 and 20 got all band SWR less than 1.7:1, On 40, I got the advertised 200 MHz out of it below 2:1 (it's only about 2.5:1 at top of band). I mounted it 5' above a yagi at a 90 degree offset with no interaction issues.
No buyers remorse, but Cushcraft should really have revised this manual (after all, this is not a new product).