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Reviews For: Force 12 C3

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

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Review Summary For : Force 12 C3
Reviews: 29MSRP: 1199
Description:
multi-monoband Yagi type HF antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://force12inc.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00294.8
N6FM Rating: 2000-07-29
Great customer service to go along with a great antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my C3 for a little over a year now and as a result, I have my bundle of QSL cards ready to send in for DXCC. The antenna is mounted on 20 feet of TV mast on top of my two-story house. Considering that I have hills to to shoot through towards the northeast, it has done very well towards Europe.
When I was assembling the antenna, I noticed that some hardware of an incorrect size had been included. I called Force 12 who stated that they had inadvertantly included some U-bolts that were too small but that they were currently out of the correct ones. I told them that I had friends coming from out of town that weekend to erect the antenna and asked that they look around the factory, on the floor, wherever, and see if they could find some that they could send. Within two days, a package arrived with the correct U-Bolts...

In my opinion, customer service doesn't get any better than that.
K6SDW Rating: 2000-07-06
Best Beam for the buck! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Well, I've not used or tested all the commercial yagi's on the market, but while the C3 is a bit expensive, it went together as easy as any antenna I've ever owned and worked first time per the specifications!!! SWR is exactly as predicted in manual and at only 36' on roof-mounted tower, I'm very impressed at signal reports I receive, especially on 20 meters working Europeans and competing with the Big Guns across the country!!

The antenna is pre-drilled and assembled at factory, so you almost can't go wrong....I did find one mistake, the 20-mtr driven element was mis-measured. A quick measurement and a 1/8 drill I was back in buz.

Being a roof-mounted antenna I actually assembled the elements with the boom already mounted to the mast....by myself and it was easy, although I gave the xyl a heart-attack standing at the next to top rung of a 10' ladder on the roof peak!!

I even retrofitted the C3 with the extra 10-mtr element to make it a C3e while the antenna was still on the mast...since 10 meters been lousy most of the past year, not sure if the extra element did much. Tom at Force 12 sez it improves F/B ratio.......

So, really impressed with quality of construction, manual and assembly and thus far really satisfied with performance.

73........./ed
K9RT Rating: 2000-02-02
Outstanding Performer!!!! Time Owned: unknown months.
I bought my C3S at Dayton in 1998. It's been up at only 40' 18 months and I am still amazed at its success rate. I've used monobanders (small), a TA33 etc. and this compact beam really gets the job done. Easy to assemble and the one bolt mast mount is easy to install too.
Many times in the pileups I'll be in a rush and don't remember to turn on the amp. Still get answered on the 2nd call and only afterwards realize the amp wasn't on.
Super performer for sure, 6 stars if that rating existed!!!!
N1EU Rating: 1999-12-15
Force 12 C3S Easily Exceeds All Expectations Time Owned: unknown months.
I just worked 9N7UD on the first call so I owe it to the boys at Force 12 to put out the word on this 12 foot boomed marvel. I've closely compared it with a C3 and it performs on a par with it. Mine is at 50ft and it just busts pileups over and over and over again. This antenna is amazing! Also, full coverage of 20/15m and 1Mhz of 10m at under 2:1. Lightweight and almost assembles itself. You buy, you like ;-)
K3SWZ Rating: 1999-12-01
Force 12 C3 Tribander Time Owned: unknown months.
I put up a Force 12 C3E this summer I am well pleased with it.... It went together very easily and works well..... All you have to do is follow the instructions. Lots of parts, but if you keep your wits you will be OK. Front to back is a little poor, but for 2 elements that is to expected. Otherwise, I would buy another one......
9K2SH Rating: 1999-12-01
Best antenna I have ever used Time Owned: unknown months.
I had my C3 up and running for almost a month now. Its a great performer and with the wight 32 some pounds, I mounted it on a tv tower not realy that high above the roof of my house.
10m works best and then 20m but 15m is too narrow of a width for the origional setting of the factory ( this antenna was assembeld since I got it from a friend ). the C3 does'nt realy give me what I want on 17/12m but its better than nothing.
I will be a C3 customer from now on and I am thinking of buying new antennas from them shortly.
N6BZA Rating: 1999-11-19
Very well designed mechanically, a bit expensive Time Owned: unknown months.
I put my C-3E up last weekend. The Force 12 mechanical design and physical packaging are excellent. Each element is pre-assembled at the factory, and then labeled and bundled separately. The first 10 meter element (the first that I assembled) took me about 15 minutes (to figure out the labeling scheme, etc.) - the other 3 10 m elements took me 7 minutes each from taped bundle to fully assembled element. The rivets are easy to use, very quick, and very robust. The pre-positioned boom to mast brackets make element to boom mounting a snap - and guarantee that all the elements are level. Can't speak to performance yet due to lack of experience, but I'm confident that the antenna will perform as advertised. I made no tuning adjustments - it is fine out of the box on all three bands. All in all, exactly what I expected. Force 12 antennas are a bit pricey, but the engineering that you are paying for makes assembly a snap and performance (I hope) excellent. Best of all, there are no traps, no black boxes, nothing to go wrong short of an element snapping!
N.A. Rating: 1999-10-04
More then I expected Time Owned: unknown months.
I have had the C-3S up for over two years on a forty foot tower. It has been heavily loaded with ice and snow but always snaps back.
Running a TS-940 SB1000 to the Force I have been lucky to work all the major DXpedition pile ups on 20 within the first three calls which amazes me.

It works well also on 12 and 17 but has zero front to back on those bands, yet is still better then a dipole.

On 10, 15, and 20 I seldom use the amp any more. My neighbor just put up the regular boom C-3 and we get identicial reports. For a twelve foot boom its relatively compact and very light weight.
Expensive yes, but next to my TS-940 the best investment I ever made for my station.
N4ZR Rating: 1999-09-07
Small, rugged, a real performer Time Owned: unknown months.
The Force 12 C-3 is a great first tri-bander, and then some. The only downside is that they are nearly impossible to find used, and the new price is a tad high.

Key features -- very lightweight and easy to manage on the tower; excellent boom to mast mount for one-bolt match-up makes installation easy; riveted elements will never come apart; and riveted boom to element mounts assure permanent element alignment.

Electrically, the C-3 behaves about as you would expect a full-sized 2-element yagi to act -- only 10-15 dB front-to-back ratio, but decent forward gain and good front-to-side discrimination. It models very close to a tribander like the TH-7, which is twice as heavy and on a much longer boom.

Some people have had difficulty getting adequate bandwidth on 15 meters, but mine - fed with 100 ft. of RG-213 - is under 2:1 across the whole band.