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Reviews For: SQBM500 MKII Dual Bander Super Gainer 2m/70cm

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : SQBM500 MKII Dual Bander Super Gainer 2m/70cm
Reviews: 5MSRP: £70 in UK Feb 2009
Description:
Fibreglass Vertical Colinear
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.moonrakerukltd.com/Amateur-Radio/Base-Vertical-Antennas/Dual-and-Triband-Colinear/SQBM500MKII-Dual-Bander-Super-Gainer
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0054
M7CFW Rating: 2022-03-31
Great value colinear Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have to qualify this review by stating this is the first colinea antenna I bought.

As other reviewers have commented, the antenna comes in two parts. Sadly there are no instructions on assembly. Indeed, it is very straight forward if you already know how to assemble the antenna.

I almost went down the road of dismantling the bottom section but discovered, more by luck than anything else, that to join the two halfs together, you have to withdraw the wire from the top part of the antenna and clamp it to the bottom half.

Holding the top part of the antenna by it's very top, with the bottom of the top pointing upwards and then flicking it forwards and down from the wrist seems a good way of extending it's inner section out of the fibreglass case so it can be attached to the lower section.

After that, assembly is very simple.

I've got the antenna mounted on a pole around 10 meters above ground level and fed with 15m RG213 coax. The base of the antenna sits around 110m above sea level.

In that configuration I've made contacts around 50 miles away with ease. And I've picked up SOTA activations from around 80 miles away and I have had many favourable radio reports.

On the 2m band, SWR ranges from around 1.3 at 144.0MHz to just around 1.85 at 146.0MHz so a slight trim would probably be beneficial.

So far it has held up reasonably well with the weather and has survived some particularly dramatic wind.
2W0OKW Rating: 2020-10-15
Superb antenna, high again for half the price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I saw the one star review and thought I would put my two penneth in.

The antenna comes in two parts, pre-tuned. If you don't understand that you don't pull the bottom rod hard to connect it to the top rod, and that you don't undo the bottom of the antenna, and that you don't undo the bottom hex nuts on the mid connector, everything will be fine. You also need to know that that seal on the outside of the tube, which also holds the top and bottom together, tightens a rubber seal onto the tube, if you have no experience of these things, you will probably end up with an untuned leaky antenna.

I say this because a friend of mine detuned his before having it put on his roof by an aerial guy, at a considerable cost. I couldn't understand why his was so bad and mine was so good, so I tested it with my nanoVNA, finding that it was completely out of tune. He had dismantled the bottom to push the bottom rod up, then undid the mid section completely, which is set onto the bottom rod. He has ended up with a 2.5m ornament on his roof.

Mine is less than 4m off the ground on an S pipe attached to the side of my bungalow. I speak to people on the Liskegard repeater 82 miles from me with 35W. I get repeaters all over North Devon and I live in a wide valley in South Wales.

The build is very good, solid rod radials, good solid seal, it is a strong antenna with a high gain, I consistently get comments about my high signal strength, but I am only using an FT-70D with a £30 Tokyo HL-35V.

This antenna is almost half the price of a Diamond with the same gain, I love mine, it's been up 18 months. If you don't know how to put one together, get an experienced Ham to do it.
G8DYK Rating: 2020-08-28
OK if you use it indoors Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Probably better if you feed it with a hosepipe rather than RG213. Despite the mid-section fibreglass joint being taped, it failed after about 8-9 months. SWR increased until water appeared at the end of the coax. The antenna was only installed at about 5m agl. Disappointed.
G3OCR Rating: 2015-07-23
Very good in a difficult situation Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently moved from a location with a garden to a 1st floor flat/apartment, with no outside access, so the attic seemed to be the answer for antennas. Unfortunately my old X-300 was just a foot too tall to fit and I finally found the SQBM500 on "sale" at Moonraker (UK)and it looked like it would JUST fit - which it did.

The antenna arrived and inspecting it showed excellent materials and quality workmanship, which impressed me (better than the X-300 which I though quite good) at the very competitive price.

The SQBM500 is now secured in its place in the attic and fully operational. Compared with my old X-300 (outside with the base around 15 feet above ground, at about the same ASL) it seems pretty good, and I get into all the repeaters that I did before, plus one that I've never worked before, about 30 miles away with some high ground in between. A UHF repeater, also around 30 miles away with terrain between, is a good Q5 both ways too. Pretty good for in the attic!

I still need to trim it a bit as the best resonance is a little low (probably due to proximity to the roof timbers above), but I'm very pleased with the performance already. Thanks to Steve at Moonraker for all your assistance with fitting the N-Plug on my feeder cable (!).

Stu

Stu
M6LRG Rating: 2008-08-24
A solid, well built 144 & 430MHz Vertical with good Gain Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just thought I should give some appreciation to an antenna I have recently purchased. I had some problems with a Diamond X-300 so I was looking for a good alternative whilst I try and repair the X-300 which basically fell apart internally and on the mount.

I couldn't really find anything other than what I have had previously, then I remembered Moonraker. They have been around for years and offered a wide selection of collinear antenna's for dual 2m/70cm use.

My requirements were a high gain antenna but not too tall to remain as robust as possible in bad weather conditions. I could find no reviews at all so I took a chance on the SQBM500 MKII.

I ordered direct from Moonraker and it arrived the next day, well packaged. Initially I was a little concerned I had bought another Diamond, badged-up as the image on the website showed no second section - naively I thought the 2.1 Metre antenna was a 1-piece design.

Anyway, on putting the 2 sections together, the seal was instantly more reassuring than the X-300 and when I wobbled the antenna with my hands, the internals made less noise than my previous antenna.

The radials were solid rods as opposed to hollow steel on the X-300. There was no locking nuts on them but they didn't need it, the wide nut-shaped insert means you could tighten the radials to the antenna with no worries about them coming lose.

The the screw that connects the mast bracket to the antenna tightened up well, one of the things that failed on the X-300. I fitted the N-Type connector to the antenna and put the pole up as high as I could, so more than 50% of the antenna is above my 2-story house.

The Antenna performs so well. I am very, very happy. I can talk simplex to people for many miles and am opening 2m repeaters more than 50 miles away, that I couldn't even hear at all before - being an M6 I am limited to 10watts!

If you want a good 2/70 Vertical for a great price then you will not be disappointed with the Moonraker SQBM500. The Mark 2 version has wide band receive as well, so even more value. I wouldn't normally write such as review but as there wasn't any online, I felt this aerial does deserve a mention.

Thanks,

Mike M6LRG