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Reviews For: Centerfire Antennas 3 ele. 2M Beam

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : Centerfire Antennas 3 ele. 2M Beam
Reviews: 3MSRP: 41.95, incl. S/H
Description:
3 Element 2 Meter Beam antenna, also avail. for 220, VHF MURS, VHF Marine.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.centerfireantenna.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034
WD4AB Rating: 2009-08-08
Amazing for it's size Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered one of these little guys for portable use but ended up mounting it fixed on my tower pointing north. I was sceptical when I saw the antenna as it looked really small and light. All that changed once I mounted the antenna at a mere 30 feet. One of my first contacts was with a station located at Jupiter Beach which is located 250 miles north of my qth on 144.200 receive and transmitted signals were s9 reports. I also noticed the excellent matching, my swr was 1:1 on 2 meters and something I did not expect it was 1:3 on 440! I will buy another and cophase them for a small array in the future. This is no huge boomer but well worth the $40.00 I paid for it.
KE1MI Rating: 2009-06-10
Fair/ Poor Performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just got this antenna about a week ago, and this is what I found. I mounted it at 30 feet, vertical at first for FM, then changed to horizontal for my new to me SSB rig.
Pros: Lightweight material, good instuctions and excellent coustomer service which I needed.

Now the Cons: No matter what I tried I could not get the SWR flat for 2m at all. SWR is 1.4-1.5 across the band, but flat on 151 mhz. I called to see if maybe I got the wrong antenna as they make a MURS one, but that is not the case. New 9913 feedline, choke and all, no lowering of SWR. Maybe this is inherent of direct fed antennas.
Also on the horizontal side the elements are made of "antenna whip" wire, I don't believe it will hold up at all this winter, and ice will kill it which we tend to get here in New England.

All in all, skip a drink and this antenna and buy something more rugged, and better to tune. Its ok for portable, rover use. I realize you get what you pay for, don't waste your money. As soon as I can afford it, I will replace it, and I will skip a drink and buy a better antenna.
W8AAZ Rating: 2009-04-06
Light, easy for Fox hunting, etc. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The price of this antenna includes Priority Mail shipping in the US. I needed an inexpensive beam quickly, to hunt for a line noise source. Got this and noted there is no "matching network" to fiddle with, you just adjust the element lengths. Boom is a solid square cross section polymer material. Studs containing set screws are imbedded in the boom to attach the elements. There are solder lugs for direct attachment of coax to the D.E. but I elected to connect a BNC for my purposes. I was suprised that I got a perfect SWR with no adjustment needed, in my case(Bird 43). Closely matches the published curve or better. Great across the whole band. The extreme light weight impressed me so it can be carried for foxhunt, RFI hunts, etc. with no fatique. Lots cheaper than the competition too. Only thing that would be cheaper is if you got some coat hangers and a dowel rod and made your own, if you got the time and the patience! And it would be an ugly, non durable antenna. Quick handheld tests outdoors with an HT showed great gain and seemed to have very good performance, as an HT range extender. Of course you get hardware for mast mounting. I will next try on a lightweight pole as a portable antenna setup, as the lightness and low wind load would allow a modest support for that, like a painters pole. Want a bigger sig without breaking the bank I can recommend this, but check out their other beams and antennas also. A bargain in ham radio.