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Reviews For: Avanti Moonraker 4

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

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Review Summary For : Avanti Moonraker 4
Reviews: 4MSRP:
Description:
Discontinued 10 and 11 meter dual polarity 4 element beam quagi antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0045
WO8USA Rating: 2016-06-04
Great anteanna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had a Moonraker 4 at 70 feet in the country and could work the world at that time as a kid. The band was wide open at times, and could get ground wave sometimes >100miles. My only problem was the gamma match would sometimes lose contact after a while and the boom-to-element holders wold get loose. I remember a big competition between the Moonraker 4 crowd and Wilson Shooting Star users, both being 4-element vertical/horizontal yagis but Moonraker had a quad reflector. I think Wilson was probably made better but the Moonraker 4 was fantastic on DX and ground wave and had sharp corners which would take S9 signals to zero. Shooting Stars and the Wilson line is still in production, I think Avanti went out of business. I still see a few up i nth air usually out of repair.
NJ3T Rating: 2013-12-07
Great Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
OK guys... yes it is a CB antenna but it is a GREAT CB antenna. I bought mine new and paid a bunch for it in 1978. I put it up in 1979 on a 38 foot tower. I really liked it on the CB BAND. I got my Novice Ham license in June of 1980. I worked nothing but 10 and 15 meter CW using this antenna and a tuner for 15 meters. I always got great signal reports. My first DX qso was with this antenna on 10 meter CW.

June of 1981 and I got my General class ticket. Went on to Advance in August of 1981. And got my extra in 1983. I used the antenna as is until I started playing around with vhf and uhf. I took the vertical elements off of the Moonraker 4 and tuned the antennas horizontal elements so the antenna would cover the entire 10 meter band without the need of a tuner. It worked great! I installed a 14 element 2 m horizontal yagi, a 11 element 2 m vertical yagi, and a 13 element 440 MHz antenna above the moonraker on the same mast. This is why I removed the vertical elements from the M4. The quad type reflector of the M4 was far enough away that it's height did not effect the other antennas.

My M4 has been down for repairs 3 times over the years. The hubs used to hold the elements to the boom usually break allowing the element to "slip" around the boom. Four years ago, the last time I had my M4 down for a cleaning and parts replacement, I replaced the front two hubs with aluminum angle that I bolted to the boom and then bolted the elements to the angle. I replaced all hardware with Stainless parts. I also restrung 14 gauge wire around the reflector.

I am an avid user of 10 meters and always go to the M4 when I get on that band. I have other antennas that are capable of 10 meters but I always get better reports from the M4 and I can hear stations better. If I want to block out stations from the south, I point the antenna north. Turning the antenna will sometimes take a stations s9+10 db signal down to s nothing!

Using a tuner, my M4 will work very well on 6 meters, 12 meters, and 15 meters also.

Every year here in western PA we have a 10 meter ground wave contest. PSK31 in January, CW in February, and SSB in March. I seem to always come in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in these contests. I always use my M4. A local Ham, using the same model HF rig as me that lived a half mile up the road from me and had a little more elevation once told me he could not hear the stations I was working (70 to 100 miles away). He was using a Cushcraft A3 triband yagi at 40 feet. Look up the ground wave contest results for this year and previous years and you can see my callsign and placement. Google the Breezeshooters Amateur Radio Club.
KA4ETV Rating: 2012-03-06
Excellent 10m Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This makes for an excellent 10 meter antenna. Excellent construction and usually cheap to acquire. Can be turned by a light duty rotor.
K9FON Rating: 2009-06-27
Not too bad! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I came across one of these old 1970s CB beam antennas a few years ago and paid almost NOTHING for it. Although this is a CB antenna (So flipping what. In reality hams use pretty much anything for an antenna) it very easily can be retuned for 10 meters and makes a GREAT 10 meter beam. The horizontal side can be tuned for the lower portion of 10 meters for general CW and SSB use and the verticle portion can be tuned for the higher FM portion of 10. The beam is VERY lightweight, easy to assemble and parts can be found all over the place. Just look around your area. You probably will find one still up left over from the 1970s CB boom. Yeah, its a CB antenna but who in reality (Reality to some hams is not in thier scope) really cares. Whatever works i say!!! Just get one. You will like it.