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Reviews For: Comet CTC-50M Flat Cable Window Gap Coax Jumper

Category: Antenna Rotators & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Comet CTC-50M Flat Cable Window Gap Coax Jumper
Reviews: 17MSRP: 45
Description:
Flat wire coax jumper to get antenna coax into the radio room
without drilling holes in the wall or leaving a window/door open.

News from COMET:

The connector issue that had been reported in a few reviews has been solved. All CTC-50M jumpers in stock at the US dealer stores have standard connectors. If you require customer service contact NCG Company: www.natcommgroup.com

Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cometantenna.com/newPro_detail.php?ID=264
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00173.8
VK3GMO Rating: 2019-04-04
suitable for purpose Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought two of these cables. Found them to be reasonably sturdy and well made. One was broken accidentally and not at all the fault of the product. The other one is still in use and working fine after several years. I didn't find the stick on feature very useful and the placement for using screws was not convenient for me. They seem to work fine and my SWR is ranges from 1.1 to 1.2 on all hf bands.
W4FID Rating: 2018-11-23
not happy Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a great idea. And most Comet products are first class. So I got 2 of them. One for the RV and one for the portable station go box. I had my doubts if it laying across an aluminum door or window frame would work or if the frame would detune the impedance. It does. With the flat feed as the path thru the window frame the SWR is sky high on HF bands. With just the coax it is normal. So I have a little over $100 spent of stuff that has zero value to me.
VE6DO Rating: 2018-11-22
Terrible Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have 3 of them. Well after accidentally frying over $1500 worth of radios due to this product I have to leave a review. So 2 of them are faulty and they are in the garbage. Way too expensive to replace radios. You just wiggle them and the SWR jumps up to 10:1. Well no wonder, do not buy them. Great idea but bad product as they are not at all durable and bad things happen.
N0YXE Rating: 2017-02-28
WORKS GREAT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Why put holes in the wall when this slips neatly under the window? Works exactly as described.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N0YXE on 2011-09-27

I use two of these units and gave one to my son. The wall hole was for connecting an HF line and using an amplifier. One window mount is for the HF magnetic loop, and one is for funning fifty watts on two meters and thirty-five watts on 70 CM through a J-pole. They are rugged, stealthy, and provide a very clean install. They are very nice and worth every cent.
KA8ZYZ Rating: 2015-01-30
What I should have gotten to begin with Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had the MFJ board mounted and sealed in the bottom of my window for the last 4 years. I really didn't like this set up. But when I saw the Comet CTM-50M I figured I would wait awhile to see how it faired with others. Got around to getting one, came today in the mail. Extremely easy installation. I was running with a SWR of 1.3 at 144MHz to 1.1 at 148. I don't want to speculate too much but I believe there may be slightly more loss on the (ribbon) coax between the tow connectors, as my SWR went to below 1.1 at 144MHz and 148MHz. I talked to a friend that said everything appeared to be the same on his end of my transmissions. I am a little perplexed. as I expected the higher frequencies to go up slightly. But they actually dropped slightly (maybe the MFJ thru-window connector was not as well connected).
Anyway, the quality of the Comet CTC-50M appears to be right on par with their antennas. The instructions said to use either double sided tape and/or screws to mount both ends. The tape and screws are included with the unit. The tape is like an extremely sticky piece of rubber that sticks like no tomorrow (not the usual double sided tape). I was concerned about the screw holes allowing water into the connector outside. Upon closer observation I saw that the holes are solid walled clear through the connector. All in all I am very impressed with the build quality and function. The CTC-50M is rated at 60 watts for VHF operation. I have a Yaesu FT-2800M I am running using 5 to 25 watts, And I don't think if I had to use 65 watts briefly in an emergency that the CTC-50M would suffer any damage. But the XYL likes it just because it cleaned up the shack a little. Updates will be coming in a year or so.
AF8JC Rating: 2015-01-09
No real substitute Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I first tried using the MFJ wood panel with multiple feed-thru's, really like the idea. My slider windows didn't want to seal that well around the wood plank. The other issue was that the other end of the slider had nothing to seal against. So, I purchased this thing. After about a year, I wanted to help a fellow ham get back on the air in his new house, so I used my CTC50m pigtail on his window. Now, I was back to fiddling around with mini-coax and other work-arounds. Went out and purchased a second CTC50m to replace the one that I gave away. I also purchased the much cheaper tiny coax connector (Jetstream JT1010J2), but decided the Comet flat connector is simply the best way to go.
NR7J Rating: 2014-11-19
I love it. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I'm using one for my VHF/UHF dual band antenna and one for my HF antenna. I purchased an extra one for back up but I don't need it. If you need one and wants to save some money I can sell you mine.
KI7SY Rating: 2014-10-21
Difference between QRT and QRV! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Rented a brick house with aluminum sliding windows. Drilling holes was out of the question so I got the CTC-50. Ran it thru a rarely-used window to a 2m/70cm J-pole on the roof peak. No problem with RG-58 and PL-239 connectors, SWR avg. 1.2 - 1.4:1 Just be sure to seal your outdoor connectors from the weather. I used shrink tubing a a dab of Silicone. A little pricey to be sure but a lifesaver for rental dwelling hams! Worth checking out!
KA8SYX Rating: 2014-09-01
Works well, maybe I need another... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine for a couple of years, finally installing it in a second-floor window in my rented northern Virginia townhouse. Before I go any further, in fairness I have to say that this item is making the difference between radio from home and no radio from home. Due to all of the common factors related to work and family, neither mobile nor portable are real options for me, so this is it.

I experienced the PL-259 to M-style connector issue mentioned by some other reviewers. The seeming mismatch only became a real problem when any little wiggle on either of the connections associated with the CTC-50M would intermittently cause the SWR to go very, very high. To address this problem, in my installation I used male-male PL-259 barrel adapters between both ends of the CTC-50M and the upstream and downstream devices (antenna outside and low-pass filter inside) and packed an appropriately-sized O-ring into the gap between each end of the adapters. All of the connections are well maintained by the force applied by the O-rings to them, and I no longer experience the intermittent connections and SWR swings. I should probably use the double-sided tape that came with the feedthrough, though, and make the installation more stable.

However, seeing that some other reviewers are not having this problem, and there being reports of Comet having fixed the connectors I may need to try another - I have some other antennas I'd like to try.
M5AEO Rating: 2014-08-14
Update Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am writing 4 years later. The Comet CTC-50M cables finally disintegrated today, so they don't last forever. My installation was a bit vulnerable to wind and rain, but I expected a bit longer life out of them!

M5AEO.