David,

No, I don't have stock in Cushcraft, nor would I want to. Cushcraft seems to
be the MFJ of antenna companies - they make an inexpensive product and,
unfortunately, they have their share of flops. I guess we have differing
opinions as to whether the ARX2B is a flop or not.

I used the same rooftop tripod, same mast, and same feedline for the antenna
comparisons. Like I said, the antenna has only been up for a couple days
now but all indications at this time are that it is performing well.

If cost were not a factor, I would've gone with a DB224, beam/rotor
assembly, or perhaps even a Hustler G7-144, and I'm sure performance would
be better. However, for the $60 I paid for antenna I can't complain.

Interesting enough, if you check out the reviews of the antenna on eHam
(http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4437), you'll see that it earned a
respectible 4.0/5 rating. Of those that didn't give it a perfect score, one
cited poor instructions, one cited a problem with the phasing cable (which
appeared to be related to an installation issue), and only one person cited
issues with the actual performance of the antenna (out of eight reviews).

73,
Dan






"David 01" wrote in message
...
It was a miracle that I even looked at this post given the topic, but I
did
and found that you were replying to me under a subject to which I didn't
post (i.e. you changed it).

It's good that you're satisfied with the Ringo Ranger II and that they
have
a defender somewhere (you don't own stock in the company, do you?). But I
know that my experience was not from a bad install (37 years of
communications experience now) and I doubt that so many others all did it
wrong. Maybe you messed up with your other antennas and that made the
ringo
look better.

I stated facts to you and no matter your likes or dislikes what I stated
shall remain fact.

73

David

"Dan" wrote in message
...
I installed a Cushcraft ARX2B Ringo Ranger II yesterday. It's on a 10'
mast
on a rooftop tripod. The measurements given in the manual for
assembling
the antenna for a specific frequency were right on the mark. I used the
dimensions for 147MHz and my MFJ-259B showed the "sweet spot" to be
146.88MHz. SWR bandwidth is a bit narrower than I'd prefer, but it is a
very usable antenna for the 2M FM application.

As far as performance.... I cannot complain at this point. I am able to
bring up a repeater 80 miles away half scale. My wife and I tried out
simplex today and it performed well. Previously I've owned the Diamond
X50A
and CP22E antennas, as well as a slew of groundplane and J-Pole
antennas.
Based on the performance I've experienced so far, it appears the ARX2B
is
better than most, as it should be because it's a 5/8 wave x 3 (vs. a 1/4
wave x 3 for the X50A and a 5/8 wave x 2 for the CP22E).

I'd suggest you have the guys in your area double check their assembly
as
I'd tend to think they did something wrong if they're comparing the
performance to a dummy load. The antenna has something like 40 pieces
out
of the box.... plus a few different adjustment points (middle and bottom
coils, plus the length of the antenna between coils).... so there is a
lot
that could be done wrong with the antenna. Also, I'd tend to think the
"weak point" of the antenna would be the run of coax that connects the
radials to the bottom coil, so that would also be a good place to look.

73,
Dan





"David 01" wrote in message
...
No offense, but where I live live the guys joke that they use the
ringo
ranger II as a fishing pole or dummy load. We haven't experienced a
good
one
here. Anything else is far better in our experience and I know of no
one
actually using one now, but they say there's a stack of them
avsailable
for
free behind a certain store.

"Charlie" wrote in message
...
1. http://www.ad5th.com/VHF.html

Also shown my Ringo Ranger II - ARX-2B. Links to technical data for
each
antenna also.

--

Charlie
Ham Radio - AD5TH
www.ad5th.com
Live Blues Music
www.492acousticblues.com