"Brian Howie" wrote in message
...
In message , Tom Ring
writes
Sonny Hood wrote:
Make a good 10 meter vertical from CB Antenna, Solarcon Antron A-99
Vertical, just out of the box, never used. 9.9 (sic) dBi Gain. New
price $89.95 plus shipping. Just found the GPK-1 radial kit (in the
box) for the A-99, new cost $52.95 plus shipping. 2,000 Watt Rated,
18-29 MHz Optimal Range can be used for Amateur Band 10 Meters (cut
11.5" of the top radiator). Female UHF Coax Connection, Height: 17.5'
Feet Tall, No Ground Needed . New package deal both for $90.00 Plus
shipping. or Call (757) 487-0357

WOW!

I have a .61 wavelength 4 element beam that's only a dB or so better! What
the heck does this design look like?

tom
K0TAR
It includes ground gain. However if they want to play this game, an
isotropic antenna has a gain of 6dBi, which gets you back to 3.9dBi, but
even that is pushing it for a 1/2 over a 1/4 , unless you can get it up at
a few hundred feet. :-)

Brian GM4DIJ


Actually, if you want an emergency antenna for operating 20 to 6 meters with
a tuner, the A-99 Solarcon can do the job.

Let's face it, without favorable propagation, no antenna, regardless of its
alleged gain, is going to provide contacts. After that admission,
directionality and gain are about all that the beam antennas provide. For
someone living in a small footprint land parcel with very limited antenna
options, the A-99 by Solarcon is really a pretty good deal.

I've worked Europe, Africa, Russia and all of the US, Mexico, Central
America and South America with ease. When the bands are open, you are
capable of working most of the world with one of these antennas and only 100
watts. And I'm talking about voice contacts, not power miserly CW or digital
models.

Now, consider that you're sitting on your bed (your hamshack) and you are
thinking of the money that you have, which isn't enough to buy a tower, a
rotator and the beam that you want, but is enough to buy the Solarcon A-99
antenna, which you can put up yourself without protest from the landlord. On
the one hand you have no operating at all, but in the other hand (A-99), you
can work the world. Which would you choose?

Believe it or not, I was chewing the rag with a fellow in Austria one day
for quite a while (can't remember his callsign). We finally got around to
talking about station equipment and we went through the radio list and other
stuff. I purposefully avoided mentioning my antenna (we were on 12 or 10
meters). But after a while, he wore me down and I admitted that I was using
a Solarcon A-99. All he did was say, "That's a CB antenna!" gave his
callsign and that was the last I heard from him. He was convinced that I was
a bootlegger, even though I used my legal callsign which was then current in
the callbook.

It's hard to believe that there are such snobs in the world.

Ed, AJ4PJ