Stan Cooper wrote:
Hello I hope I'm not intruding by asking for advice on a CB antenna but I
figured this would be the group to ask about such things for the straight
scoop. At any rate I'm considering a store bought beam with both vertical
and horizontal polarization and my choices are limited to these two below.
(not many being manufactured anymore)

The Maco has a 16 foot boom and an advertised gain of 12.5 db, while the JO
GUNN has an 8 foot boom and an advertised gain of 14.5 db. I know there is a
lot of smoke and mirrors involved with advertised gains and so my question
is...is it possible for the JO GUNN to perform as well as the Maco antenna?

The GUNN is of much stronger construction and a smaller windload so I'd
rather put it up, but the short boom makes me wonder if the gain and
rejection numbers are suspect.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, antenna choices, price tags and urls
below.

73
Stan

MACO-Shooting Star $279.95
http://www.mpaudio1.com/Macobeamantennas2.html

JO GUNN 3 + 3 STAR $382.00
http://tinyurl.com/6hzteu

Oh btw, I'll be tower mounting it about 40' from the ground and turning it
with a hamIV rotator.

Thanks again.



Stan;

I don't know if you have considered it but I would like to suggest that
you look into ham radio. It is a more adventurous hobby,one that offers
greater opportunity to exercise your operating skills. By and large the
licensed ham radio operators offer a courteous, friendly and extremely
helpful environment. I have to assume that since you are here looking
for assistance you already have a feeling for all this.
Getting a ham license has never been easier. There are only three
classes of license now, Technician, General and Extra. The code test has
been eliminated so that shouldn't be a problem. The tests are multiple
choice and have a minimum passing level of 80%. That works out to be 28
correct answers for tech and general out of 35, the extra test has 15
more questions and so requires 40 correct answers. All questions are
published and if you go to http://www.qrz.com you can take sample tests.
Take enough samples and you should be able to pass the exam. Go to
http://www.arrl.org for locations and times for exams. There is a cost
for the exam but it isn't much.

Now as to your question. There isn't much to recommend either antenna.
They are based on designs used in the ham radio field. You might look
for these antennas and compare the numbers there. A source of ham radio
equipment is www.aesham.com. This is one of the premier ham radio houses.

Good luck
Dave WD9BDZ