HI Dan,

If you're satisfied with the performance that's all that counts.

As I mentioned, I tried one as my first antenna and really didn't have
anything to compare it to until I changed and everything else I tried did a
better job for me. One night I mentioned this on a repeater that stretches a
couple of hundred miles and several others related their experiences and
like I said, I never heard anything positive about that model until on here.

But like I said, if you're satisfied, great! My main point in commenting on
the antenna in the first place was in case you hadn't tried other antennas
like I hadn't when I bought mine.

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