I have been in the market for a new HF for some time now.

I have been using a $400 Force 12 vertical mounted on the stern for a
few years now. It is OK, but not great.

I heard about this guy on ebay that sells an antenna called
CondoBuster. It is a 13 to 30 mHz ham radio antenna for people that
live in condos or other type of restricted areas. The thing is 37 feet
long. It covers everything form 13 to 30 mHz including CB band with no
gaps. It is like a dipole antenna except it is fed about a third or so
of the way from one end. So I bought one.

Well, the thing is quite well build and very light weight. I strung it
from the stern over the top of the mast and then down to the bow and
put a spring in series with the antenna on each end. I placed the
shorter end back by the stern and fed it with RG8X coax. The great
thing about this is that this is a plug and play item. You don't have
to dink around with it or adjust it for a given frequency. You don't
use a balun or anything else. I just soldered the coax to the antenna.
And, that is it.

For comparison I left the Force 12 on the stern. There was a huge
difference between the two. Much more then I expected. With the newe
one I can hear more and I get better reports from people I talk to.

All in all, that is the best $20 bucks I have ever invested. It is
called CondoBuster, I bought it on ebay and as I recall the company is
out of Colorado.


Burt
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