Maco 103c or M104c beam

[oldgoat]

Hi old goat I need some help making a decision on the two baam antennas. Going to use for skip contacts. Right now I have Imax 2000 with switch for 2 radios Stryker SR440 and Connex cx4300-300 want to hook connex to beam. TV Antenna no good so I have 60 ft tower and rotor. Is the Maco good antenna I hear there are three ways to set up Horz. Vert. Or flat side what is difference and best for skip. Hope not too many stupid Questions dont know about beams thanks RAY

[captbarry]

Ray while I don't want to comment on "brands" of antennas I will say I have been pleased with my MoonrakerIV and my older PDLII. Darn shame they aren't made any more. Both of these were dual polarity beams meaning you could switch (with a switch box) from verticial or horizontal polarity. As far as which is best? Depends on what you want. As far as DX is concerned your signal can bounce off the E-layer and return verticial or horizontal. Using the "flat side" gets rid of a lot of noise but it's nice to have the vert mode to talk ground wave. I guess if all I wanted to do was work DX I'd go horizontal. You just need to have a vertical omni for working locals. As far as the dual polarity antennas go I tried one (V-Quad) and it only enjoyed a very limited time in the air before it was taken down, just didn't work for me. Maybe there is someone else on here that had better luck with it then I did. It's a very compact antenna but the PDLII that replaced it blew it away. Hope some of this helps, I'm sure others here will post and help ya get the right antenna in the air. One thing to be sure of you will get good information from the radio nuts posting here. Many of them have been enjoying this hobby for 30+ years like I have. Good luck ahd have fun!!! 73's

[**GRUMPY**]

Jul 14, 2008 19:36:28 GMT -5 oldgoat said:

Hi old goat I need some help making a decision on the two baam antennas. Going to use for skip contacts. Right now I have Imax 2000 with switch for 2 radios Stryker SR440 and Connex cx4300-300 want to hook connex to beam. TV Antenna no good so I have 60 ft tower and rotor. Is the Maco good antenna I hear there are three ways to set up Horz. Vert. Or flat side what is difference and best for skip. Hope not too many stupid Questions dont know about beams thanks RAY

Is the rotor you are going to use a TV rotor? The reason that I ask is a TV rotor will not last long turning the M-104C, it's just to long and heavy for it to last. You will be fine with the M-103C as long as the rotor is in good working condition. If you are only going to use the beam for talking skip then Horizontal/Flat would be the way to go. But if you would like it for both local and talking skip then I would go vertical. There is also another option and that is using a Y-Quad. That way you have both Vert. and Horz. and the beam is small enough to be turned with a TV rotor with no problem. The only draw back with that is there will be a little more maintanence with the Y-Quad because of the reflector wire. They will at some point need to be replaced!

[Night Ranger]

Jul 14, 2008 19:36:28 GMT -5 oldgoat said:

Hi old goat I need some help making a decision on the two baam antennas. Going to use for skip contacts. Right now I have Imax 2000 with switch for 2 radios Stryker SR440 and Connex cx4300-300 want to hook connex to beam. TV Antenna no good so I have 60 ft tower and rotor. Is the Maco good antenna I hear there are three ways to set up Horz. Vert. Or flat side what is difference and best for skip. Hope not too many stupid Questions dont know about beams thanks RAY

Last summer I decided to start taking a survey of all the "big guns" I heard regularly coming over top of everyone else on 38 LSB . By "regularly" I mean I only asked the guys that were consistently on top of everyone else day after day and week after week. I asked them what kind of antenna they were using, how high up it was, and how much power they were putting out. Below are the average results for the 38 LSB "Big Guns";

Average "Big Gun" antenna: 4 element beam

Generally the beam antenna was either a Maco M-104c, Moonraker 4, Shooting Star, or 4 element quad.

Average "Big Gun" antenna height: About 56 feet

Average "Big Gun" output power: 200 to 250 watts RMS

I was expecting a higher average wattage output, but the average power out with a 4 element beam was 200 to 250 watts.

The top end confirmed antenna was a 7 element yagi beam belonging to Needle Bender 777 in Sarasota, Florida. The high end amplifier was an Ameritron AL-1500 in to a Hy-Gain 5 element "Long John" yagi used by "Ron" in California, and an Alpha amplifier used by "Unit 67" in Austin, Texas. There is a guy in Tennessee who is rumored to be running stacked 7 element Yagi's on vertical.

The radio type ran the gamut from regular CB's to high end ham radios.

[Dr. Rigamortis]

Three is a guy here localy that has a BIG GUN made by hygain. Its a 4 element quad. That thing is a monster..not just big, but when he is on that thing, it is SO directional, and SO loud, you would swear he is running 500 watts, but I know the man and his radios... its just a stock Mark III. Its the only Big Gun antenna around here, but I have half a notion to get some more parts and convert a Moonraker in to a true 4 element quad antenna. Biggest antenna around this area is a 5 element. I know of one Moonraker 6 that has been up at this old cbr's place for 30 years. He hasnt talked on it in almost 10, but wont sell it for anything.