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Post by zman on Oct 11, 2008 22:21:24 GMT -5
Anyone ever use one of these bad boys?
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Post by Tombstone (R.I.P.) on Oct 14, 2008 14:22:32 GMT -5
Hello, how many elements are on that beam and I assume that it's vertical only. What's he turning it with?
Tombstone
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Post by zman on Oct 14, 2008 18:09:29 GMT -5
It is a 4 element. It is both horizontal and verticle. It uses a double driver loop for the polarity. Its a very slick beam. I saw one a few weeks ago on Ebay that never sold. Man, if i had the $$$ at that time it would have been MINE!:^D
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Post by Marc on Oct 15, 2008 9:37:32 GMT -5
I used one for about 5 years before I got crazy and put up stacked Moon-raker 4s.
I loved it was going to stack them but could not find a second one! Decent on ground wave but rely shines on DX.
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Post by zman on Oct 15, 2008 22:15:46 GMT -5
How did those staked rakers work out?
All i know is i will never go back to a jagi or quagi beam. My Quad works great and i only spent $10.00 on it. LOL It works better now that i spaced the elements out more. I didnt notice any drop in F/B in fact it seemed to tigten up the beam more. I have a couple of guys here locally that can't even hear me if i have it turned away from them. So now i have a couple of locals that want me to build them one!
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Post by Marc on Oct 16, 2008 0:50:28 GMT -5
Sounds good how far did you extend the spacing?
Did you go over 7' on all spaces? if not that is still inside the F/B range
The raker's worked fantastic. I could talk just about anywhere on 50 watts they were 70 feet up and lived 12 miles from town so very little noise.
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Post by zman on Oct 16, 2008 10:19:42 GMT -5
6'3" from the reflector to the driver, 80" from the driver to the inner director and 6'3" fom the inner director to the outer director.
The old dimensions i had used the moonraker 4 spacing of 65", 56" 65". I just wanted to see how much of a difference it would make. Before i built the quad a built a homebrew version of a Gizmotchy 4 element beam. I couldn't get the horizontal side to match up well at all. The verticle was flat but the flatside was about a 2.5=1. I scrapped the idea and built my quad and im better for it. ;D
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Post by Marc on Oct 16, 2008 11:19:20 GMT -5
Ya still under 7 feet on spacing. How are you matching it ?The widest spacing I have worked with on a 4 element quad was 10' 5" long long boom
31 foot
worked very very well!
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Post by zman on Oct 16, 2008 21:20:30 GMT -5
I am using a homeade 1.1 balun made from 10 turns of RG 58U on a piece of PVC pipe. The antenna is fed vertically so i can work mobiles and most of the vertically polarized base stations around. I get about a 1.2=1 SWR on CH 1 and 40 and flat on 20. The SWR went down after i wide spaced the elements apart. The SWR goes up and down depending on were I aim the beam as I have other antennas around and power lines about 75 feet away plus a boat shop to my south about 100' away from the beam . I only run a stock Cobra 142 GTL running 4 watts AM and 12 watts SSB and i have been able to work fixed stations well over 100 miles away via groundwave. Im pretty happy with the beam. It is only mounted about 30' off the ground up on the roof.
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Post by Marc on Oct 16, 2008 22:52:11 GMT -5
Sounds fantastic I am in the process of doing a two element on a 11 ft boom with 10.5 ft spacing with a big gun II type driven element vert and horz don't have the space for anything bigger at this time I will be at about 30 ft also.
Moving the reflector forward or back is the best way to tune them. I use a MFJ ant bridge to tune mine makes it much easier.
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Post by zman on Oct 17, 2008 18:50:34 GMT -5
When you get that beam done id like to see some pics of how you made the Vert/horizontal elements. Id like to try that next with my beam.
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Post by Marc on Oct 18, 2008 9:38:07 GMT -5
Will do. it is not that difficult just some fabrication time involved
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Post by charlie5179 on Jan 1, 2009 13:33:09 GMT -5
Anyone ever use one of these bad boys? |
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Post by charlie5179 on Jan 1, 2009 13:38:54 GMT -5
yes I use one had it since it was new good results from that antenna stored it and tried a moonraker 4 for some time but I like the results of the bigg gun good signal reports from all over the world. I would love to find another one in good shape that`s for sale for a stand by antenna . you should be happy with that antenna if not I will take it off your hands 73`s
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Post by charlie5179 on Feb 7, 2009 18:28:32 GMT -5
I want to buy a used Hygain Bigg gunn 2 quad antenna anyone have one with all the insulators and the othere parts let me know what your price is I will pay the shipping also.
charlie 5179 email ( ceww179@yahoo.com)
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Post by copperhead on Mar 31, 2009 11:31:26 GMT -5
There was one advertise on bluejay web a couple a weeks ago. it was in the box asking 500 BUT THE OLD BOY will not answer any emails where to ship m.o. If there is one i would by-buy-by that me i wont one so bad i will drive her to cal&back free dutch
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Post by zman on Mar 31, 2009 18:27:53 GMT -5
Wow i wish i had the extra cash! He probably doesnt want a money order. Most everyone now wants Pay Pal. Thats the new things now i guess. I dont like it and dont use it though.
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Post by dgtr43 on Apr 18, 2009 19:40:28 GMT -5
Is a 3 element Maco Beam good for ground wave and DX?
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Post by lamplighter on Apr 18, 2009 21:27:34 GMT -5
How did those staked rakers work out? All i know is i will never go back to a jagi or quagi beam. My Quad works great and i only spent $10.00 on it. LOL It works better now that i spaced the elements out more. I didnt notice any drop in F/B in fact it seemed to tigten up the beam more. I have a couple of guys here locally that can't even hear me if i have it turned away from them. So now i have a couple of locals that want me to build them one! Is there a photo of this somewhere? Did I miss something? |
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Post by zman on Apr 19, 2009 20:11:55 GMT -5
I will dig around to se if i can find my pics. I think my wife deleted a dunch of of the digital camera and the computer. Shes anti CB radio if you know what i mean. I no longer have the homebrew quad up anymore as I need to install it on a tower and i need to beef up the long boom more. All I can say is it was a performer to say the least. I had the elements spaced out on a 20' boom and fed it for verticle. I am no antenna engineer or expert im just an ordinary guy that likes to experiment with ham and CB antennas to see what works the best. I dont use any goofy confusing formulas or math I just use ideas out of old magazines and books and put them to use!!
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Post by lamplighter on Apr 19, 2009 22:12:21 GMT -5
Hopefully, you can find some photos.
If you've seen my thread on homemade antenna projects you'll realize we think in similar ways.
BTW, wives tend to think they are in competition with the radios. Silly thought. The girls are even in the race... ;D
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Post by zman on Apr 20, 2009 14:29:04 GMT -5
I have homebrewed several antennas. When I still lived at home i had plans to make a 11 meter rhombic but my folks said no way after they found out how big it was going to be!! Before i built my "masterpiece quad" I had homebrewed what looked like a Gizmotchy 4 element beam but i had issued with the gamma matches. I even used a pair of Jo Gunn gammas and i still had issues. I think the problems came from using the verticle element for both the verticle and horizontal sides. I also built a V quad and it worked great but i wanted to stack them, but i later decided to go with more gain with the 4 element stretched boom quad. I am glad i did! I found the 4 element quad dimensions from an old S-9 CB magazine from 1977. I wish i could get some more of these great old mags are there are LOTS of great antenna aticles written by Bill Orr back in the days.
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Post by lamplighter on Apr 20, 2009 16:10:14 GMT -5
I will get around to more in time. I haven't the ability to mount a large antenna at this time. So sad...
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Post by zman on May 3, 2009 21:58:17 GMT -5
I have a truckload of aluminum tubing from old CB and ham antennas stashed away in my garage and workshop. Enough to build several decent sized antennas. I am always asking around for old CB and ham antennas and quite i few times i get them for free if i just take them down! I have a line on a Rohn HDBX, ham 2 rotator, coax, and a Mosley CL 36 triband beam for about $200.00 if i take everything down. The guy is trying to sell the house it is next to and wants the whole shebang down before it is sold.
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Post by ponyexpress on Nov 6, 2010 22:42:16 GMT -5
Wow i wish i had the extra cash! He probably doesnt want a money order. Most everyone now wants Pay Pal. Thats the new things now i guess. I dont like it and dont use it though. ;D Oh yes the HY GAIN BIG GUNN II #414 4 element cubical quad Yes that was me who had it on Blujay 4sale. Its hard to part with a rare new in box classic . I took it off and decided to put it up in the air . Then a buddy dropped off his damaged one last fall that needed rebuilding. So I am rebuilding the old one . Lots of rust on those old nuts and bolts and broken insulator halves for tips of elements for wires to sit atatched on. The only insulators that were good was the driven element spreaders for the double wires . |
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Post by dgtr43 on Nov 7, 2010 22:59:15 GMT -5
Do you still want to sale this Hy Gain Big Gun II?
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Post by ponyexpress on Nov 9, 2010 21:02:32 GMT -5
HYGAIN Big Gun II is not 4sale sorry guys .......
I was just responding to the guy who seen it on Blujay .
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Post by charlie5179 on Feb 12, 2011 21:15:34 GMT -5
hey ponyxspress you said that you was rebuilding a bigg gunn 2 for your friend tell me what did you replace the insulators that was broke with and what kind of antenna wire did you replace the wire elements with let me know i heard that it's a guy that got all the replacement parts for this antenna he brought out all of hygain surplus stock for this antenna
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