Hi all.....I recently put a question on this reflector about the advantage of
taking down my old Hy Gain TH6, and replacing it with the C4S that I was so
lucky to win at Dayton. I have recvd a few followups requesting that I post my
findings/results etc. Here they are.
I have a Rohn 25, 58 foot foldover with a HAM rotor. The tower is free
standing and about 30 feet from my house. I live on some what high ground with
gentle sloping, probably average dirt (farm land) with no structures close
by(yet).
The TH6 down was easy to take down,and probably only took about an hour
and a half.
I had previously started the assy of the C4S that week. The Yagi part of the
antenna is a snap to put together. All you really need at this point is a pop
rivet gun. The directions are very easy to follow (even for me) and very
clear. The parts are bundled by element, i.e. 10 meter director, 15 meter
driver, etc., and are packed inside each other. No hunting for which fits
which. The pop rivets are easy to use, and the holes are pre drilled. There
are two adjustable sections two assemble.I only slipped these sections
together, put a rivet in one hole, and wrapped tape around it. This way I
could move it later, as required, and then rivet it. There is some noalux
included, and this helps. There is not quite enuff ,in my opinion, but I had
some and was no problem.
Putting the antenna on the boom was easy, and mounting it to the mast
likewise. The 40 meter section is NOT easy to understand at first.(For me).
It's a good thing they have included many pictures and an expanation of what
the antenna is doing, because to explain it would take a book. Others may not
be as dense as I to catch on. Once I understood the use of the spreaders and
loaders I was ok and finished the job. My unit came with two baluns. I don't
know if this is standard.
How does it work?? When I was putting it together I began to wonder
myself, if this little short lite wgt thing was going to perform for me. It's
half as long as the TH6 and about half the wt. It was certainly a lot nicer to
the crank up tower for sure. Note: Force 12 requests that as you put the
sections togethr that you check their work. I found only one error. One 10
meter section was about a half inch too long. No problem too cut it because
the tubing is lite.Any way, the antenna went up and the SWR and freq. coverage
was pretty much as advertised. I lowered the rig and pulled out the 10 and 15
meter sections as far as I could (CW operation) and riveted them in place.
With the condx that we had last week as far as I can tell the thing works just
fine. I have worked all that I have heard and have not had any unusual noise
probs or swr changes. I thought at first that I wasnt hearing as well but
decided later that I believe it is about the same. I did work an Iranian
station on 20 one evening. I could just barely hear him (he was spotted on
packet by a W6) and there was NO pile up so I guessed that others cud not hear
him either. I worked him on the third call. I was so surprised when he
answered that I almost fumbled the pass. I would say at this point the
antennas are very nearly equal. All the sigs are stronger on the yagi than on
my vertical, sloper, and sloping dipole I had for 17.I usually run a kw for
DX, but also did a lot of calling with barefoot power turned way down. Not
really QRP but aroun 25/50 watts. Was able to work most folks right off. The
40 meter dipole loads where it is supposed to and seems to work O.K. With the
current rash of T-strms around here(Ohio) I have not used it a lot. I seem to
hear fine with it, and HAVE worked into the carribean easily with 50 watts.
I feel the C4S works as well as the TH6 as far as I can tell with my un
scientific methods. The end result is that I am VERY satisfied with it. It is
very light and easy to assemble. I'm sure my tower and rotar love it. It DOES
take some getting used to tho' cuz I am used to the big one at the top. I
watched it in a high wind and T-storm the other night and it "wiggles" a lot
but seems to do fine in that respect too.
I would reccomend it to any one who wants a short boom lite easy to assemble
antenna that works well.
I was going to use it in the contest this weekend, but, alas, relatives
from afar have arrived, and I fear I will be QRT for awhile(on threat of
death) because one of the spare beds is in my shack.
Thanks to all who showed interest in my project, and thanks to Force 12
for the nice contribution to the hamfest. 73 all.gud luck in the
contest....Al/W8FAX
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