I would be very leery of buying the Cushcraft EF 240. I bought one a few
years ago and put it up on my 90 foot tower. I had lots of problems. It was
VERY difficult to tune and I never got it to work satisfactorily. After
about 6 months 2 of the stand offs on the shortened elements broke. They
looked very strong but didn't last. I called the factory and they admitted
that the entire shipment was faulty and sent me all new ones. I had to take
the antenna down and replace them. After having the antenna back up for a
couple of months the one of shortening wires broke. I called the factory
and they admitted that they were prone to doing this and sent me all new
(different alloy) wires. I had to take the antenna down and replace them.
The SWR was never satisfactory and I hired a crane with a chair so that I
could try to tune the antenna in place but was never able to. They do have
other 40 M yagis and they may be fine.
I think the antenna is very fragile and it is expensive to keep working. I
finally took it down and junked it. I bought a Cushcraft XM240. Followed
the instructions and it worked perfectly and is an excellent antenna.
Just in case you think that I am a F12 hater, I have a C3E that has been on
my tower for the past 15 years. It is an outstanding antenna and I think an
excellent buy.
Bill W5VX
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of dw
Sent: Monday, October 26, 2015 1:31 PM
To: Ed Sawyer; towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] 40 Meter Yagi Question
I wonder what a used EF 240 would sell for??
Duane - N1BBR
On Mon, Oct 26, 2015, at 09:39 AM, Ed Sawyer wrote:
> I originally had the EF 240 at 80 ft. It performed pretty darned well
> with a 230 - 250khz bandwidth as advertised. Its very lightweight but
> its fragile. I beefed up some of its weak points that needed service
> after 3 or
> 4 years. For the money, it was the best bang for the buck and I did
> well
> with it. I took it down after about 5 years and put it into due south
> service at 50 ft. Its now on the ground because that tower was taken
> down.
> Now that I am higher power, I use a 2 el Delta loop in the trees and
> that works adequately.
>
>
>
> I now have a M2 3 el 40M3L. Its definitely physically better built
> although it has one linear loading flaw mechanically that I have since
> upgraded on all elements. It has much better front to back than the 2
> el Force 12 and "holds a frequency better". I am happy with the
> upgrade.
>
>
>
> To me the ONLY reason to got to the 48ft dual driven element 40M beams
> is the bandwidth. I don't think the extra dB or so is materially
> better than the 40M3L but the BW is only 200khz and it rolls off
> SHARPLY at the edges.
> I have it pushed down towards CW, so I see it start rolling off around
> 7180.
> Given the concentration of SSB from 7200 and down, I am okay with the
> compromise. I can reduce power and answer anyone right up to 7290 if
> needed. I am sure its barely a rotary dipole up there.
>
>
>
> If it was me, in Brazil, already owning a 402CD, I would be tempted to
> buy a longer boom and adding a 3rd element and re-optimizing for a
> 3el. A brand new 3 el shipped from the states is going to be a BIG
> expense and won't be much better than a modified 402CD for an extra
> element.
>
>
>
> Ed N1UR
>
> _
--
Bw_dw@fastmail.net
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