[TowerTalk] Poor eHam reviews of the AV 480

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

On 4/9/2014 7:19 PM, David Thompson wrote:
> I tried to convince Ray W5EW to replace his 6BTV vertical with a 
> Hy-Gain AV-480 but the reviews on eHam were so bad he has decided not 
> to spend the money.  The 6BTV has 30 radials and does well in the RTTY 
> Contests he enters running low power.
>
> How do we over ride the poor reviews from hams who probably have no 
> idea of how to set up a vertical?

E-Ham is just user reports, it is not a testing service, nor have I 
found it to be reliable, but your experience is just as valuable as 
everyone else, no more, no less. .  I've found the AV640 to be an 
excellent antenna, but it does not cover 75.  The antenna is "very" 
sensitive to nearby metal objects and more so to resonant antennas up to 
a couple wavelengths distant.

They are a simple antenna and for me, worked better than any trap 
vertical I've used. It did require guying.The matching network is a bit 
on the light duty side, but at least my AV640 was fine at the legal 
limit on SSB and CW. I'd not want to run the legal limit on digital or 
AM.  It was working fine with 600 to 800 watts on six until paper wasps 
built a nest in there. I had bee goo actually getting through the 
connector and working its way down the inside of the coax.

  http://www.rogerhalstead.com/ham_files/AV-640/AV640.htm

You need space and supports to assemble one conveniently. They have a 
lot of parts and can be like working with a wet noodle at times. I would 
expect the  AV680 to be more so. A ham with little mechanical experience 
would do well to enlist the aid of an experienced ham or two in the 
assembly.

As far as e-ham, you can only wait for positive reviews to show up. 
Every installation is unique, so as with any vertical, the results are 
likely to vary all over the place.

I've been thinking of getting an AV680 to use as a back up antenna for 
the station and retirin the 640.  I havent used it since the kid who 
rototilled the compost heap managed to catch and wind up the LMR400 in 
the tiller.  I  just have to put a new connector on the new coax and the 
AV640 will be ready to go,  As it lays on the ground, maybe I'll change 
the run to Davis BuryFlex.  Loss is within a tenth or two of the LMR400 
and it's much more rugged...and I have a new, 500 foot spool with the 
plastic still on it.

I'll put a report on there, but it'll be what ever I get, good or bad, 
but again that's only one installation.

73

Roger (K8RI)


>
> 73 Dave K4JRB
>
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