[TowerTalk] OptiBeam OB2-40M

[Mike Zak]

A lot of this, IMO, depends on the specifics of any given station and its location.  A site that is “HFTA-friendly” can compensate a lot for an antenna that’s not “EZNEC friendly.”  I’m pretty confident that the coils on a Cushcraft Shorty-Forty are much higher loss than the coils on either an Optibeam or a JK, but in the end it just might not matter for some stations and locations.  I can still remember K1AR’s review in CQ Magazine, May 1987, where John was, shall we say, “effusive” about the Cushcraft.

When I concluded the XM240 was not for me I put a longer boom on it and turned it into a W6NL Yagi-Moxon and that worked quite well.


Mike, W1MU



From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> on behalf of Dave Thompson <thompson at mindspring.com>
Reply-To: Dave Thompson <thompson at mindspring.com>
Date: Friday, May 21, 2021 at 2:24 PM
To: "towertalk at contesting.com" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] OptiBeam OB2-40M


That optibeam sounds great but I reburbed my old 2 el Cushcraft 40 and its still a killer.  I see no reason to change.
The cushcraft usually beat out a 3 el Telerex at n4RJ and several 4 el KLM 40's nearby.  It worked so good that Tom N4KG (SK now) in Huntsville called it a killer antenna and ordered one for himself.  And no I left it alone and did not modify it as a moxon.

73 Dave K4JRB
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