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Antron 99

skybolt58

Active Member
Nov 9, 2008
189
9
28
Tug Hill NY
Hi,


I just got this A99 given to me and I need the manual, does any one possibly have one they can send me. pm me and I will send my email?



Thanks
 

A 99

Thanks,

But thats about all I found...

I was told it had to be grounded in 2 places that it says it in the manual, but hte person I was talking to said he had no way in scanning his manual. Mu problem is I have way too much ground static. this is just temp antenna untill I get the new spider for my Maco v58.
 
I know folks that has mounted that antenna on everything from a proper tower,old telephone pole,to actually cutting the top out of a tree,drilling a hole the size of the short mast section,lag bolting the mast in place and mounting the antenna at that point. And noone that I know has had any trouble with that antenna.....as said above,99% of the people just plug and play.....make sure that the swr is where it needs to be at and enjoy (y)
 
Good advice so far. It's not the best antenna in the world, but it's far from being the worst. Like any antenna, it's going to take a little tuning to get it 'right'. There are no cheap "plug-n-play" antennas that work reasonably well. (If it was given to you, I don't know any way of getting cheaper! ;))
It works.
- 'Doc
 
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Thanks,

But thats about all I found...

I was told it had to be grounded in 2 places that it says it in the manual, but hte person I was talking to said he had no way in scanning his manual. Mu problem is I have way too much ground static. this is just temp antenna untill I get the new spider for my Maco v58.

IMO Skybolt58, the A99 may not be the best antenna for one reason or another, but I really can't think of one good reason that is worth noting. The A99 is very likely in the world of CB, the most widely and popular antenna in use. There are exceptions, but they work, they work very well, are easy to install just about anywhere, are pretty much trouble free with a little care, and they get a bad rap from most about stuff that is not true in my opinion. It is just like the BS you got about the A99 needing to be grounded in two spots.

Grounding the A99 is very good for safety concern, but there is absoutely nothing about it that requires it to be grounded. There are times when static noise is slight, bad, and very bad. Unless you can control Mother Nature, you just have to live with the noise we all experience from time to time.

I have also made the claim that the A99 and the Imax are a bit noiser than other antennas I worked, but that was when there was little or no noise that I sensed a difference. However, when conditions are noisy, then all the vertical antennas I have---seem to be just as noisy. You could see exceptions to this however. Antennas that are installed with loose or poor connections can respond in strange and troublesome ways.

I think the A99 is adaquately DC grounded in its matching device to do what it can about static noise, so we just have to live with noise sometimes. There are things like the transformers that your Electric Service Co. provide, sometimes above ground, that can cause excess noise. You could check that out if the noise does not go away. If you have a mobile, you could drive around and see how and where noise does seem to come and go in certain area, and your station could be in such an area.
 
A 99

Thanks for your imput, but I went over my friends house who said to ground it, that it stated to hook ground wire on the U clamp to ground to eliminate white noise, I couldn't believe that would do anything, But he prouved it to me. he has the same radio I have a DX 959. with that recieve kit in it, he turned it on and had 0 noise. went out side and disconnected the ground wire that was connected the the U bolt, and as soon as he did that WOW noise was a 3 on the S meter. please explain that?

It is not electrical noise, I shut my Main off and used a power inverter, and same thing NOISE! I have a Maco v58 out in my garage and that has 0 noise, (well maybe a little) but not as bad as this A-99. You may have 1 point there though. the A99 is the noisy one? I plan on putting my maco 58 up here in the house as soon as I get a new spider for it.. thanks
 
Well 58, I have another saying too, "...if it works for you, then do it, but if your antenna is not working right and it is due to a bad ground, then you have a bad antenna."

58, that's what your buddy proved to you.
 
Don't overlook this mounting option !!!!

:love::LOL::blink::love::LOL::blink::love::LOL::blink::love::LOL::blink::love::blink::love::LOL::blink::love::LOL::blink::love::LOL::blink::love::LOL:
dsc00374_small_434.jpg
 
if you want to add a groundplane on a antron 99 or imax 2000 try adding four 108 inch wire radials drooping down (instead of buying something thats to short to start with) . using two 10 ft peices of 3/4 plumbing pips cut them in half and then use a 3/4 4-way to make a big x (use plumbing glue). connect one end of the 108's to the ground/mounting plate of the antenna , the other ends to the ends of the 3/4 pipe and let it hang under the antena , that will spread them out . use a hose clamp or what ever to keep it from spinning/flopping/beating on the mast . i used endcaps with nuts and bolts and ring connectors to clean up the connections .
 
people need to remember that unless you use the groundplane kit with the A99, it uses the first 8-9 feet of your coax as a counterpoise.

if it were my antenna, i would run the coax straight down the mast for the first 10 feet or so.
thats just me.

also, the manual only mentions the ground wire thing for lightning protection.
not for noise, or tuning, or performance. they are just covering their a$$es.

as far as the noise complaint as it relates to that ground wire, have you ever thought that the ground wire is acting as a sort of counterpoise and in effect reducing the effectiveness of the antenna and thats why the noise is less when it is attached?

what you need is a field strength meter about 30 feet away from the antenna.

check the reading on the meter with and without that ground wire attached and see if there is a difference.

who knows, maybe it is making a positive difference for some weird reason or another.

i have owned 4 of these antennas, and i have run them with and without the groundplane kit, grounded and ungrounded, and i have never noticed a difference in the receive or transmit with and without the ground wire.

as far as the noise is concerned; remember that we live in a world with all kinds of RF devices creating all kinds of havoc for us.
heck, a wireless mouse can create all kinds of noise on a CB radio, even if its not in your house.

these are all just opinions, but they are the opinions of someone who has played with this particular antenna for years.

good luck with it,
LC
 
HA

I just did that today, but I took a saw zaw to it, and trashed it and put the maco up. Much quieter now. cant figure out why tho that a 99 I had was new. good thing there cheap .
 
img0705vwf.jpg
I just did that today, but I took a saw zaw to it, and trashed it and put the maco up. Much quieter now. cant figure out why tho that a 99 I had was new. good thing there cheap .

58, destroying your A99 that way is just plane silly. You proved that you could destroy it with your Daddy's saws-all, but what did that gain you?

Maybe something was wrong with your A99 like happened to me with one of several that I have owned over the years. This one I bought new and from the get go it produced all kinds of bleedover and TVI in my house and for my neighbors. I probably even complained that it was noisy too, but I don't remember that. The antenna worked just fine otherwise, but I cut the base in half to see what might be wrong. I carefully removed the matching device and the wire radiator inside from the SO239 to the top of the hub for the bottom section.

Maybe you can see the three stray wires sticking out where the coax meets the coil and the shield was not tinned at all with little hair like wires going every where around the connection points. The three loose wires were not tinned properly during manufacturing and two wires were traced directly to the center conductor where the rest was tinned. This was just a very poor solder job and it was likely creating all the RFI at that point. That is my opinion.

Admittedly I could not fix this because the bottom tube (mount) of the antenna was destroyed, but at least I learned something in the process of destroying the A99 that was bad.

85, what did you learn when you destroyed your A99? Plus, tell us again why you destroyed the A99? Didn't your buddy just prove to you that you could stop the noise, just by grounding the antenna????

What a peckerwood! :headbang
 

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