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Help me identify this strange antenna. . .

N

n9iui

Member
Jun 16, 2009
6
0
11
Indianapolis, Indiana
I've been trying to help a fellow Ham with this antenna he picked up at a Hamfest. It looks a lot like a Ringo for 10 meters or CB, but the tuning ring has only a connection for the coax; no connection for the tuning stub that Cushcraft uses. Also, it is made up of 4 telescoping sections that are adjustable with knurled rings; no hose clamps! I didn't measure it but it extends to around 16 feet. It also has an "eggbeater" like capacitance hat at the top.
We've messed with this thing for hours trying to resonate it between 6 and 10 meters with no success.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Finding a manual or at least tuning measurements would be too good to be true, but I remain hopeful.
Thanks and 73.

Lonnie, N9IUI
 

I had one of those years back I believe it was called something like a super mag or something? It had the staticc ball egg wisk looking deal on the top the one I had I gave to a friend and they used it with no problems on 11 meters.

Not seeing a pic makes it difficult to compare to the one I had forsure but it does sound like what I had I also was wonder what the hell mine was and someone told me it was a super mag now who made it is beyond me I was told but am not sure.

There were a few antennas which sported that static ball penatrators ETC if Im not mistaken.
 
Just to see if it'll work, try it on 20 meters. I wouldn't bet on it, but...

I do know the 6 meter 'Ringo' uses a short 'open' coaxial stub in addition to the ring for tuning, so there are two SO-239's on that antenna. Are there any screw holes that might be where a bracket for another SO-239 could be located?

Given the length of the thing, it -could- be for almost any band down to about 20 meters or so. Lots of possibilities without out ever getting to the commercial bands.
- 'Doc
 
TonyV225 said:
I had one of those years back I believe it was called something like a super mag or something? It had the staticc ball egg wisk looking deal on the top the one I had I gave to a friend and they used it with no problems on 11 meters.

Not seeing a pic makes it difficult to compare to the one I had forsure but it does sound like what I had I also was wonder what the hell mine was and someone told me it was a super mag now who made it is beyond me I was told but am not sure.

There were a few antennas which sported that static ball penatrators ETC if Im not mistaken.
Click to expand...

I used to be familiar with the SuperMag, it isn't one of them though the "ball" on the top is similar.
This has a tuning ring at the base much like the Ringo antennas, but not exactly like them.
I'll try to get over there to get a pic but I'm not sure I can post pictures; I'm a new member.

Thanks and 73

Lonnie, N9IUI
 
W5LZ said:
Just to see if it'll work, try it on 20 meters. I wouldn't bet on it, but...

I do know the 6 meter 'Ringo' uses a short 'open' coaxial stub in addition to the ring for tuning, so there are two SO-239's on that antenna. Are there any screw holes that might be where a bracket for another SO-239 could be located?

Given the length of the thing, it -could- be for almost any band down to about 20 meters or so. Lots of possibilities without out ever getting to the commercial bands.
- 'Doc
Click to expand...

I had my MFJ antenna analyzer on it and tried everything from 6 to 20 meters with no luck.
I'm sure there isn't anything missing; there isn't anyplace for anything else to go!
I have the 6 meter Ringo (and 2 meter and 220 and 440. . .) so I'm familiar with the design of their tuning ring. There isn't provision or a hole for a connector for a tuning stub on this mystery antenna.
Thanks Doc and 73

Lonnie, N9IUI
 
n9iui said:
I had my MFJ antenna analyzer on it and tried everything from 6 to 20 meters with no luck.
I'm sure there isn't anything missing; there isn't anyplace for anything else to go!
I have the 6 meter Ringo (and 2 meter and 220 and 440. . .) so I'm familiar with the design of their tuning ring. There isn't provision or a hole for a connector for a tuning stub on this mystery antenna.
Thanks Doc and 73

Lonnie, N9IUI
Click to expand...

Since you have an analyzer, is the antenna resonate anywhere?
 
That is odd, the antenna must have some sort of loading mechanism besides the simple base loop. Without a photo is hard to visualize the antenna. Does it resonate anywhere when it is fully extended? I have a few of the older ARRL handbooks with the ads in the back from the 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's. I will look and see if anything in there looks like what you are describing.

Is there any signs that the antenna ever have some sort of ground plane or tuned ground wire attached. It seems that for it to work without a tuning stub, it would need a ground plane or at least a simple counterpoise.

73
 
295 said:
That is odd, the antenna must have some sort of loading mechanism besides the simple base loop. Without a photo is hard to visualize the antenna. Does it resonate anywhere when it is fully extended? I have a few of the older ARRL handbooks with the ads in the back from the 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's. I will look and see if anything in there looks like what you are describing.

Is there any signs that the antenna ever have some sort of ground plane or tuned ground wire attached. It seems that for it to work without a tuning stub, it would need a ground plane or at least a simple counterpoise.

73
Click to expand...

The antenna doesn't appear to be missing anything, nor does it have any loading mechanism. it looks for all the world like a 10 meter Ringo except that it is made of heavier tubing with knurled rings instead of clamps where the tubing telescopes together. The tuning ring is a little different with no matching stub. It has the capacitance loops on top and to mount it, it is slipped over a mast and fastens with a hose clamp instead of the captive bolt like Cushcraft uses for the Ringo.
If someone can tell me how (or if) I can post photos, I'll get a shot of it.

Lonnie, N9IUI
 
I've never posted photos here, I usually post the photo to photo bucket or some other photo hosting site and provide a link. However, it seems like the antenna may just be one of the 10 meter vertical antennas that used a matching harness. I imagine that with it collapsed down it was acting like a 1/4 antenna, and therefore would show some resonance. Being 16 feet long, it seems to be a little short for 11 meters. If I remember correctly, some of the older 10/11 meter verticals antennas actually came with a special short section of coax that incompassed some sort of matching stub. I think it was made with 75 ohm coax or something of that nature. It's just been about 25 years since I played with any of the older type antennas so my memory is a little foggy in this regard.
 
Sounds like the 42 meg CHP 5/8 my uncle used to have alongside his Quonset hut for listening to local CHP traffic near Merced, Ca.

When I was 11 I asked him if it would work as a CB antenna and he explained why it wouldn't.
 
Only going from a guess about lengths in the picture the thing could probably be used on frequencies in the 90 Mhz range to maybe the 50 Mhz range. If it will extend to something like 16 - 20 feet, then that freq. range possibilities would extend down into the 20 - 30 Mhz range. Boy, is that a rough guess!
Could it be used for CB? With that variable length, and the impedance matching 'ring', that's a definite 'maybe'. Which says absolutely nothing about how 'well' it might work.
One thing you might do is examine the elements for marks where it could have been used to adjust length. You might get some kind of indication as to extended length.
It does appear to be well constructed. No razor sharp points/edges, which is nice. After that, your guess is just as good as mine.
- 'Doc
 

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