New Sirio Performer 5000 Fighter

[fourstringburn]

It sounds as though the older version had a thicker whip, but I can say the one I have has a tapered whip which gets needle thin sort of speak.

M0GVZ makes a good point of possibly damaging the coil housing by using a thicker whip. This has already happened to 222DBFL cutting down a 102 whip. That's too thick of a whip.

The Wilson 64 inch replacement whip seems to be a good compromise and it fits nicely in the Sirio coil if you have the thin whip version and you want to replace it.

I think Wilson also sells a 72 in.whip which maybe better in case the 64 is a little short for the mag mount versions.

 

[bob85]

i agree a cut down 1/4wave whip is too stiff for the sirio coil,

straightening bent whips is not difficult using an electric drill and a towel.

 

[jadocs]

i agree a cut down 1/4wave whip is too stiff for the sirio coil,

straightening bent whips is not difficult using an electric drill and a towel.

I'm curious about this method, can you elaborate?


So I did some searching and I think I found the specification differences between the old and new Sirio 5000 whips.

 

[fourstringburn]

I'm curious about this method, can you elaborate?


So I did some searching and I think I found the specification differences between the old and new Sirio 5000 whips.

View attachment 16250

Good research, even though it is only a half a mm difference at it's thickest point, but different none the less.

 

[jadocs]

Good research, even though it is only a half a mm difference at it's thickest point, but different none the less.

Yeah it doesn't sound like much, but visually it's a lot different.

 

[StrangeBrew]

Good research, even though it is only a half a mm difference at it's thickest point, but different none the less.

That half a mm is over 12% of the whips total thickness, not a huge difference but significant.

 

[222DBFL]

Yes a 102" whip is just too much. Wish it would have worked, it did for about 8 months but finally got hit and broke. But man was it nice to dx while going down the highway!! If I could do it over again I would find a stiffer whip like fourstringburn mentioned. Im sure someone sells whips other than Wilson as well. I would like to see what the 72" Wilson whip would do with a sirio base. Don't have anything setup currently or I would. At least I have time to look around and weigh options as I am just not happy with the new stock whips. Wish they would have kept them at 4mm! Dang you sirio!! Saving a dollar where they can I suppose. At any rate good research there jadocs!

 

[jadocs]

222DBFL, I did notice that H&Y sells replacement whips for the 5000. I'm just not sure if it is the 3.5mm or the 4mm. They haven't replied to my email (sent like last month). The screen capture I posted above comparing the two versions is from a UK website.

On the other hand at $29.95 plus shipping from H&Y just for the whip
http://www.hyelectronics.com/REPLACEMENT-WHIP-LOAD-FOR-PERFORMER-5000/productinfo/P-5000W/

It might be better to just get the whole antenna system for $59.95
http://www.hyelectronics.com/performer-5000-comparison-special/productinfo/P5000SPEC2/

I picked up my extra Siro 5000PL above from that link and can confirm it comes with the 4mm whip.

 

[222DBFL]

Yep. Been there and done that. Cheaper to buy the whole antenna. Not cheaper but at lest you get the whole antenna new for a little more and not just a whip!! You know what I mean.

 

[bob85]

jadocs,

I put the fat end of the whip into an electric drill,
get a buddy to hold/operate the drill,
grab the whip near the drill with a wad of towel,
start drill spinning fairly fast,
bend whip over,
move towards the tip bending more as you go,
keep working from the drill to tip gradually reducing the amount of bend until the whip is straight,

badly bent long whips can flop around wildly so two hands are needed to control it until you take some bend out,

I have done it that way dozens of times over the years & only ever broke 1 whip,
The only whips i failed to fully straighten are 6ft avanti moonraker whips, they are WAY tougher than any other mobile cb antenna whip,
softer whips like sirio/wilson are pretty easy with a towel once you get the hang of it,

wear suitable eye/face protection, i don't want to be responsible for somebody poking their eye out,

This came up on TM1 recently so i asked the guys from youtubes "meet the breakers" to make a vid as seeing is believing,
They are up for it, we need to sort a date and me show them how its done,
Im interested in seeing if they can do it with zero prior experience.

 

[222DBFL]

Man that would be nice bob85! I have spent much time trying to get my tip straight after hitting a few things the top curls over. 1st time it happened to me was in WI, going from Grand Rapids, MI to Milwaukee. There are a lot of short bridges in the Chicago area that are metal. By the end of the trip I got out and looked at tip of my antenna and it looked like someone took and made a small box at the top of my whip. Talk about a PITA to get straight!! This is about the time I saw someone else here post about drilling and using the 102" whip. I will say with the 102" whip that it never got hit hard enough to hurt the whip but the hit at high speed it took actually ripped the so-239 from the mag mount!! Antenna was fine though. Mag mount is what broke. Too much weight. Someone once mentioned to me about Larsen commercial SS whips that come in different sizes. And that they didn't have much if any taper. Maybe I'll have to dig a bit deeper and see what I can come up with. Will update. But I think fourstringburn has it nailed if someone wants a stiffer setup, go with the trucker 5000, add the longer shaft or use stock shaft and cut top of whip instead of bottom. This will at least keep some meat on the whip per say. Anyhow, thanks for all the info!! Good stuff!!

 

[M0GVZ]

I can understand that as well M0GVZ. I just would like to see a bit thicker whip at the top. It's just my preference. The current whips bend very easy at the top when you bang something and the end of the whip wants to then start to curl over. You then have to straighten it out which never really is straight again. It also makes the metal weaker bending back and forth. I understand the whole nor breaking anything, but I just think the taper of the whip they use is too skinny at the top. Again JMO.

Right, I find that strange. My whip on my Little Tarheel II is from either a Sirio Hypower 4000 or the newer Performer 5000 (I just bought a replacement whip from local CB store and its not as thick as my friends well old 5000) and its been on the car 2 years or so now. Every single day I go to work it smacks a tree branch on the opposite side of the street to my house a few feet above the top of the roof so it bends over a fair bit, probably even 90 degrees. Its as straight as a die. I've even taken it on holiday, coiled it up to fit in a suitcase and its sprung back straight.

It shoudn't be bending like that. The only time I've ever bent one is when it got trapped in the tailgate when I closed it.

I'm not saying you're wrong and yours isn't doing it but I'm just wondering if maybe they use a different steel for the US models.

 

[2RT307]

I know the subject is about the Sirio, but since 102" whips are being mentioned... I have one from Radio Shack, and one from DX Engineering. The DX Engineering one is a lot thicker from base to tip than the RS. It also doesn't get beat up/bent like the RS one does.

I'm starting to think about the trucker style Sirio though... I normally use a Predator 10K on my pickup, and it works really well for 10/11 meters. I need about a 22 inch riser to get it over the roof of the truck, which is going to make it one tall antenna.

73,
Brett

 

[222DBFL]

No offense at all taken M0GVZ!! It was weird but I think that time that it really curled up bad was from multiple hits on metal bridges at 55-60mph. Big difference than hitting a tree limb unless it's a very large branch. I know that the tips can be bent back. My setup at that time had the tip of the antenna at close to 15ft total. Roof was just a tad under 9ft tall. Nissan NV 3500 high back work van. Antenna took some hits. Im not saying they are bad but the older whips were a bit better to me. At 4mm it might not seem like much but it was a big difference the way my older sirio whip would stay up and took a good beating. Never heard of the drill to straighten. Would love to see s vid as I have a couple whips that the first 4" is bent slightly. Not much but enough to see if you know what you're looking at. At any rate, I love my sirio antennas and would recommend them to anyone. They are about as good as a 102" whip as they come as far as base coil antennas are concerned.

 

[jadocs]

Bob thanks for the explanation