I have read somethings I don't like about the a-99. I know some people love them but I've read where they are cheaply built. I had one given to me a few years back and I was told it didn't work so I got looking into it and the resistor in the base was smoked. changed the resistor and it worked but i looked at the internals the best I could and it looked very cheap in my opinion . So I guess I'm just wondering if you have had any luck with them and do they do what they say they do.
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A-99
- Thread starter ron103067
- Start date
Well you've got it about right Ron. They are cheaply built. And they do work. If somebody puts one up and are happy with it, then all is good. But you can certainly obtain a better vertical antenna. One with more gain and all metal construction.
Good luck
Good luck
The A99 does not have a resistor in the antenna. Like anything that is made by man---some are just not right. But hundreds, maybe thousands have been made and for the most part they are put together pretty well.
The tuning device inside has to do a lot to transform the very high impedance in an end fed 1/2 wave and as small as it is, it does a very good job of taking care of the match.
Tell us what you claim they say they should do, and maybe someone can agree or not to the truth. If you are talking about the gain they show, you are probably right, it is high.
The A99 is not easy to take apart without destroying the antenna. Can you give us an idea how you took it apart and what you saw in addition to the resistor you claim to have replaced?
If you replaced a resistor in the base, it was not an A99 by Solarcon. If you cannot recall or describe the inside, tell me what you found attached directly to the inside part of the male coax connector installed in the very bottom of the antenna where the feedline attaches.
The tuning device inside has to do a lot to transform the very high impedance in an end fed 1/2 wave and as small as it is, it does a very good job of taking care of the match.
Tell us what you claim they say they should do, and maybe someone can agree or not to the truth. If you are talking about the gain they show, you are probably right, it is high.
The A99 is not easy to take apart without destroying the antenna. Can you give us an idea how you took it apart and what you saw in addition to the resistor you claim to have replaced?
If you replaced a resistor in the base, it was not an A99 by Solarcon. If you cannot recall or describe the inside, tell me what you found attached directly to the inside part of the male coax connector installed in the very bottom of the antenna where the feedline attaches.
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Ron, here is basically what is inside the base which includes the metal mounting section including a few inches up into the Fiber Glass (FG) base element.
The top (opposite end from red coil shown) consists of just wire elements inside the FG exterior of each section.
Below image shows the contents of the entire bottom section of one of my A99's.
First let me say the one I had was given to me 13 years ago Don't know if solarcon made them back then. Mine had a metal band at the bottom, the bottom half was about an 1 and a half inch diameter went up about eight foot then a eight foot fiberglass antenna screwed in to the top. I cut the side of the bottom pole just above the metal band which ruined the antenna. But there was a resistor in their the was smoked which I replaced with a rat shack one. worked but not as good as it should have. Maybe it was an antron or maybe some cheap knock off but to the best that I can remember there was no way to tune the antenna. I was only going by what the guy how gave it to me said and from what I have seen it lookes an awful lot like and a99