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antron 99 vs shakespear big stick
- Thread starter 351_bear
- Start date
I just read this entire thread and im still sitting here laughing. I just took down a Shakespheare big stick 3 i plucked from an old-timer and replaced it with an A-99.....HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!!! First off the Shakespheare is old technology, 23 ch radios, no tuning rings, 18 ft long, he told me it's about 30 + years old and maybe worn out. I had no "ears" at all and didnt get-out very good. Replaced it with an Antron.....WHAM!!! I could hear everybody & everything and after only less than 5 min's of talking i got great reviews about the big difference. Reading on the 2 piece shorter base ant (15 ft ish) with big rubber boot between the 2 parts, i have one of those, blue also with metal mount, is this a Shakespheare also? Just my 2 cents.
It is not uncommon for the Shakespeare big stick antennas to be defective due to the inability of the internal matching network to survive excessive power.
I don't have first hand experience with blowing up one of these antennas but I have heard that some of them could be damaged with as little as 300 watts.
True or not true about how much power it takes to burn one up, I don't know, but I have heard a few stories about how they could not take a lot of power.
If we're talking about the 'Big Stick' I'm thinking of, they had no internal matching network, the feed line was used to do any 'matching' that had to be done (they recommended particular lengths). If/when you do impedance matching like that you are dealing with higher than 'normal' voltages which the average coax just doesn't withstand too well. Raise the applied power and those voltages get even larger and then at some level, something 'gives'. I think if they were done right, their performance would be hard to distinguish from an 'A99', for instance. They're both 1/2 wave antennas after all. The differences would be in how the impedance matching was done.
- 'Doc
- 'Doc
From my previous post: some of them could be damaged with as little as 300 watts.
They made several different versions of that basic antenna and some of them had capacitors/resistors inside to perform impedance matching.
I saw one that had been opened up and saw the components that I am speaking with mine own eyes.
And I have heard many stories that are consistent with this as being the failure mode for SOME (NOT ALL OF THEM) of the Shakespeare Big Stick antennas.
From my previous post: some of them could be damaged with as little as 300 watts.
They are basically a center-fed sleeve dipole but SOME of them had internal matching components.
Well I currently am running an ANTRON 99 at 30 feet & was given a NOS SUPER BIG STICK Today & wondered if I could tell a difference if I changed to the SBS but it looks like it depends on who I ask like with most antenna questions.At least I have it if I need it I guess. LOL {:>)
Virtually all antennas are "old technology" and a lot of the guff bolted on to new models claiming to be some magical new method which allows an antenna to hear stuff no other can usually don't do a damned thing other than convince the buyer to part with silly money.
Your Antron is old technology. Its a vertical monopole halfwave antenna with a matching section at the base. The only difference is tuning is done by altering capacitance rather than the length of the antenna but from a perfomance point of view it works no differently to the simple halfwave antennas you could buy 40 years ago.
I've got two versions of the 1/2 wave Shakespeare Big stick. The first is the base station version they made for Radio Shack. It is dyed blue and it was sold as the Crossbow, but it was a Shakespeare Big Stick sold as a Radio Shack product.
I bought it in around 1981 after my prized .64 omni got hit by lightning. The Crossbow/Big Stick did not get out anywhere near as well as the .64, but 35 years later it is still giving me virtually flat SWRs across 11 meters in this very unfriendly environment. Regular maintenance has definitely paid off.
The 2nd one is the marine version - the Shakespeare 176-1. It has seen limited use. I bought it thinking I was going to install it on a boat, but realized the mounting scheme I had in mind was not practical. The boat instead got a Radio Shack 1/4 wave marine CB antenna.
I own an A99 and an IMAX2000. Both get out noticeably better than the Big Stick. The furthest contact I have been able to make locally is about 44 miles. However, Miami crane operators who have their antennas way up there are about 90 miles away as the crow flies. I can pick them up fairly often on AM32 when there isn't too much QRM.
I bought it in around 1981 after my prized .64 omni got hit by lightning. The Crossbow/Big Stick did not get out anywhere near as well as the .64, but 35 years later it is still giving me virtually flat SWRs across 11 meters in this very unfriendly environment. Regular maintenance has definitely paid off.
The 2nd one is the marine version - the Shakespeare 176-1. It has seen limited use. I bought it thinking I was going to install it on a boat, but realized the mounting scheme I had in mind was not practical. The boat instead got a Radio Shack 1/4 wave marine CB antenna.
I own an A99 and an IMAX2000. Both get out noticeably better than the Big Stick. The furthest contact I have been able to make locally is about 44 miles. However, Miami crane operators who have their antennas way up there are about 90 miles away as the crow flies. I can pick them up fairly often on AM32 when there isn't too much QRM.
Do you happen to still have your .64? How much was left behind after the lightning strike?
I knew a guy that had a strike many years ago. All that was left was the U-bolt and mounting plate and a few shards of fiberglass scattered over the yard. It also left behind a soaked and charred kitchen as it set fire to the house when lightning struck the antenna and followed the coax down.
I got rid of what remained in 1984 or 85, so that antenna is long gone. It was a great talker. There were a few other CB bases in the neighborhood. My .64 out-talked them all.
The antenna was set up so that the mast was pretty well grounded. That house was on the water. It didn't take much to burrow a few feet into the ground and hit moist soil creating a path for the electricity.
What tipped me off that my antenna had been hit by lightning was the black charred coax connector. Other than that, the .64 was pretty much left intact from the lightning strike. The killer, however, was that the coil was fried. When I keyed up right after plugging the coax back in, my SWRs were through the roof. The antenna survived the strike well enough that I just needed a new bottom section. I tried to order a replacement from Radio Shack, but they could not locate one.
Footnote: I helped my cause with that antenna by investing a few extra bucks to replace all the hardware with stainless steel. Here in the sub-tropics it is almost a necessity.
The antenna was set up so that the mast was pretty well grounded. That house was on the water. It didn't take much to burrow a few feet into the ground and hit moist soil creating a path for the electricity.
What tipped me off that my antenna had been hit by lightning was the black charred coax connector. Other than that, the .64 was pretty much left intact from the lightning strike. The killer, however, was that the coil was fried. When I keyed up right after plugging the coax back in, my SWRs were through the roof. The antenna survived the strike well enough that I just needed a new bottom section. I tried to order a replacement from Radio Shack, but they could not locate one.
Footnote: I helped my cause with that antenna by investing a few extra bucks to replace all the hardware with stainless steel. Here in the sub-tropics it is almost a necessity.