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Anyone remember this Antenna?

NightOwl3261

NightOwl3261

Well-Known Member
Jul 24, 2020
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20200908_222926.jpg Anyone remember this antenna? I searched my memory and remember the advertisement for this antenna but I never knew of even one in use in the 70's. Interesting concept and wonder if Avanti acutely sold many. If there was one today I would buy it just to see if the concept acutely worked.

Also see instruction manual.

http://www.cbtricks.com/ant_manuals/avanti/av190/index.htm.
 
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http://www.sal-electronics.com/se-10h.html

sal_electronics_2020025002.jpg


Just add one of these type designs under your ground plane vertical...same deal...
We sold a "few" of those through the shop(Saturn).
The reason they did not sell very well is the fact they were pretty expensive.
(around $300 in early 70's)
Which was more than some of the best radios sold for back then.
The trick was with the switchbox/matching network you only needed one coax.
However, if I remember correctly they would not handle much power, maybe 300 watts.
All the Best
Gary
 
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i have a NOS saturn in the loft, there is no other antenna for cb anything like it,
they cost a good 3 weeks wages back in the day so we never had them here,
we got astroplane s2 s4,

the vertical is sigma2 & handles sigma 2 power,

the horizontal is most complicated setup on any cb antenna i ever saw, mainly due to there been 3 of everything,
i don't know the power rating for horizontal but it does not look like it would only handle 300w

its a novelty antenna for the collection, something i saw in the avanti catalougues when i was a kid & always fancied trying,
now i have one i can't be arsed with all the faffing around assembling what is essentially just a 5/8wave. nobody uses horizontal that i talk to,

im the only person round here that knows what a saturn is, its not a sigi4 so it don't count.
it does give me plenty of .058" 6061-t6 cold drawn tube for other projects when the novelty wears off
 
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Gary,
If you look at the PDF file on CB Tricks there are 2 coax connections.
1 for vert and 1 for horz.
The horizontal coax runs up through the mast.
I agree it looks like a all day task just to assemble the bottom section of the antenna.
Very interesting.

73
Jeff
 
Let me correct my last post.
The horz coax doesn't run inside the mast, but inside a " feed tube" for the horz radial wires.
Bob,
Did you ever even get it out of the box?
It looks like a monster.

73
Jeff
 
I own 2 NOS Saturn Base antennas which are now sitting in a storage locker. I never knew anyone that actually used one, and I have been told that they weren't a big seller back in the day because of their hefty price tag. They are now considered a collectors item and they can be very pricey when listed on eBay.
 
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Jeff,
yes I took the Saturn out of the box soon as it arrived, the bags had exploded on the plane so I spread it all out on the floor lined everything up in order & gave them a wipe, went through the parts list,
rolls of wire, tubes everywhere, screws clamps spreaders rods hubs plugs & brackets,
I was like a kid a Christmas with the only bicycle in town,

then I thumbed through the avanti catalogue reminiscing over antennas I once owned or wanted to own when I was a kid.

Does this mean IM getting old ?.
 
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back in the late 70s there was a fellow in powell county ky that had one set up him and a another would talk across county all the time horizonaly the other guy had a pdl 2 on a 100 foot tower and he was on top of mountain he could get out,,, but when they were talking horz. most of us mobiles couldnt hear the conversation or just one side of it,,, back in the day,,,,
 
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I actually bought and installed one of these antennas. It was 21/5 feet tall and each of
the 6 radials were 9 feet in length. The assembly was pretty straight forward but getting
the SWR to a acceptable value was out of its range. I made many a telephone call to their Addison, IL. location. They gave me things to check out but after many failed attempts they offered to refund my money and to bring it back to the dealer I bought it from. It's vertical performance was phenomenal being a 5/8 wave design and those
6, 9 foot radials at its base must have improved its ground plane. This was my first
Horizontal capable antenna and I was impressed how much quite transmissions being received were. I briefly communicated with other CB members with Horizontal capabilities and they said my transmissions were great but the high SWR values worried me. I was contemplating keeping it because it was great in the Vertical transmissions.
Then one night, we had a bad wind/rain storm. The wind kept rocking the Horizontal
radials back & forth until the aluminum foot that anchored the base against the Vertical base gave way! The entire horizontal radial base spun around like a merry-go-round!
It snapped off the 2 SWR adjustment rods that were screwed into its base! Luckily, the dealer took back the entire antenna and refunded my money.
I would love to hear if anyone else had this problem with this antenna and if they were ever able to iron-out the SWR problems inherit with this design. The aluminum
brake system they made was not up to par either as I found out. Luckily, I had already
arranged to have the antenna to be refunded otherwise it would have been an expensive fail! I think, I paid close to $240 for it back then?
 
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Hello John: Yes had the same problem with this antenna the Avanti Saturn. Many years ago some fellow CB'ers asked my to come by and look over their Saturn Antenna because the Horz side had a high VSWR but they were able to talk on the Horz side anyway. The Vert side VSWR was good and it worked great.

Looking over the assembly instructions and with my trusty highly calibrated tape measure from work, I checked everything was dead nutz on per the assembly instructions, and all connections tight. Even double checked it, thinking something had to be wrong. Swapped the Vert and Horz coaxes to see what happens, same result. Installed the Saturn Antenna all the way up on a 40 foot push up, no change.

Waked away not knowing what was wrong, the Horz matching system was and is a mystery to me. Not caring if I get humilated on the phone to the local CB Shops and even Avanti, no body home, nobody knows what the Horz problem is.

Had several phone calls asking the same question how to fix the Saturn Horz VSWR problem. One guy wanted to send me a Saturn and fix it for him, but then its not just a repair, but a design issue taking way more time and money. It would be a good project to put the Saturn up and fix it. Might be a simple fix or a major redesign!??!

Looking at the Saturns VSWR on a wide band analyzer to see if its working some were else on a near by frequency would be a start. Avanti had a over design problem with their antennas as compared to simpler designs in my opinion.

Jay in the Great Mojave Desert... "Next Gas 150 Miles"
 
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Jay Mojave said:
Hello John: Yes had the same problem with this antenna the Avanti Saturn. Many years ago some fellow CB'ers asked my to come by and look over their Saturn Antenna because the Horz side had a high VSWR but they were able to talk on the Horz side anyway. The Vert side VSWR was good and it worked great.

Looking over the assembly instructions and with my trusty highly calibrated tape measure from work, I checked everything was dead nutz on per the assembly instructions, and all connections tight. Even double checked it, thinking something had to be wrong. Swapped the Vert and Horz coaxes to see what happens, same result. Installed the Saturn Antenna all the way up on a 40 foot push up, no change.

Waked away not knowing what was wrong, the Horz matching system was and is a mystery to me. Not caring if I get humilated on the phone to the local CB Shops and even Avanti, no body home, nobody knows what the Horz problem is.

Had several phone calls asking the same question how to fix the Saturn Horz VSWR problem. One guy wanted to send me a Saturn and fix it for him, but then its not just a repair, but a design issue taking way more time and money. It would be a good project to put the Saturn up and fix it. Might be a simple fix or a major redesign!??!

Looking at the Saturns VSWR on a wide band analyzer to see if its working some were else on a near by frequency would be a start. Avanti had a over design problem with their antennas as compared to simpler designs in my opinion.

Jay in the Great Mojave Desert... "Next Gas 150 Miles"
Click to expand...
 

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