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Base HY-GAIN PENETRATOR vs Maco V58
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i was on facebook and alot of operators perfered the maco v5/8 over the new spt 500
Well, you have to ask why.
-are they shooting for long range local?
SPT-500!
-or shorter range local, getting up and over nearby hills, or maybe perhaps shorter range DX?
V58!
-and are they getting rid of that damn SPT-500 top hat by down bending them to a 45* or
eliminating them all together and lengthening the radiator to 267"? (YES!)
...then there's the insulator work that needs doing.
Penetrator 500 upper insulator upgraded with PTFE (teflon) rated for RF and electrical insulating properties @ 500v per mil thickness ......
Nicely done.
You should retail market those.
BTW, if you're planning to use an MFJ (or other) analyzer, you can slightly bend the ground shunt toward or away from the match hairpin to dial in the reactance if X is close to 1-2 but you just can't seem to get it to null.
The radiator lengths which worked for me on my old school 1978 penetrator,
(either with no top rods [Preferred.] or including the 9.5" long top rods bent downward 45 degrees)
from the radial plates - up, are:
26.500 - 275.25"
Ch.6 - 269.875"
Center of band Ch.19 - 268.25"
Ch.28 - 267.75"
Ch.38 - 266.25"
27.505 - 265"
Get a Maco V5000 best bang for the buck. Ain’t no magical antenna some maybe built better but 5/8ths wave do what a 5/8ths wave does. If you live someplace where you have extreme weather then I’d go with a Zero 5 a Mr Coily or one of the other tank built antennas but all those 5/8ths waves will give you the same performance all them trick feed points and stuff is what it trick all this I have 1s 2s units of one 5/8ths wave over another BS. Also if you like to freeband above ch.40 for some SSB DX or below ch1 for some AM DX don’t throw the Imax under the bus especially if you live in an area where you don’t get a lot of man made noise they have excellent band width much more so then any aluminum antenna and there isn’t that much noticeable difference in performance. But you won’t go wrong with the Maco
new outta box maco is a time tested designed. new SPT500 needs upgrades. ive also seen 1 local here compare these 2 the maco won ..but by much really but the difference was enough from going to just barely hearing ya to hearing ya good
I have a chance to pick up a used SPT500. He put it up in 2012. It looks to be in great shape. I was wondering if i should attempt the Ranch 55 insulator fix before i put it up on the tower? By-the-way, where can i purchase the PTFE tube? Any certain type and size? Any other fixes for this antenna? I was thinking about useing waterproof shrink tube on all of the joints,
Ranch 55 has done an excellent job beefing up that insulator. Not only does this prevent the arcing problem, it also prevents de-tuning from snow buildup by covering more of the vertical radiator. Here in the North East, snow likes to sit on top of that ground plane bracket. Keep in mind this is on the high impedance side of the matching inductor so it takes very little loading here to throw the match off. It behaves much worse than an insulator in the same place on a 1/4 wave and this antenna was in need of that exact improvement. The Maco V-5000 has none of these problems right out of the box.
The narrow bandwidth on the 5 Zero antenna is the result of the added tuned circuit with the gamma match across the matching inductor. The normal matching inductor alone has much more bandwidth than this parallel tuned circuit. Many other 5/8 wave antennas are able to achieve a perfect match without the gamma and that leads me to believe this is more "eye candy" than performance related.
The narrow bandwidth on the 5 Zero antenna is the result of the added tuned circuit with the gamma match across the matching inductor. The normal matching inductor alone has much more bandwidth than this parallel tuned circuit. Many other 5/8 wave antennas are able to achieve a perfect match without the gamma and that leads me to believe this is more "eye candy" than performance related.
This is where I ordered the PTFE material for the Super Penetrator 500 upgrade ......
http://catalog.fluoropolymerproduct...fe/extruded-tube-teflon-and-ptfe-2?&forward=1
I do not remember the size I ordered ...... I ordered two 6' long pieces (12' total), to ensure I had enough PTFE material to experiment with.
Turns out I did 2 SPT 500 antenna bases without wasting any material.
You need to measure the O.D. of the vertical radiator , the I.D. of the bracket, and go from there.
I had to very slightly enlarge the hole in the bracket to accept the PTFE, and I also had to machine the I.D. of the PTFE tube so as to slide over the vertical radiator. I used an adjustable inside reamer and removed a little inside material at a time until I reached the size to permit the tube to slide over the radiator .......
With my top insulator upgrade, I improved the performance of the antenna in wet weather, no more high VSWR's when wet,
And the power handling capability of the antenna increased. I will run as much as 2KW PEP of power without any more arcing at the top insulator. I'm sure it can handle much more than that now.
Hope this helps. I am retired, living out on my ranch. I am not really interest in producing these for resale, but will gladly share what I learn.
http://catalog.fluoropolymerproduct...fe/extruded-tube-teflon-and-ptfe-2?&forward=1
I do not remember the size I ordered ...... I ordered two 6' long pieces (12' total), to ensure I had enough PTFE material to experiment with.
Turns out I did 2 SPT 500 antenna bases without wasting any material.
You need to measure the O.D. of the vertical radiator , the I.D. of the bracket, and go from there.
I had to very slightly enlarge the hole in the bracket to accept the PTFE, and I also had to machine the I.D. of the PTFE tube so as to slide over the vertical radiator. I used an adjustable inside reamer and removed a little inside material at a time until I reached the size to permit the tube to slide over the radiator .......
With my top insulator upgrade, I improved the performance of the antenna in wet weather, no more high VSWR's when wet,
And the power handling capability of the antenna increased. I will run as much as 2KW PEP of power without any more arcing at the top insulator. I'm sure it can handle much more than that now.
Hope this helps. I am retired, living out on my ranch. I am not really interest in producing these for resale, but will gladly share what I learn.
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