Maco 103HV vs A99

[TruckerKevin]

One might have to read this thread a couple of times slowly to understand what I have and what I am wanting to achieve. I am sorry for this, there’s just no easy way to try to explain it on a post.

I live about 4 miles west of interstate 57, and that interstate runs north and south.
Most if not all of my local contacts live right there close to the get on ramp4 miles to my east,

I currently have an A99 on a 39 foot tower, with approximately 15 more feet of pipe.

It performs reasonably well, and as expected for what it is. However, I would really like to be able to get out farther to the interstate, even if it’s just in one direction. I have a brand new rotator and even a remote that I could use to install a smaller beam antenna. It is made for a TV antenna. I could not use a larger beam anyway because I am surrounded by trees and I might not have the turning radius and there’s really not a whole lot I can do short of spending $1000 to have some local tree trimmer come out.

My thought was to get a Maco 103HV and put it up in place of the A99. The two reasons why I want to choose the 103HV is for one its size and secondly I would like to have the option of switching from vertical to horizontal whatever I choose, however I will be spending about 90% of my time on vertical. I don’t mind spending a little more and having that option of dual polarity, if I go through the effort of taking this tower down I want everything to be satisfactory and that’s why I making this post ahead of time.

I saw some posts while searching Google of people recommending putting the IMAX or a 99 above the beam, but I really don’t know how I would be able to do this and turn my beam so my thought was to just replace the Antron it’s not entirely out of the question for me to find another tower on my local craigslist at a later date and put the A99 back up separately someday.

I guess the purpose of my post is to question people more knowledgeable about me and ask them, is what I’m wanting to do generally a good idea? Is it going to be able to achieve my hopeful results or am I really just wasting effort and money.

I saw another post somewhere and somebody was mentioning that for local work the beam will if not out perform this on my omni directional antenna by much if any at all, but would only help with the noise rejection. But, if it performs about the same but gives me the option of getting out farther in a directional radius then I could turn it when I wanted to monitor the interstate.

I sure would appreciate the honest opinions of people who have more experience with antennas than I do to give me some constructive criticism him before I go through all this thank you

 

[undertaker]

I had a 103 on a tower. And had a a99 above it worked very well. The rotor you have should work. That is what I had on mine. Just make sure you have enough room to turn the beam. And you will be good to go.. Or you could go with the 2 element gizmotchy..

 

[wavrider]

Three element yagi should give you about 6dbd gain or maybe one more S unit, given the receiver is calibrated to 6db per S unit. Most CB receiver are more like 3db per S unit.

Anyway YES the yagi will out perform the A99 and you also have the benefit of increasing your receive with the yagi. You should increase your receive 1 or 2 S units depending on how your S meter is calibrated.

As for mounting your A99 above a dual polarity yagi?
I would not recommend it as it will skew the pattern of the yagi.
Just put the A99 on a pipe or push up pole until you can locate another tower if you are so inclined.

NOW for local comms height is might.
If you can get the yagi up at 50 feet or higher you will notice a HUGE increase in your distance you can communicate reliably

Best bang for the buck is get the yagi and get it up in the air. Three element is fine, give you decent gain and some rejection, not to expensive, not to heavy, don't need a $400.00 rotor to turn it.

Good luck to your antenna upgrade..

 

[TruckerKevin]

Thanks a lot for you guys help.

When you say Yagi I know what that is but should I be looking for something other than the Maco or am I making a good choice? Do you mean Maco 103 when you say Yagi. am always trying to save money and it would be nice if I could find something that would work just as well cheaper, but at the same token I don’t want to cheap out if you know what I’m saying

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Tuned in and taking notes. I hope to put up a beam too.

 

[TruckerKevin]

Well in the meantime this thread led me to the gizmotchy. I am really intruiged by being able to run vertical and horizontal at the same time! If that works good, it would take a lot of guess work out of the picture.

I didn’t know it even existed

 

[Marconi]

I live about 4 miles west of interstate 57, and that interstate runs north and south.
Most if not all of my local contacts live right there close to the get on ramp4 miles to my east,

I currently have an A99 on a 39 foot tower, with approximately 15 more feet of pipe.

Kevin, if you were talking about improving your range out to 30-50 miles with your station...then I might say try the Beam and the problems associated with its maintenance. If you need to improve this 4 mile range while your A99 is 59' feet to the feed point...then you have a problem with your antenna, the feed line, the installation, the connectors, or maybe all four.

 

[Sonar]

One might have to read this thread a couple of times slowly to understand what I have and what I am wanting to achieve. I am sorry for this, there’s just no easy way to try to explain it on a post.

I live about 4 miles west of interstate 57, and that interstate runs north and south.
Most if not all of my local contacts live right there close to the get on ramp4 miles to my east,

I currently have an A99 on a 39 foot tower, with approximately 15 more feet of pipe.

It performs reasonably well, and as expected for what it is. However, I would really like to be able to get out farther to the interstate, even if it’s just in one direction. I have a brand new rotator and even a remote that I could use to install a smaller beam antenna. It is made for a TV antenna. I could not use a larger beam anyway because I am surrounded by trees and I might not have the turning radius and there’s really not a whole lot I can do short of spending $1000 to have some local tree trimmer come out.

My thought was to get a Maco 103HV and put it up in place of the A99. The two reasons why I want to choose the 103HV is for one its size and secondly I would like to have the option of switching from vertical to horizontal whatever I choose, however I will be spending about 90% of my time on vertical. I don’t mind spending a little more and having that option of dual polarity, if I go through the effort of taking this tower down I want everything to be satisfactory and that’s why I making this post ahead of time.

I saw some posts while searching Google of people recommending putting the IMAX or a 99 above the beam, but I really don’t know how I would be able to do this and turn my beam so my thought was to just replace the Antron it’s not entirely out of the question for me to find another tower on my local craigslist at a later date and put the A99 back up separately someday.

I guess the purpose of my post is to question people more knowledgeable about me and ask them, is what I’m wanting to do generally a good idea? Is it going to be able to achieve my hopeful results or am I really just wasting effort and money.

I saw another post somewhere and somebody was mentioning that for local work the beam will if not out perform this on my omni directional antenna by much if any at all, but would only help with the noise rejection. But, if it performs about the same but gives me the option of getting out farther in a directional radius then I could turn it when I wanted to monitor the interstate.

I sure would appreciate the honest opinions of people who have more experience with antennas than I do to give me some constructive criticism him before I go through all this thank you

If your heart's not set on a beam check out the Sirio Vector 4000. An incredible Omni directional. Great for local rag chew, and dx respectively. Good luck. 73's

 

[TruckerKevin]

No, I wasn’t saying my 99 only gets out four miles. I was just saying that’s how far away I live from the interstate. I would say I could probably hit 9 miles

 

[camaro1]

did you ever say who you are trying to talk to?? other mobile radios on the interstate?? if so then the horizontal yagi will probly not help much because you loose a lot when talking vertical antenna to a horizontal antenna,,

what are you using for coax to your A99?? and how far is the coax run from the radio to the antenna?? you should not have any problem talking 30+ miles on an A99 that is over 40' in the air

 

[The DB]

No, I wasn’t saying my 99 only gets out four miles. I was just saying that’s how far away I live from the interstate. I would say I could probably hit 9 miles

??? Looked back up to get more details...

I currently have an A99 on a 39 foot tower, with approximately 15 more feet of pipe.

Wait, you have an a99 mounted that high and you are only getting out 9 miles or so max? First things first, you have a serious problem with your a99 setup somewhere, I would recommend fixing that before pushing for a beam. My mobile antenna outperforms that without breaking a sweat, and all mobile antennas are far worse setups than an antenna mounted as high as that one, and I easily talk to people twice as far away consistently. That is a shorter antenna mounted 5 feet off the ground outperforming your longer antenna mounted much higher, and I'm not running lots of power or anything. Wavrider said:

NOW for local comms height is might.

And this is absolutely true. For your setup to not be drastically outperforming mine their has to be a good reason for it...

What kind of coax are you using, and how long it is? Further, are the coax ends that are outdoors properly sealed?

How old is this a99, and how long has it been up at the current location?

Do you have a proper choke on the feed line below the feed point? If so how far below the feed point?

And when it comes to beams like the Gizmotchi, sure, you might get some of each polarity, but at what cost? If that design of antenna was really superior to other beams, why isn't every beam manufacturer making a version? Don't get caught up in the hype, which is all those antennas really have going for them. Honestly, if you want both polarizations at the same time, you would get better results using the Maco 103hv, and putting a 1/4 wavelength piece of coax between the two feed points (don't forget about velocity factor) so they are both fed from one feed line. This will get you a circular polarized antenna which will cover both horizontal and vertical polarizations more or less equally. Even with this better case scenario, you are still looking at a 3 dB (about 50%) drop in signal with both polarizations, and this will affect both transmitting and receiving. Any antenna that works both polarizations at the same time will have this limitation, their is no way around it, so if anyone says or implies that it isn't the case with their antenna, they either don't know what they are talking about or they are full of it, or both.


The DB

 

[Sonar]

No, I wasn’t saying my 99 only gets out four miles. I was just saying that’s how far away I live from the interstate. I would say I could probably hit 9 miles

I would agree with Marconi. Even if your getting out 9 miles there's an issue. My imax 2000 @ 8ft from feed point to ground will get out in the 10-15 mile range with 11/2 dead key and 12 pep watts. What is your output. This might be redundant because I'm positive your not running an amplifier. You should be getting out at least 30 miles with your a99's hight with 2-4 watts (8-10 pep.) What type of swr meter are you using and what's your swr (as well as output?)

 

[TruckerKevin]

I really wonder how come I’m not getting out any farther then. I know how far I’m getting out because I am also a truck driver and my wife talks to me sometimes when I leave the house she loses me at about exit 77 but I get on at exit 71, and I know that’s confusing but I am 4 miles west of 71.

My SWR is flat. I have measured it numerous times and it’s always low. I am using rg8x. You know what’s funny? You guys are not the first one that told me I should be getting out better, I have a friend of mine that lives in that town next over and he also told me I should be doing better.

Well, I have a new roll of coax that I just ordered today. And I already have my rotator and in a week or so I should be able to order my beam. So I will basically have a new system by then, but it really bugs me of what’s going on. I wonder if it’s because I’m really close to trees? I wish I would’ve taken a picture because I’m out on the road but I have two huge trees on either side of my antenna and they are very close.

They are not touching it, I just have enough room to put that small beam but anything larger will touch the lambs

 

[TruckerKevin]

I know there were a lot of questions asked, I promise this evening when I stop for the night I will fill them in more detail I really appreciate you guys advice. I’ve had this 99 up since about September of last year I bought it brand new and it’s 100 foot links of coax rg8x cable

 

[Marconi]

Kevin, I have a hand-held walkie-talkie with a 3' foot telescoping antenna that will talk 9 miles...if the battery pack has a full charge. I can get out about 30 miles with my mobile to my buddies on their base stations and sometimes even make that distance mobile to mobile.

I would check your feed line and for sure if it is over 5-10 years old. A99's tend to let water get directly into the feed line...just look at how the feed line is situated right below the middle of a long wire. There is nothing above the feed point designed to stop water from getting into your coax. Plus the antenna's fiberglass covering is not waterproof either. There is a small hole in the very bottom of your A99, next to the coax connector. This hole is supposed to allow water to leak out, but sometimes bugs can stop-up the hole. Or, bits of fiberglass from inside the antenna itself can also block the hole.

Signs, of water in the feed line that has dried up or leaked out is deterioration of the shield. This sign can manifest what seems like an extra bandwidth, a low signal on transmit and receive, and the receiver always seems to be operating very quietly.