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Maco v58 and IMAX 2k
- Thread starter Bearcat
- Start date
Some people say one is and others say the other is. There have been some heated "discussions" on this board in the past on this topic, with people calling each other idiots simply because they disagreed with the other person over this topic.
IF you control for the common mode currents that the Imax does not, in and of itself, limit and control, then in most cases it will outperform the Maco at the same mounting height. This is only because the Imax is slightly longer, and thus the maximum radiation point on the antenna is slightly higher, and with antennas, height is might.
That being said, IF you don't control for said currents, then the Maco may well outperform the Imax. It depends on any number of factors including mast length and coax length, some lengths of these components simply attract common mode currents while others naturally resist said currents.
IF you mount both antennas at the same tip height and you notice a difference, then you have a problem with one of the antennas, plane and simple
In many if not most cases, when switching from one of these antennas to the other (or really whenever installing a new base antenna), on old piece of coax, which may or may not have some form of damage, is generally also replaced, if not upgraded completely. This can, in and of itself, skew the results towards whichever antenna is newer, but it is often not factored in if even mentioned with said claims...
The DB
IF you control for the common mode currents that the Imax does not, in and of itself, limit and control, then in most cases it will outperform the Maco at the same mounting height. This is only because the Imax is slightly longer, and thus the maximum radiation point on the antenna is slightly higher, and with antennas, height is might.
That being said, IF you don't control for said currents, then the Maco may well outperform the Imax. It depends on any number of factors including mast length and coax length, some lengths of these components simply attract common mode currents while others naturally resist said currents.
IF you mount both antennas at the same tip height and you notice a difference, then you have a problem with one of the antennas, plane and simple
In many if not most cases, when switching from one of these antennas to the other (or really whenever installing a new base antenna), on old piece of coax, which may or may not have some form of damage, is generally also replaced, if not upgraded completely. This can, in and of itself, skew the results towards whichever antenna is newer, but it is often not factored in if even mentioned with said claims...
The DB
Thanks DB ...no arguments here...I want to make sure what antenna I want to use before I throw it up...what are some ways to controll mode currents? Grounding? Rolling up coax? Choke
The main thing on fiberglass antennas is the noise...if they didn't have so much hash they probably would be a bit better
Fiberglass antennas don't cause noise in fact in some cases they have less noise. More likely your seeing the effects of cmc picking up noise.
I have had both. The maco mounted at my old qth was about 65 ft to the base. Open fields all directions so lots of wind. Maco didn't hold up. It twisted back and forth. Ground plane radials fell off after few months. Also the ring or hub that the ground plane radials mounted to broke after a while and that had to be drilled out and bolted in place. After battling that, the swr started to change with moisture (so239 was sealed well). When it stayed together it did work well. Personally I wasn't impressed with the build quality. My first imax worked just as well as the maco and was NO maintenance. It did however break at the bottom of the second section after some strong winds. I then replaced it with a A99...not quite the performance but no maintenance and NO breakage. Maco might last you a long time with no problems if you plan to mount it lower or if the build quality has improved. My experience was 20 yrs ago. At my new location I run a Imax at 61 ft to feed point. No problems so far. Gets out well. WAY more broadband than a V58. Mine is usable 10-15 meters....to bad the cycles dead 
Just my experiences..73
Just my experiences..73Thats the coax picking up noise via common mode. Stick a decent RF choke as near to the antenna feedpoint as possible and you don't get the issue.
There are some sharp antenna guys here so please correct me if im wrong. Even with the added ground plane kit I don't see how the imax can be as effective on one band as the maco. For a person wanting to work 10,11 and 12 meters it really shines. I've even heard of people using them on 15 and 17.
We know it's very wide banded compared to the maco. Doesn't that mean lower q and less efficiency? Can you really have your cake and eat it too? Look at the coil of wire and caps used for matching in the imax and then compare it to the maco. It seems to me the imax just has a lossy matching network.
I haven't done any antenna modeling or anything scientific but people that have switched from an imax to a maco or something similar seem to have better TX and RX. A couple of cases were with the same coax and same height. When I replaced my imax with a maco I raised the antenna also so the results were skewed.
We know it's very wide banded compared to the maco. Doesn't that mean lower q and less efficiency? Can you really have your cake and eat it too? Look at the coil of wire and caps used for matching in the imax and then compare it to the maco. It seems to me the imax just has a lossy matching network.
I haven't done any antenna modeling or anything scientific but people that have switched from an imax to a maco or something similar seem to have better TX and RX. A couple of cases were with the same coax and same height. When I replaced my imax with a maco I raised the antenna also so the results were skewed.
When it comes to single antenna comparisons on the CB band, most people's reports agree with this. I have also seen it multiple times. However, there are people who claim just the opposite experience, and some of them are definitely not idiots. I would guess the environment the antenna is mounted in, as well as other factors such as weather or not CMC's are accounted for are in play here.
The wide bandwidth you mention being lossy is a general rule, but it is not absolute. Two exceptions off the top of my head are cap hats, and the Gainmaster. Both of them lower Q but not at a significant cost to efficiency. The Gainmaster capacitor and matching system create a well positioned anomaly in the antenna's impedance curve, unlike these Solarcon antennas. once you leave its bandwith SWR spikes up quickly, so quickly in fact that antenna tuners don't work well to extend its bandwidth. People have made this claim since the Gainmaster came out, and I have modeled and explained this effect in another thread. Capacity hats, however, while not 100% efficient in and of themselves, will have bandwidths closer to what these antennas have, and like these antennas are very tuneable with antenna tuners if you want to extend the antennas frequency range. One of these days I need to get my VNA on one or both of these Solarcon antennas, when I do I can get a general idea about the antenna's efficiency...
Most people also notice a quieter receive, although again, this is not universally true.
The DB