Marconi, tvi and the solarcon A99

[Stellasarat]

I've read a past Marconi post where he dissected an A99 back in 2013 and noted that the Shield side of the coax was never tinned and exsplained it as looking like a bad hairdo. The pictures he supplied looked exactly like his description .He found that this may be the cause of A99 tyi problems. Does anyone know if solarcon has corrected this problem? Do you use an A99 and does it cause bad tvi, or is the A99 tvi any worse or comprable to similar antennas ? I will be installing my A99 on Thursday. I cannot mount it to my home and unfortunately its only going to be mounted on a five ft mast in the clearing of my backyard. I will be useing LMR times 400. I know the height may be a problem in more than one way but I have no other choice. It's that or nothing. What problems may the lack of height cause? I will try it for a week or two then if need be I can possibly raise it another 3 to 4 ft. Weather the extra three or four ft will make a difference I dont know. I will try it at five ft. and see what happens. Any info on possible problems caused by the lack of height is apreceated.

 

[Stellasarat]

Ok. After reading up on my situation I've learned that 36 ft is ideal for a 1/4 wave. WOW! I'm gonna be 31 ft short. I know this most likely isn't gonna work. I'm in a position where it's this or nothing. I hate to waste my time but like I said it's this or nothing. I'm gonna have to try it and see for myself. If I'm wasting my time please let me know. I hope someone who knows about this says go for it. I'm outta options at this point. The branch that was holding up my dipole was pulled down with along with my dipole. There aren't any suitable branches left to hang it from. I'm basically screwed aren't I?

 

[Robb]

It is ideal to put it up as high as it can be safely mounted. That mean that if the antenna should fall due to whatever reason, the it won't land on power wires on power poles. Sure, 36 ft is one CB wavelength above ground; but many folks just do the best they can. Some go higher; but many others do not.

"Run whatcha brung"
BTW - the Antron 99 is a 1/2 wave antenna.

 

[Stellasarat]

thanks rob.

1/2 wave. I forget a lot when I'm stressing. I don't even know why I'm stressing. Well, actually I do. I really enjoy operating my cb's. Granted its only for about 2 hours a week but it's just enough to kill the cb bug I've had for over 40 years. I'm not actually concerned about the tvi that will be no doubt the worst it could be with an A99 5 ft of the ground. I use my radios on Fri and sat only and don't turn them on until 12am. I am worried about swr. I've read that being that close to the ground may cause high swr readings amongst other problems. I will read any other answers to my post on Thursday morning and take everyones advice and unless I hear something so convincing as to not do it, I'm gonna have to go for it and see what happens. I know there are so many things to take into account but some antenna theory is written in stone and others are breakable. I've learned from the people on this site that there are so many different variables, each depending on many different install conditions. No two antenna installs will be the same, even when installing the same antenna. Wheather this is one that can be broken, I don't know, yet! Thanks my friends

 

[SMILEX2692002]

Have a new (bought last year) Antron 99. Tower mounted above a 3 ele Sirio horizontal yagi at approx. 40ft.
Using 75ft of Dx Engineering RG8X coax and a Ameritron AL 811 and get no TVI on 10 meters.

 

[Grinder74]

It will work at 5 feet, local will probably be effected more than DX. Just think about mobiles, my wilson 1000 is about 4 feet and I have talked to base stations up to 40 miles and DX Ohio to Brazil.

 

[Marconi]

I've read a past Marconi post where he dissected an A99 back in 2013 and noted that the Shield side of the coax was never tinned and exsplained it as looking like a bad hairdo. The pictures he supplied looked exactly like his description .He found that this may be the cause of A99 tyi problems. Does anyone know if solarcon has corrected this problem? Do you use an A99 and does it cause bad tvi, or is the A99 tvi any worse or comprable to similar antennas ? I will be installing my A99 on Thursday. I cannot mount it to my home and unfortunately its only going to be mounted on a five ft mast in the clearing of my backyard. I will be useing LMR times 400. I know the height may be a problem in more than one way but I have no other choice. It's that or nothing. What problems may the lack of height cause? I will try it for a week or two then if need be I can possibly raise it another 3 to 4 ft. Weather the extra three or four ft will make a difference I dont know. I will try it at five ft. and see what happens. Any info on possible problems caused by the lack of height is apreceated.

Stellasarat, I did post the info as you note, but I didn't mean to imply that this description applied to all A99's. I had TVI issues with that particular antenna since the day I bought it. Over time I gave it to a couple of buddies to test...and they had the same experience. Sure, I felt Solarcon should do a better job making their antennas, but I don't think they're all as I described. I've had several A99's that do not manifest the problems I described...when I was able to mount it up high enough.

Just like other's have posted, your A99 should work high or low, but higher is better. I personally find a height, in the clear, and well above the roof peaks works best.

IMO, your problem with TVI could have more to do with RF radiating directly from your antenna. As you've noted, the antenna is just too low and possibly too close to what is reacting to the RF. Increasing the antenna height can help, and if the RF remains a problem...then you might expect some of the issue to be associated with CMC's flowing on the feed line...two different issues IMO.

In relationship to your station...how far away is this antenna?