New Sirio M-400 Star Duster

[hammer0630]

I just received my new Star Duster and was very impressed with the craftsmanship. I have read as many bad reviews maybe more bad than good so maybe I was expecting less. Now when I was younger I was a machinist for a few years and a tow truck operator/ business owner just to name a few. I am very aware of poor quality equipment that will only cost you more money or more importantly will kill you. Anyway I have heard many reports that this antenna is crap as far as construction goes and wanted to report that maybe Sirio has very recently upgraded their design and craftsmanship regarding the Star Duster. I have not assembled this yet so I can not report if everything fits together well or how it works but I can tell you it's design and weight seems for sure will slip through the wind and stay together.
I've been CB-ing since the 80's been through a lot of equipment and antenna installs so at this point you can tell good from bad pretty quick as us old timers know by now. I live in a hole "NOT LITERALLY" and need an antenna that helps get up and over and have heard some very positive things about this antenna such as quiet receive and compares to some of the best out there and can definitely beat many other antennas hands down. Note: if Sirio has upgraded the Star Duster and you want to purchase one try to get the absolute latest S/D and not there older stock! Well I am going to test this s/d for the 1st time ever owning one and see how it does and assembles I'll let you know soon.

 

[Robb]

Well if it works and you like it; then you will never need to experiment any further.

I wasn't impressed with the first/last Starduster I replaced for a local operator; put up the lowly A99 in its place and it beat the pants off of it. Hating just didn't work into it.

Thought it was cheaply made . . . .

 

[Mudfoot]

I bought a Sirio Star Duster a couple years ago. I pulled it out of the box, looked at it, went pffft! put it back in and sold it to an acquaintance.

 

[hammer0630]

This is what I have heard not so good mostly on forums but one negative article I read was in depth and stated that the instruction sheet was poorly written and bad photo copy's, on mine this is not so that's why I am wondering if they have made some upgrades recently? As I have never owned one before and can not see what there's looks like I am trying to find things that I can compare to there articles. An other point made was the mounting bracket was poorly made and mine is very well crafted and mounts perfectly to my mast.

 

[Marconi]

This is what I have heard not so good mostly on forums but one negative article I read was in depth and stated that the instruction sheet was poorly written and bad photo copy's, on mine this is not so that's why I am wondering if they have made some upgrades recently?

630, over the years I've owned several original SD's and one or two knockoff's...that were possibly made by CTE, Sirio, or some others. I never liked the knockoffs compared to the original however. The originals just seemed to work better, and I've often claimed it was possibly due to the originals having a sharper angle downward than the others. That was also mostly evident by looking at the two designs side by side.

I can also say I've never found one of these kits yet that had really detailed instructions. There just isn't much to the antenna to consider. A little common sense in construction is all that is necessary...otherwise the antenna design is what I call fixed construction, and you just can't hardly go wrong.

Get that bugger up as high as you safely can, and it should work fine...unless maybe Sirio makes it with radials at an angle of >30-40 degrees, compared to the original. I measured an original SD'r, and the angle is close to 17-20 degrees at the hub, and that is what the patent indicates also.

Search in Goggle patents for #4208662: Patent US4208662 - Omnidirectional, vertically polarized antenna - Google Patents

I'm not sure if it will help you get out of your "hole" compared to other designs, but keep us posted on what you find.

Good luck.

 

[hotrod]

i know of 2 original stardusters in the air still in use here. and they get out
really well. there were a company named cte that built them also in the mid-late 90s ???
i think. . those were the junk ones . i assembled 2 for locals the hub must been metric
had a horrible time finding masts to match up to the hub.know sirio makes them and i have heard some good reviews right here about them but i havent got one or used one.
let us know what u think im curious same as u i live in a valley

 

[hammer0630]

My roof is about 30' from ground at the peak and I plan to erect a mast of 24' and I believe the S/D is 18' and radiates near the center. This will be higher than I previously had my antenna's except for back in the day when I had a 60' tower with 10' of galvanized pipe on top at another house.

 

[hotrod]

i think your right about it being center fed. given the mast lenth you might be
ok . i think it will be close. if you could get another 6 feet i think you,ll be better of.
remember gotta measure it from the bottom of antenna ,or whatever the antenna is attached to

 

[hammer0630]

i think your right about it being center fed. given the mast lenth you might be
ok . i think it will be close. if you could get another 6 feet i think you,ll be better of.
remember gotta measure it from the bottom of antenna ,or whatever the antenna is attached to

I'm curious about why you state 6 more feet? I have purchased a mast off ebay which is 4' foot lengths and I have 6 of them they are aluminum and believe they are military issue they are olive drab in color and are made extremely well. The seller sells military surplus. I just don't know if I can go any higher I will be using an eve mount for lack of mounting any where else. Mast and antenna weigh 15 pounds and I will be using guy wires the best I can apply them.

 

[Robb]

Guy 'rope' is far better that guy 'wire'. When I got back into radio just five years ago I had to use the new method of using dacron rope, which is nearly as tough as steel and is UV stable. But the other reason for using it is that it won't generate a harmonic transmission like metal guy will.

 

[hammer0630]

Oh boy I want to do this right and I also have seen guy rope and discredited right away over stainless or galvanized figuring mostly on UV deterioration. Is steel guy wire commonly a problem with harmonics?