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Super Scanner?


back 'in the day' those antennas were fairly popular.I used to know a few folks that had them and over all they performed well for those that I knew.I dont recall seeing any in the air in my area,but from what I remember of them they done a good job,

I would say on par with a PDL2 type beam +/-

My opinion,put it in the air and run it... as long as the guy isnt wanting an outragous price for the total set up....if by chance you dont like the SS antenna,sell it and hang onto the tower and throw a different atnenna on it
 
They weren't quite as good as a PDL-II but they were as good as a three element yagi. The only problem with them was the relay box had a tendency to burn up if you ran lots of power although I know of several that ran up to 250 watts without a problem. They also caught a lot of wind as there was no way to position it so there was a favourable side to the wind. The F/B was pretty good on them but there were only three main lobes, and the three corresponding nulls, as well as an omnidirection pattern.
 
Very basically, you have three two element beams that you don't need a rotor to turn. That's sort of a nice thought right there! Considering how 'sharp' the average two or three element beam's radiation pattern is, it will cover just as much of the 360 degrees as they would, with only a very slight degradation (if any) in 'point-ability'. Personally, I don't think you'd ever realize the difference. It's omnidirectional ablilities ought to be comparable to any other 1/2 wave vertical antenna.
The down side.
Those relays for one thing, and the required control line. Relays have limits. Those limits can get quite large, but so do the relays and their cost. Still cheaper than a mid-sized rotor, so not all bad. I've only seen two locally and they were sort of marginal for local winds at times (tornado country). And because they aren't exactly dirt-common, the price gets sort of ridiculous at times too.
I'd like to have one, or several for different bands (don't hold your breath though). It can also be thought of as a phased array, which can be kind of handy. And like any antenna, size is frequency related, so I don't think I'll see many of those three element phased arrays on many vehicles for CB use. Oh well, whatever.
- 'Doc
 
I have 3 of those Antenna Specialist Superscanner beam antenna setups and extra parts and I havent used one yet. I imagine one of these days Ill send them down the road I have one thats been all redone with LMR coax and the relay box on the antenna has been all redone with good solder ETC.

I know a few guys out here in Wisconsin that love these things and have run them for years Someday Ill try one out but I doubt it will compare to My new Gizmotchy I put up there last year. I am going to put up another tower by my outside building and I will start playing with these other beams and antennas I have here some 5/8 wave verticals and a few other beams.
 
theres one for sale along with the tower its on down here in pa .price is about 200.00 and you must take it down .tower and all.its in good shape .
i been to the mans house to buy his d104 about 2 years ago .the antenna is in good shape and he has everything to go with it .

WOW he lowered the price to a 100.00.
might be worth a drive to pa for someone not too far.
CB/HAM RADIO SPECIAL BARGAIN
 
theres one for sale along with the tower its on down here in pa .price is about 200.00 and you must take it down .tower and all.its in good shape .
i been to the mans house to buy his d104 about 2 years ago .the antenna is in good shape and he has everything to go with it .

WOW he lowered the price to a 100.00.
might be worth a drive to pa for someone not too far.
CB/HAM RADIO SPECIAL BARGAIN


That's the one I was looking at...he said it would take three guys to take it down, which eliminates me. I didn't think that would be a three person job, but I never did it before.
 
I would jump all over that deal, sh_t I bet when you get there the guy will say you can just have it for getting it down and out of my way.

I just seen a Super Scanner on ebay go for $400.00 or something like that not long ago. This guy who sold the one on ebay knows a lot about the Super Scanners and he buys them up from guys who have had them for years that don't use them anymore and he totally rebuilds them including he has a updated version to for the Control box that eliminates all the old problem everyone is talking about.

Here is one for all the guys who don't know what a super scanner antenna is or looks like.

Cotton Mouth.
 

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The Super Scanner was quite common here back in their day but now all I see are the beat up remenants of a few that are still up. I worked a lot of folks in the high latitudes near the arctic in Greenland, Iceland, Norway etc that used them because they had a pattern and required no rotator. Most rotators would freeze up in those areas making a regular beam pretty useless.
 
Pictures look like any other tower to me?? The pictures don't make it look like anything special...

If he has it at the beginning of next week, I might look into it harder...other plans this week and weekend.
 
If you look closer at tower there are different kinds. Maybe someone here is familiar with what type (brand) that tower is.
 
Most everything was covered already, about right around a Kilowatt was max on a un-modified Super Scanner, 1500 and you had a dead antenna which needed a rebuild, the relay and phasing harness would need to be replaced.

As for performance, in the Omni directional mode it held its own with any of the 5/8 waves from back in the day, directional mode worked pretty well, was comparable to most of the small 3 element antennas.

I was pretty happy with the one I had, held up to the Ice and wind Storms well, mine was sold after the relay failed, I rebuilt it and put up a larger antenna with a rotor.
 

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