Tram 1498 base antenna issues and fixes

[darklife]

Got myself a Tram 1498 which is basically a much cheaper clone of the Antron A-99. Basic end-fed dipole in a fiberglass stick.

Was happy to see it arrived so fast but as soon as I started looking at all the hardware I noticed it was missing the allen key adjustment screw to tighten the end whip after adjusting for frequency, missing 3 locking bolts to lock the sections together, and even funnier it was missing a locking washer for the U clamp (7 instead of 8).

Luckily I have extra hardware laying around, but that allen key adjustment screw was a major PITA. I found a similar one in an old radio knob but slightly too long so I used my dremel to shave it down and it worked.

Finally got the damn thing together, slipped the top section (internal whip) down 60mm like the instructions suggested for CB band use.

Went outside and up the tower it goes, walk back inside to test it out and SWR is almost flat at 26.515! WTF? So I go out again and adjust the rings, and again, and again... Nothing would raise the frequency to the middle of the CB band.

Frustrated I went back out and instead of the recommended 60mm to slip the top section internal whip down, I went with 100mm. Tested and finally SWR was almost perfect on ch1 26.965. Went back out and through trial and error I found 260mm was getting me a 1.1 on ch20.
260mm is a hell of a difference from 60mm like the instructions said wow!
The instructions suggest 275mm for 28MHz, so I guess my 260mm was close enough for CB, but still shorter than expected. That's a 200mm difference to tune it compared to the suggestion in the instructions.

So what gives? Why the hell did I need to shorten the antenna that much compared to what the instructions said? Changing the rings positions are only for fine tuning and would not bring a match with the instructed 60mm.

Anyway, now it's up in the air at 20' from the bottom of the antenna, ~38 to antenna tip, and getting out well. Receive is a tad better than my homemade EFHW at the same height.

Here's some pictures of it out of the box upon opening...


I'll later get a pic of it in the air.

Anyone have experience with this antenna? What's the deal with Tram skimping on hardware? I read that many people have been having issues with not receiving all the hardware with their antennas.

 

[Alexis Mercado]

I wish they deliver to Puerto Rico to test it. As I read from you, it is kind of an A99 but with an adjustable whip.

 

[hotrod]

wow!! this anternna is different than the a99.. sorry to hear bout the hardware.. hows it performing?? anything to compare it to?

 

[darklife]

wow!! this anternna is different than the a99.. sorry to hear bout the hardware.. hows it performing?? anything to compare it to?

It's identical to the A99 in it's internal coil circuit. In fact the instructions even show the schematic for how it's made..



The more I think about it I came to the conclusion that either the instructions are a bit off for CB tuning, or being as my antenna is around 20' away from my TV/SW antenna on another pole that it detunes it slightly requiring the internal whip to be slightly shorter.

The good thing is the antenna is fully tunable from 26-30MHz easily, and the rings for fine adjustment, other than that it's an A99 at almost half the price.
Performance so far has been outstanding. Compared to my EFHW homemade resonant antenna this is more sensitive and slightly wider bandwidth. Outperforms my tests with a horizontal center fed dipole at 20'.

Already been through a hell of a storm a few days back. I'll warn anyone who is thinking about buying this though that Tram is goofing up what parts are included. A missing bolt or washer may be no problem for most people, but a missing set screw to adjust the length is going to ruin your day. I guess if you contact Tram they will make things right, but it's a gamble.

(if you click the thumbnail you can right click the image and select "view full image" to see the large size instruction paper)

 

[TK1]

I realize this is a very old post, but I have information from my experience setting up a Tram 1498 that may be useful. I didn't find shortening the antenna made any difference in SWR. My SWR at 60mm (per Tram instructions) was 3.0 on Ch 1, 20 and 40. After I grounded the mast it dropped to 2.5 on those channels. After reading the above, I tried 240mm. Nothing changed. I split the difference at 120mm and again there was no change in SWR. What did drop my SWR was raising the antenna 3 more feet into the air (from 31 feet to 34 feet). SWR on Ch1 =1.4, Ch20 = 1.4 and Ch40 1.6. The conclusion I came to (and what experienced already CBers know) is get that metal into the air as high as possible. From W0is.com website "A poor antenna at a high location will outperform a good antenna at a low location." So getting steel higher in the air will solve a lot of problems/issues is the key take-away. I'll probably add 5 more feet of length to the antenna mast that my Tram 1498 is attached to to see if I can lower SWR even more. Good luck. 73.

 

[JimF]

Got myself a Tram 1498 which is basically a much cheaper clone of the Antron A-99. Basic end-fed dipole in a fiberglass stick.

Was happy to see it arrived so fast but as soon as I started looking at all the hardware I noticed it was missing the allen key adjustment screw to tighten the end whip after adjusting for frequency, missing 3 locking bolts to lock the sections together, and even funnier it was missing a locking washer for the U clamp (7 instead of 8).

Luckily I have extra hardware laying around, but that allen key adjustment screw was a major PITA. I found a similar one in an old radio knob but slightly too long so I used my dremel to shave it down and it worked.

Finally got the damn thing together, slipped the top section (internal whip) down 60mm like the instructions suggested for CB band use.

Went outside and up the tower it goes, walk back inside to test it out and SWR is almost flat at 26.515! WTF? So I go out again and adjust the rings, and again, and again... Nothing would raise the frequency to the middle of the CB band.

Frustrated I went back out and instead of the recommended 60mm to slip the top section internal whip down, I went with 100mm. Tested and finally SWR was almost perfect on ch1 26.965. Went back out and through trial and error I found 260mm was getting me a 1.1 on ch20.
260mm is a hell of a difference from 60mm like the instructions said wow!
The instructions suggest 275mm for 28MHz, so I guess my 260mm was close enough for CB, but still shorter than expected. That's a 200mm difference to tune it compared to the suggestion in the instructions.

So what gives? Why the hell did I need to shorten the antenna that much compared to what the instructions said? Changing the rings positions are only for fine tuning and would not bring a match with the instructed 60mm.

Anyway, now it's up in the air at 20' from the bottom of the antenna, ~38 to antenna tip, and getting out well. Receive is a tad better than my homemade EFHW at the same height.

Here's some pictures of it out of the box upon opening...
View attachment 38017 View attachment 38018 View attachment 38019 View attachment 38020 View attachment 38021

I'll later get a pic of it in the air.

Anyone have experience with this antenna? What's the deal with Tram skimping on hardware? I read that many people have been having issues with not receiving all the hardware with their antennas.

 

[JimF]

I don't know why you had trouble tuning you antenna as I just got one and it tuned like a dream. There wasn't any missing hardware or parts and putting it together was simple and straightfoward. It came in great condition. I set the internal rod to 2.5" that is just slightly shorter than suggested for a CB tune and the rings are in the middle of the threads which I found no need to adjust at all. Well the SWR showed just barely 1.2:1 on channel 1 (26.965 Mhz) and it didn't enven mover the meter on ch 40 (27.405) 1:1 SWR on a Diamond SX-600 SWR meter. I checked 28 Mhz and it was 1.5:1 SWR, 29 Mhz was about 2.5:1 SWR which is kind of high, but it wasn't tuned for that part of the 10 meter band. If I had to guess why you had to shorten it so much, it was most likely either the type of coax you used and or the length of your coax. I have had randmon lenghts of coax occasional give me trouble on a antenna tune. Mostly on a mobile install. I used 75' of Steren RG8 coax and it matched perfectly. I can say from experence that this is the broadest band antenna I have ever used. Very impressed with it. It tuned better than the Solarcon A-99 by far. The fact that you can set the interenal rod to the band you want to use is a plus in it self. The A-99 can only be adjusted by the set of rings. You also have that option on the Tram 1498 as well which helps to fine tune it. For the difference in the amount of money between the Tram 1498 and the Solarcon A-99, I would rather have the Tram 1498 as it is about $50.00 less depending on where and who you buy it from. I got mine from Home Depot on line of all places for around $80.00 to the door. Good luck and hope this helps.

 

[darklife]

I don't know why you had trouble tuning you antenna as I just got one and it tuned like a dream. There wasn't any missing hardware or parts and putting it together was simple and straightfoward. It came in great condition. I set the internal rod to 2.5" that is just slightly shorter than suggested for a CB tune and the rings are in the middle of the threads which I found no need to adjust at all. Well the SWR showed just barely 1.2:1 on channel 1 (26.965 Mhz) and it didn't enven mover the meter on ch 40 (27.405) 1:1 SWR on a Diamond SX-600 SWR meter. I checked 28 Mhz and it was 1.5:1 SWR, 29 Mhz was about 2.5:1 SWR which is kind of high, but it wasn't tuned for that part of the 10 meter band. If I had to guess why you had to shorten it so much, it was most likely either the type of coax you used and or the length of your coax. I have had randmon lenghts of coax occasional give me trouble on a antenna tune. Mostly on a mobile install. I used 75' of Steren RG8 coax and it matched perfectly. I can say from experence that this is the broadest band antenna I have ever used. Very impressed with it. It tuned better than the Solarcon A-99 by far. The fact that you can set the interenal rod to the band you want to use is a plus in it self. The A-99 can only be adjusted by the set of rings. You also have that option on the Tram 1498 as well which helps to fine tune it. For the difference in the amount of money between the Tram 1498 and the Solarcon A-99, I would rather have the Tram 1498 as it is about $50.00 less depending on where and who you buy it from. I got mine from Home Depot on line of all places for around $80.00 to the door. Good luck and hope this helps.

The whole antenna gave me frustration at first. Slightest change in coax length would give me different readings of lowest SWR at different channels and same with mount height even though I was out in the open away from metal using quality coax.

Eventually I said hell with it and just set it up per instructions and did the dreadful "tune coax length" procedure which is insane to me but it does work well in this mode (unbalanced). The fact is it's an end fed dipole and they are sensitive to their respective ground, and this includes the coax if it finds a path through that for the other part to make it radiate.

Been a while since I made the original post but this is a hell of an informative read for people who want to understand how these EFHW antennas work...
https://www.aa5tb.com
I built a few VHF and UHF antennas using j-pole design. Same method basically and same headaches.... unless it works in which case they seem to outperform other antennas, but at the end of the day they are still a dipole, just fed from the voltage node instead of current near the center feed point.

I made a few of my own wire backpack antennas that way since and they work great. The trick is environment, Being fed at the voltage node makes them sensitive to surroundings I find.

My Tram 1498 lasted all but a year until it just died one day..
https://www.worldwidedx.com/threads...y-after-a-year-internal-pics-included.261817/

Sawed off the bottom out of total frustration to find they didn't even solder it properly and had to reassemble it with a fiberglass kit. It's a champ again now but guess you got the luck of the draw because my box showed up looking like it fell off of a 3 story building.

I mean these things happen. I could have received a dud. It was all new though but at the time of ordering it was well known they weren't sending all the parts to some customers and screwing stuff up. Hope they fixed that now as your post implies because I always liked Tram in the past.

Thanks for the reply BTW. Hope to hear from other 1498 users if they ever find this post and reply. It's a good antenna when it works and I stick by that for what it's worth.

 

[fudgepacker]

It's not an end fed antenna

 

[rkb4949]

Hi all.......is there a way of removing the bottom section of the Tram 1498........I'm having problems with mine and need to check all the solder joints

 

[Staybolt]

It's not an end fed antenna

Wtf, then why does the coax go on the end of it?????

 

[Mikey1966]

It's identical to the A99 in it's internal coil circuit. In fact the instructions even show the schematic for how it's made..

View attachment 38120 View attachment 38121

The more I think about it I came to the conclusion that either the instructions are a bit off for CB tuning, or being as my antenna is around 20' away from my TV/SW antenna on another pole that it detunes it slightly requiring the internal whip to be slightly shorter.

The good thing is the antenna is fully tunable from 26-30MHz easily, and the rings for fine adjustment, other than that it's an A99 at almost half the price.
Performance so far has been outstanding. Compared to my EFHW homemade resonant antenna this is more sensitive and slightly wider bandwidth. Outperforms my tests with a horizontal center fed dipole at 20'.

Already been through a hell of a storm a few days back. I'll warn anyone who is thinking about buying this though that Tram is goofing up what parts are included. A missing bolt or washer may be no problem for most people, but a missing set screw to adjust the length is going to ruin your day. I guess if you contact Tram they will make things right, but it's a gamble.

(if you click the thumbnail you can right click the image and select "view full image" to see the large size instruction paper)

It’s not identical, the top section isn’t a whip, it is adjustable by sliding a copper rod out & adjusting the length.

 

[9C1Driver]

lol old thread but yea, doesn’t sound like an A99 at all.

 

[Dusty1USA]

I bought one and it had all the parts, tuned to almost flat at both 1 and 40 using the 60 mm measurement for the steel rod adjustment. Did not have to move the tunning rings from where they were located at the center of the threaded section.
Mounted it on top of the peak of my roof on top of a 10' 3/4" steel pipe which put he base of the antenna at about 34'.
Seems to talk and hear just fine.

 

[astrohog1947]

Well here it is 2024 and I have a tram 1498. I’m having horrendous problems trying to get it to tune. I have an antenna tuner and I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent trying to get it to tune properly, I have it basically laying down, propped up by a chair and a ladder. And I have the antenna tuner with a long cord so I can be by a steel rod to move it up and down. NO BUENO! I STILL CAN’T GET IT TO TUNE. I NEED SOME HELP. TELL ME WHAT I’M DOING WRONG OR I’M JUST GONNA THROW THE THING IN THE TRASH. WRITE IT OFF AS A BAD ANTENNA. Thanks ahead of time for the help.