update on Cushcraft R6000

[Moleculo]

I've had the antenna up for a month or so now. It's interesting to switch back and forth between the vertical and the inverted V to see which one is hearing better to a specific location or under various propagation conditions. It's also interesting that it loads up on 75m and works quite well there.

I have two complaints with this antenna. One is that the SWR changes while it's raining. I saw this complaint on eham, also. I'm not sure what is causing this as I made sure that the traps were sealed well before putting the antenna in the air. I think it's something with the matching network in the box getting wet. The manual says that you don't need to seal it, but something on this antenna doesn't like being wet.

The other complaint is that the 20m segment shifted after it was put up. Somehow the top section moved causing the the SWR to go over 3:1. That could have been my fault, but I don't think so.

One good thing is that it did withstand some recent 70 mph winds. When I take it back down to adjust for 20m, I will also add a coax choke balun since I am getting some feedline radiation with it.

 

[rfoverlord]

Moe, i'm glad your vert. is working even though your still playing with it (it's part of the joy of being a radio junkie!) I still haven't put up the titan and i don't think i'm going to. after getting some interesting private messages from other owners of the titans short comings, it's back to a BTV for the money. How is the 6000 compared to your inverted V?

 

[Beetle]

Cushcraft seems to have a serious problem with water intrusion in their verticals. Most of the cases I've seen have been with the matching network (MN-6000 in your case), but it could be a trap, "and/or" sorta thing.

 

[rfoverlord]

I've had the antenna up for a month or so now. It's interesting to switch back and forth between the vertical and the inverted V to see which one is hearing better to a specific location or under various propagation conditions. It's also interesting that it loads up on 75m and works quite well there.

I have two complaints with this antenna. One is that the SWR changes while it's raining. I saw this complaint on eham, also. I'm not sure what is causing this as I made sure that the traps were sealed well before putting the antenna in the air. I think it's something with the matching network in the box getting wet. The manual says that you don't need to seal it, but something on this antenna doesn't like being wet.

One good thing is that it did withstand some recent 70 mph winds. When I take it back down to adjust for 20m, I will also add a coax choke balun since I am getting some feedline radiation with it.

Moleculo, Have you had a chance to make adjustments? and out of curiousity what type of balun are you using for your inverted V?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Just wondering how much the SWR changes when it rains. What do you have for radials under it? If you have none or very little then when the ground conductivity changes from wet to dry it will affect the SWR.The fewer radials the greater the effect.Also the lower the freq the greater the effect as well.

 

[Moleculo]

It really only changes on 20 meters. Remember, this is a "no ground radial" antenna. Actually it uses it's version of elevated radials. You'll have to look on their website to see what I mean by that.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Errrr....ummmm......yeah.......no ground radial antenna.What that really means is that you do not need to rob a bank to pay for all the copper to plant under it in order to obtain a good match on all bands.Even with the "radials" it comes with,being only about four feet long, you will see some impedance changes with varying ground conductivity especially on the lower bands. Speaking of the lower bands,I forgot that the R6000 was meant for only 20m and up. When you mentioned using it on 75m I thought it was meant to cover that band and that is where you were noticing the biggest change in SWR.

 

[SR385]

Moe, i'm glad your vert. is working even though your still playing with it (it's part of the joy of being a radio junkie!) I still haven't put up the titan and i don't think i'm going to. after getting some interesting private messages from other owners of the titans short comings, it's back to a BTV for the money. How is the 6000 compared to your inverted V?

Keep in mind, with the Titan, I run one and 40m and up it's really decent, like it a lot. 80m works great for DX, but not for lower 48 rag chew, you need a nice low wire for that. I'm adding wires all around the yard and the Titan still gets regular use depending on the propagation conditions.

A lot of people simply don't read the instructions or have a fundamental misunderstanding of the Titan and screw them up. I put mine up by the letters and the whole thing tuned up in spec right off the bat. A few guys have these whole web sites to slam the Titan and yet they have pictures of clearly misassembled antennas in their documents...it's pretty ridiculous... For an antenna stuck on a pole 6' off the yard, I like it a lot.

It's very similar to the crowd that won't RTFM with the Yaesu FT-2000 that have given that awesome rig a bad rep.

 

[rfoverlord]

SR385, The person I got the titan from swears by it. the few times i used it at his place it was a talker. I will put it up just to give it a fair chance, but it is/will be a back up. right now i only have wire up so i figured i should at least give it a try until the tennadyne T8 is up in the air this summer

 

[SR385]

SR385, The person I got the titan from swears by it. the few times i used it at his place it was a talker. I will put it up just to give it a fair chance, but it is/will be a back up. right now i only have wire up so i figured i should at least give it a try until the tennadyne T8 is up in the air this summer

You'll find it is quite useful to have a vertical as an option to switch between. Not only does propagation change randomly, but QRN does as well and going from my G5RV and back to the vertical, it's quite common that one or the other will be far quieter as far as noise rejection. The conditions vary all the time so it's nice to have the options for a few antennas.

I sit on a 20m net with a bunch of old timers every morning. Same stations, same time of day, but which antenna I use depends on the daily conditions. It's remarkable the difference depending on the conditions, one antenna will make vs the other.