hf antenna help

[scma127]

hello to all i have a old solorcon antron 99 antenna still up i would love to use it of portions of the hf band maybe 10,12,17,20 mters band is that possible i have a ts 440at and icom 706 need it-100 tuner for 706
is this antenna capable of working the hf band i just listed plz give me some advice

 

[hockeyshrink]

Yes

hello to all i have a old solorcon antron 99 antenna still up i would love to use it of portions of the hf band maybe 10,12,17,20 mters band is that possible i have a ts 440at and icom 706 need it-100 tuner for 706
is this antenna capable of working the hf band i just listed plz give me some advice

I used to run an A99 on an A/B switch alongside a wire. The A99 was great on 10, good on 12, OK on 17, but the wire performed better on 20. I am sure polarization had something to do with that as well. The A99 was particularly good on 10m FM.

n.b., I ran it without the GPK on the advice of Elmers

 

[r_eugene1]

hello to all i have a old solorcon antron 99 antenna still up i would love to use it of portions of the hf band maybe 10,12,17,20 mters band is that possible i have a ts 440at and icom 706 need it-100 tuner for 706
is this antenna capable of working the hf band i just listed plz give me some advice

Check out the link below. I believe that it will work up to 17m with a tuner.

Solarcon A99 Fiberglass Base Antenna Walcott CB - CB Radio Super Store and Mobile Electronics Warehouse. at WalcottCB.com

 

[scma127]

antenna help antron 99 for hf

thankyou for the reply just put my kenwood ts 440at inline with my solorcon antron 99 work well and receives good to even on 20 meters hi hi

 

[LtDoc]

Since that antenna was designed for use around 25 - 29 Mhz, it should work well on 10 meters. The lower you go from there, the less 'well' it's going to perform. You can probably 'get by' with it on 20 meters with a tuner, but that's really all you'll be doing, 'getting by'. If that works for you, then good!
- 'Doc

 

[John_S]

I used an IMAX2000, which is basically a 5/8ths version of the same antenna, with my TS-450SAT for a short while before the landlord said it had to come down. You need to set both tuning rings near the top of their adjustment. I would recommend getting the use of an antenna analyser and then you can find the spot that has the most bandwidth, but if not possible, just turn them all the way up and see what happens. I found that antenna to work well from 10m to 17m, for something that was so easy to set up and with a small footprint. Don't forget 15m either...very cool band when it gets going. Kinda reminds me of 6 meters. Yes, you can hear OK on 20m, but it won't radiate very well there, although I was getting around to playing with some wire radials attached at the base, which was having a small effect at 20m visable on the analyser. It may be worth trying.

 

[Skypilot007]

I just worked Austria (OE5TOP) with my I-max 2000 on 15m last Thursday. I have the same results as everyone else above. Mine won't tune up on 17 but 15, 12 and 10 it tunes right in with the internal tuner in my old kenwood TS440. I use wire a antenna and tuner from 17-160.

 

[John_S]

Interesting that 17m doesn't get in there. I wonder if the tuner had more range on the 450S. I also had used that antenna with an LDG100Pro, which easily tuned it, but at some point tried with the built in tuner and found that the antenna was an easy enough load to match that it worked equally well. If the tuning rings are near the top of their adjustment and 17m still doesn't tune, I can only surmise that there's a difference in the tuners.

 

[home121]

A99

I used to run an A99 on an A/B switch alongside a wire. The A99 was great on 10, good on 12, OK on 17, but the wire performed better on 20. I am sure polarization had something to do with that as well. The A99 was particularly good on 10m FM.

n.b., I ran it without the GPK on the advice of Elmers

Just a note, polarization on 20 meters dos'nt come into play unless you were talking local and not skip. When your talking skip your signal gets bounced around and twisted and by the time the signal gets where its going who knows what polarization its in...Good Luck btw the only bad thing about the A99 is its a lighting rod, you got abt 18 feet of fiber glass give or take a few feet with the wind blowing past it creating static ele. even with a good ground its a little scetchy, Good Luck...

 

[John_S]

If there's space, it's great having both polarities. For a short while, I had both IMAX2000 and a loop antenna cut for 15m that I could tune from 20m to 10m. This worked nicely, as sometimes there would be a distinct difference. I disagree about the radials. After reading the reviews on eHam about the IMAX, several guys had installed radials with positive results. It can't hurt to experiment with some wire radials. I saw the SWR drop a bit on 20m after just trying one 1/4 wave piece of wire. Never got the chance to try more.

 

[Skypilot007]

My adjustment rings on the I-max are where they were when delivered, about in the middle. I will try to move them to the top and see if it tunes on 17. For receive on 17 its even between the wire and the I-max.

 

[John_S]

If you can get the use of an SWR analyser (MFJ-259,etc), you'll see the effect as you start turning the rings. This is how I ended up with the rings at the top. Yes, SWR got somewhat worse on 10 and 12, but still very easy for a tuner to deal with. The plus side was a nice broadening of acceptable SWR between 17m and 10m. I wish I had written the results down while I was sweeping with the MFJ unit. And like I said, it will load up on 20m....just doesn't radiate well. So it makes a nice companion to a large wire antenna for 160/80 up to 20.

 

[k2hat]

I use an Imax 2000 here, and that is all I had for over 3 months,
and used it with an external tuner on 20m.

Granted my G5RV is much better, but use what you have.

Some ground radial wires, will help;
the more the better. Even 20 will help.

Radials and Grounds

73 K2HAT Lee