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Stationmaster

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tkripper

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Does anyone know how to tell a Stationmaster from a Super Stationmaster? I have a 22ft fiberglass antenna with a brass colored cap and a placard that says Motorola TDD 6073 A 150-159 MHZ. Does anyone know how to tell the difference? And can anyone tell me what its worth if I were to sell it? I'm new at this so please bare with me oh knowledgeable ones.
 

stationmaster

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Greetings,
I spent over 25 years in engineering of those antennas. Some interesting information for you:
The standard Stationmaster is a model PD220 (don't know the Motorola TDD number), The Super Stationmaster is an extreme heavy duty version and the internal elements are identical. The only difference between the two models is the external radome and support pipe. The Super is a beast, very heavy the support pipe is very heavy wall aluminum approximately 1/4" thick. The gain on either is 5.25 dBd which is 7.39 dBi. I really enjoyed working on them, fantastic antenna.
 

prcguy

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That's interesting. I've cut apart several UHF versions of PD220s and its just a bunch of 1/2 wavelength long sections of roughly 1/2" rigid copper hardline coax soldered together with each element offset and they are fairly narrow band like 10MHz in UHF and less at VHF. The Super Stationmasters I have cut open had big fat copper or brass elements, maybe a similar electrical design but much different inside and a lot bigger. The band width is also a lot wider due to the fatter elements.

The Stationmasters were rated at 5.25dB gain for most frequency ranges and the UHF Stationmaster was about 7 to 8ft tall and the VHF was about 22ft tall. The UHF Super Stationmaster was near 10dBd gain and about 21ft tall in the 460-470MHz range. I've used a lot of UHF Stationmaster and Super Stationmasters but not really any VHF versions. It takes about 21-22ft to get the 5.25dB gain at VHF so I don't know all the differences between models at VHF.

The company names have changed over the years from Phelps Dodge to Celwave to ?? and now Commander Technologies makes the Stationmaster antennas. Here is a link to the current products.



Greetings,
I spent over 25 years in engineering of those antennas. Some interesting information for you:
The standard Stationmaster is a model PD220 (don't know the Motorola TDD number), The Super Stationmaster is an extreme heavy duty version and the internal elements are identical. The only difference between the two models is the external radome and support pipe. The Super is a beast, very heavy the support pipe is very heavy wall aluminum approximately 1/4" thick. The gain on either is 5.25 dBd which is 7.39 dBi. I really enjoyed working on them, fantastic antenna.
 
Last edited:

stationmaster

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Yes, there are actually several UHF models with different levels of gain, the PD201, PD1150, PD400, PD1151, PD455, and PD755. The VHF models were PD200, PD220, PD620. The 200 antenna is the oldest original with .341 copper tubing as elements each half wave stacked as a colinear array and about 20ft long. The 200 is a light duty narrow bandwidth (only maybe 2 MHz wide). The 220 and 620 use .811 copper tube elements also stacked together and using 5 elements wit a 1/4 wave shunted section on top and a large matching transformer at the base that uses a set of sliding rings for tuning. The value is probably good if they are in good shape, if the fiberglass is old you can apply some marine paint but be sure it is non metallic of course.
 

tkripper

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Mar 7, 2021
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Tucson Az
I enjoy all the input. Quite a bit of input tonight. Thanks a million folks. Thats why you guys are paid the big bucks. Cuz you all know your band widths. Its amazing all the knowledge everybody puts in when your strings are pulled. Thanks again fellas. Much Appreciated. Mucho Gusto!!
 

prcguy

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So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
Question for Mr. Stationmaster, when using say a PD201 slightly out of band the radiation pattern shifts up or down some. Do you remember if you use one lower in frequency which way the pattern shifts?

Yes, there are actually several UHF models with different levels of gain, the PD201, PD1150, PD400, PD1151, PD455, and PD755. The VHF models were PD200, PD220, PD620. The 200 antenna is the oldest original with .341 copper tubing as elements each half wave stacked as a colinear array and about 20ft long. The 200 is a light duty narrow bandwidth (only maybe 2 MHz wide). The 220 and 620 use .811 copper tube elements also stacked together and using 5 elements wit a 1/4 wave shunted section on top and a large matching transformer at the base that uses a set of sliding rings for tuning. The value is probably good if they are in good shape, if the fiberglass is old you can apply some marine paint but be sure it is non metallic of course.
 
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