I bought & received my Procomm Spider. To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. I bought the antenna from cqradiosupply on eBay. It arrived USPS priority mail box was one of them triangular deals, & beat up from all the open / free space. All the vendor does is throw the bag & a slip in the box - that's it. No packing whatsoever. However, it appeared to not have suffered any damage. The bag was ripped at the bottom seam though, what the cause of that was remains a mystery. There were no "included instructions" so I contacted the seller on eBay & it appears I have all the parts & it goes together like I was afraid it would.
This unit, well, I'm not sure if its all new or not. Some gunk on the threads, scrapes elsewhere... Anyway, basically you get four whips to form the bottom plane, four whips that go opposite of those whips, & a center whip. This center whip screws into the main assembly of the antenna. The whips basically slide into a PLASTIC SLEEVE with grooves in it. The bottom plane whips stop at a point inside the ring & make contact with the mounting bracket only & not the main lug of the antenna. The four upper whips slide into the PLASTIC SLEEVE grooves & mount flush with the threaded lug. There is a metal washer that sits on top of this PLASTIC SLEEVE & then the center whip lug tightens down on it to hold the whips in place using the sleeve to hold them in place. The lug also tightens from underneath the mounting bracket plate. So you pinch metal rods into a PLASTIC SLEEVE between the metal washer & the mount.
This doesn't sound complicated but in order to keep the whips aligned & centered, it can be a major pain in the you know what. So I used gravity, a cup, & super glue to assist me. One has to pray that the rods are where they are supposed to be & so that's where the glue comes in handy. I also know how plastic behaves after exposure to the elements of Mother Nature. I'm a thoroughly dismayed by the use of plastic in this way. So, somehow I'm going to use JB Weld to form a barrier around this plastic ring to not only keep the ring protected & hopefully in tact, but also hold the whips in place.
I have yet to finish up with the JB Weld and also mounting but the mounting bracket (L snapped) is attached to the mast with freaking washer hose clamps, those ones that you screw down to tighten the clamp on the hose... Not sure if washer hose clamp is the right term but you should get the idea. So, I'm going to finish it up, mount it & everything. However, I was going to return the thing. All in all, it's a piece of crap IMHO. I'll never buy another one... Interested to see how it works though. Might be the bright side of this wreck.
