prcguy
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Somewhere around 1973 I bought a used Hy-Gain Penetrator for about $50, and that was a lot of money for a high school kid back then. I had that in the air at several residences until the late 1990s when I took it down and it was in pretty bad shape. In the last 5yrs or so I bought a new version that cost $150 shipped and its identical in size and shape but the metal tubing is just a bit thinner. Its still double wall for the first section but it waves around in the wind a little more than the original. Tuning, bandwidth and SWR are the same and I would say performance is identical.
A refurbished vintage Hy-Gain Penetrator is at least $400 and why would you buy that when you can have 98% of the same antenna brand new under the same name brand for $150 and its not a made in Italy copy?
Otherwise there are occasional deals on Ebay for vintage antennas being sold by original owners and not "antenna flippers" trying to make huge profit. Within a few month period I bought two new in box Shakespeare fiberglass Yagi's, a 3-element and a 4-element from two different sellers. One cost me about $40 plus shipping and I can't remember what the other cost but I would have not bid much more than $50. These are among the rarest CB antennas in existence as I heard about them in the late 70s, worked in the business in the mid 70s to early 80s and have never seen one in person in my life until these two showed up on Ebay.
I've also picked up a new in box vintage Radio Shack 19ft 10in 5/8 ground plane with the three 9ft radials on Ebay for about $30. Then a new in box vintage Shakespeare 3-piece Big Stick for about $40. The stuff is out there if you look every day and sometimes it goes for very reasonable prices.
A refurbished vintage Hy-Gain Penetrator is at least $400 and why would you buy that when you can have 98% of the same antenna brand new under the same name brand for $150 and its not a made in Italy copy?
Otherwise there are occasional deals on Ebay for vintage antennas being sold by original owners and not "antenna flippers" trying to make huge profit. Within a few month period I bought two new in box Shakespeare fiberglass Yagi's, a 3-element and a 4-element from two different sellers. One cost me about $40 plus shipping and I can't remember what the other cost but I would have not bid much more than $50. These are among the rarest CB antennas in existence as I heard about them in the late 70s, worked in the business in the mid 70s to early 80s and have never seen one in person in my life until these two showed up on Ebay.
I've also picked up a new in box vintage Radio Shack 19ft 10in 5/8 ground plane with the three 9ft radials on Ebay for about $30. Then a new in box vintage Shakespeare 3-piece Big Stick for about $40. The stuff is out there if you look every day and sometimes it goes for very reasonable prices.
