> A friend of mine recently put up a repeater operating near > 444.0 Mhz. using a Hustler G6-440 ant.(It was all that was > "quickly" available before the temperatures and the snow > started falling here in the Midwest) While the Hustler seems > to be performing O.K.,
It's a very practical antenna and a great dollar value... kind of an amateur industry standard antenna for many repeater system projects. > He would really like to get a better antenna for the system. Just depends on what better will cost and the expected peformance improvement above the Hustler G6. > A gentlemen has offered to sell him a "Stationmaster" at a > reasonable price for his repeater, Depends on how much, how old and what condition it's in. There are many potential land minds related to using vintage Station Master type antennas. All that glitters is not gold... > BUT,the Stationmaster is from a Commercial repeater operating > on 454.XXX Mhz. There was no label on the antenna to ascertain the > true frequency it was "cut" for. From what I've been able to "piece" > together (based on comments from the seller, and old Phelps-Dodge & > Celwave catalogs) The antenna is a PD-400 7.5dBd Stationmaster > in the 450-460 range. > > I did try the antenna in the 444-445Mhz region, in an "RF Clear" > space, and it does present a good load to another transmitter. > 50W FWD / abt. 250-300mw REF.(on Bird & Telewave wattmeters) My > concern is that with the antenna operating almost 10Megs. away > from what I assume to have been its "center" freq. in the > Commercial range (455Mhz.) that the "Pattern" will be so > distorted or skewed, Based on your above information... in the real world, you probably won't notice any major pattern quirks... but based on the larger size and increased gain of a Station Master... you will notice a performance increase. > any gain advantage the Stationmaster may have had over the > G6 will almost be lost... Probably won't be the case... you'll probably love the Station Master's increased performance. > Being that far away from "Center" I'm almost certain will result > in way more than a 2-3 degree downtilt.Maybe??? You probably won't notice it to any great amount... > So I guess the real question to all the Gurus is, Does he > consider replacing the Hustler with "this" PD-400, or "Keep > Looking"... Depends on the sellers price, the age of the antenna and how hard it is to deal with installing it. > Why???...Please no Hustler "bashing"...I completely realize that > the Stationmaster would NORMALLY outlast, outperform, and in > general be the "Choice of Pros", At easily more than x-times the price you'd expect a new Station Master to be a higher performance antenna. But the Hustler G6 is a very practical antenna for many Amateur applications. Hustler sells similar constructed commercial antennas under their "Spirit" name for x-times the price. > IF the Stationmaster was cut for the Amateur range which is . is not in this case. > > ANY constructive input regarding this decision would be greatly > appreciated, Thanks in advance... > Carl > KA9GPX You'll probably enjoy using the used 454MHz Station Master for the repeater system. Just stay away from really old SM antennas unless you open them up for a rebuild. I've got one here that tests just peachy but one internal connection is a verified IM generator. He should have a circulator or isolator installed on the repeater equipment in case... cheers, s.
