It always a matter of horses for courses. Of the commercial verticals I have had a Stationmaster which was just OK. The best was a Sirio S2016 with 16 radials. I sold it to by a beam and wish I had kept it.
I have made many verticals, the worst have been various J-poles made of copper tube or of 300 ohm twin lead. The best homemade have been dipoles of aluminium tube positioned either as a horizontal or a vertical.
I'm too old to mess around with antenna construction nowadays and am looking for a s/h vertical to complement the beam.
- 73 de Gayle
aka SkyDancer

I hate both these antennas, If the IMAX is anything like the ANTRON inside it is just a poorly made antenna.. Cant beat a decent bit of Aluminium in the sky ie: Sirio 2012, 2016, 827..

Look here to see what you ANTRON users pay good money for>>>

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/ham-radio-manuals/a99.pdf

73 26TRC155 "Marcus"

I've had my Stationmaster since 1994.Again like Lous it hasn't missed a beat.Just a little bit of maintenance this year ,cause the SWR went up to around 2.0,due to a bit of water getting in the antenna due to a rusted screw.Replaced & resealed the screwhole with selastic,the swr is virtually 1.4 across the band from 26-28mhz.Having no radials,it sits happily a couple of feet above my 3 element yagi .
A well built Aussie antenna which will last for years (i hope).
73's
43DA162-43DA/NSW
Brett.

Yes Hypermo, the rotary clothes hoist has been an obvious try-out for years as have wire fences and roof gutters. Antenna towers and masts have been used so often as to be considered orthodox antenna design!

All would work best, I imagine, on low frequencies as does the underground antenna. Yes, underground. It has been used for many decades for covert operations on very low frequencies.

My favorite is trees. Yes, trees! I imagine those with a high moisture content would work best and again on the lower frequencies. A boab should be excellent as it is virtually a water container. Palm trees are everywhere around here and should be worth a try. Say, a bangalow palm which can be found almost all over Australia. A long metal spike is inserted into the trunk and connected to the radio, via an ATU of course. Come to think of it, a palm tree has an inbuilt anti-corana hat!

G'day Hyperno!

Thanks for the info. Those photos of your father-in-law in the backyard with the radio and the hillshoist would be a ripper. Any chance of showing them on this site, mate?

73's

Darren
43SD054/ 43FR011
Admin Team
11m DX Activities Oz

After reading Kate's review on the IMAX 2000 antenna I am on the lookout for one. Lee Andrews is in the process of chasing up a price for me but I think it will be around the $250 AUS mark.

I have a station master MK 2 and think it's pretty ordinary.

Imax 2000 - They're my vote!

Darren
43SD054
Admin Team
11m DX Activities Oz

Sounds interesting, Adrian. As I am looking to purchase a new vertical antenna shortly for some upcoming IOTA activities with Kate, I will keep a look out for one.

In the past my best antenna was the Stardust M-400 and I do not change for anything, it a bit after use a good vertical dipole antenna and in the present I´m working for local and vertical a homemade copy of the astroplane I made by my self is veri flat for the SWR all over the band and very quiet, the static is low on that antenna, conclusion: better a good piece of aluminum to a piece of copper wire and fiber glass

BORN TO BE DXER

10FAT113

JOSE LUIS

VICTORIA MEXICO