Maco 5 Element to a 7

[Macoman105c]

I now have a five Element maco in vertical would it be worth going to a 7 element would I gain that much difference

[Macoman105c]

can anyone help

[MDYoungblood]

In my opinion changing the antenna out would not be worth the money and effort. By adding 2 more elements your are tightening up the forward gain lobe but not improving the rejection on the back and side. A 5 element has a pretty tight forward lobe as it is, if you don't live in a noisy area it should be just fine. This is just my opinion and I wish I had the energy and room to install a 5 element on my property.

3's

Greg

[Macoman105c]

I live out in the country lots of room..i have two rohn25 towers 5-element on a 50 footer vertical and a 4-element on the flatside at 65 feet with a star duster on top of that,,,if not a 7 what about a 8-element?? or stacking another 5 with a stacking kit??

[jessejamesdallas]

Don't think your going to notice all that much difference between 5 and 8 element, except your signal pattern will get narrower, so less noise off the sides...Staking two 5 elements I have no idea, just thinking out loud it sounds like it would be a nightmare to get tuned tho, and a disaster waiting to happen if you live in a windy area...

[Macoman105c]

looks like there would be a better beam out there to go to better than the maco 5-element.or I mean with more performance

[Macoman105c]

wonder why they sell a 6-7-8 element beam if there not any better than a 5-element

[295 antenna]

The more elements, the more side rejection , so you can hear what you are pointed at better

[jessejamesdallas]

wonder why they sell a 6-7-8 element beam if there not any better than a 5-element

This monster belongs to "Motor Mouth Mual" in Cali...and I still can't hear him unless conditions are just right...

[MDYoungblood]

wonder why they sell a 6-7-8 element beam if there not any better than a 5-element

This monster belongs to "Motor Mouth Mual" in Cali...and I still can't hear him unless conditions are just right...

JJD, you should post the pics of what it looks like after that windstorm.

wonder why they sell a 6-7-8 element beam if there not any better than a 5-element

I wouldn't go with "stacking", like JJD said it is a nightmare to get adjusted. Like was said before, the forward gain on a longer beam will increase. I would leave the vertical as is and improve on the horizontal or spend my dollars on removing the starduster off the horizontal antenna. If you are dead set on a longer boom beam than go ahead, it won't hurt.

3's

Greg

[jessejamesdallas]

wonder why they sell a 6-7-8 element beam if there not any better than a 5-element

This monster belongs to "Motor Mouth Mual" in Cali...and I still can't hear him unless conditions are just right...

JJD, you should post the pics of what it looks like after that windstorm.

wonder why they sell a 6-7-8 element beam if there not any better than a 5-element

I wouldn't go with "stacking", like JJD said it is a nightmare to get adjusted. Like was said before, the forward gain on a longer beam will increase. I would leave the vertical as is and improve on the horizontal or spend my dollars on removing the starduster off the horizontal antenna. If you are dead set on a longer boom beam than go ahead, it won't hurt.

3's

Greg

Actually, this is the new antenna that he built to replace the one that blew down...65'long aND 670 pounds worth of antenna! But he's suppose to be rebuilding it to over 100' long...Haven't seen any new pictures of the upgraded version yet...

I'll post a picture later of the one that blew down...started to last night, but I need to resize it first so it will load right.

[jessejamesdallas]

Here's Motor Mouth Muals first antenna...."Before and After" the Sana Anna Winds took care of it! He calls it "The Beast"...

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[tgbrail]

Ouch !!

[edfiero]

wonder why they sell a 6-7-8 element beam if there not any better than a 5-element

The issue with adding elements to beams is all about what you start out with.

With a 5 element antenna, your forward gain is something like 15db. With an 8 element your forward gain is 18db. A 3 db increase. It takes about 6db to make a ONE - S unit change on the receiving station. So an 8 will be better than a 5 but only by 1/2 of an S unit.

if you only had a ground plane with about 4db gain, and then went to an 8 element beam, you'd see your signal go up a lot.

[MDYoungblood]

wonder why they sell a 6-7-8 element beam if there not any better than a 5-element

This is off Maco's website,

The Flat 8 sits on a 40' boom and features 8
elements including a multiscreen reflector. It
comes with a Maco 5 kW gamma match and
has a front-to-back separation of up to 46
dB!


It's not that they don't make them, it is most shops won't sell them.

3's

Greg

[jessejamesdallas]

looks like there would be a better beam out there to go to better than the maco 5-element.or I mean with more performance

There is! Check out the Lightning Quad antennas..."Full wave length"...Best bang for the money is the L4...4 element, vertical and horizontal, full wave length, not quarter wave or 3/4 wave, but a full wave length antenna....L4 has a fairly wide signal so you pick-up stations off to the sides...more elements you add, the narrower the signal pattern, and not so much more gian.

When I had mine up, I made contacts in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Germany, and South Africa...Mostly on SSB, but also on channel 28 AM...

Haven't made any contacts outside the U.S. since I took it down and went to the MaCo Shooting Star...

Would still be using the L4, but they are high maintenance if you live in a windy area...wires keep breaking and having to be fixed all the time...least thats what I ran into...