Maco V-Quad vs. Jo Gunn Skipjack

[420Snowman]

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone used either one of these beams, I am looking at both of them and cant decide which one is better. The Maco actually looks stronger that the Jo, but all I have EVER heard about ANY Jo Gunn is they are the best for the money. Please help, I would like to purchase this week and put up this weekend, also, I WONT have a rotor at this time, so I will be open to any suggestions on ways to turn it from the ground, besides a 35 foot pole.....

Snowman

[Sporty Mike]

No rotor huh?? A big pipe wrench, perhaps?


Mike

[420Snowman]

funny guy!!!!, LOL, no, I am going to point er in one direction, for a while, then if I get tired of that I will mover around. just dont want to put the rotor, ect. on my roof just yet.....

Snowman

[231]

The V-Quad is a delta loop with loop reflector, the JoGunn is just a V-beam which is a 1/2 wave 'V' dipole with yagi reflector. As a rule, loops tend to work better depending on propagation anyway.

For the money, I'd highly consider getting a Maco Y-Quad which is selectable dual polarity. You'd be much happier with dual polarity and down the road when you get a rotor even a TV antenna rotor will work okay. I've run Y-Quads over the years and they don't look like much, but will blow the doors off of both of those beams for less cost. Primarily because they use a full wave quad reflector element which really works well with a yagi driven element.

Good luck.

[Lost Ram]

I went with the Maco 104 because it allowed me to change polarity of my signal to horizontal, vertical or both like the J-gunn. As far as I am concerned both (co-phased) is pretty sorry, its always better one way or the other so I am glad I went with the Maco. I guess if the person you where talking to ran their beam co-phased it might be OK.

[420Snowman]

Thanks guys, I am thinking of the 103 or the Y quad for sure, just bought a new Imax last night and have to get that hoisted up there first, then the beam!!

Snowman

[Lost Ram]

Thanks guys, I am thinking of the 103 or the Y quad for sure, just bought a new Imax last night and have to get that hoisted up there first, then the beam!!

Snowman

You will enjoy your Imax!! I sure do mine.

[Nagant]

I have a Maco V-Quad that I'm in the process of getting into the the air now. I plan to run it in the L configuration where it's dual polarity vertical and horizontal at the same time. I'm not to sure how that will work as the gain is going to be split to some extent between each polarity. I'm probably going to be disappoint in the performance of it in dual polarity configuration but I want to try it as the single feed coax was a big seller for me as I'm having to run 150' of Davis Bury Flex for it. The coax alone cost me more than the V-Quad as I picked up a 2 week old V-Quad reasonably.

If you wanted a small beam for horizontal DX only then I don't think you could do any better than a two element Delta loop like the V-Quad. Other than a three element or larger Delta.

[231]

I have a Maco V-Quad that I'm in the process of getting into the the air now. I plan to run it in the L configuration where it's dual polarity vertical and horizontal at the same time. I'm not to sure how that will work as the gain is going to be split to some extent between each polarity. I'm probably going to be disappoint in the performance of it in dual polarity configuration but I want to try it as the single feed coax was a big seller for me as I'm having to run 150' of Davis Bury Flex for it. The coax alone cost me more than the V-Quad as I picked up a 2 week old V-Quad reasonably.

If you wanted a small beam for horizontal DX only then I don't think you could do any better than a two element Delta loop like the V-Quad. Other than a three element or larger Delta.

An option around that might be a remote switch box. I have an ICE 9 position (7.5kw rated relays) I use that works great. But there are a few manufacturers who make a 4 position, and everything in between quite reasonably priced I might add. The idea is to run a single good quality coax to the switch box, and from there you can pick and choose what coax you want to run to what antenna. On my experimental dipoles I had RG8x for instance as it was just about 25' to the apex, and on the one of VHF antennas LMR-400, and yet another RG-213 or RG-8U. When I had my dual polarity tubular Moxon up, it was a dream to use. Just like having it in the shack...only I didn't have to run multiple coax lines all the way back there. Just an idea as your next beam ideas might begin to unfold. Sure made experimenting with antennas easier that's for sure.

Snowman too bad Signal Engineering raised their prices so high on the SuperHawk 2 element quad. They sure are a nice little beam as well to consider. I personally think they'd be a better choice performance wise than the Y-Quad, but for the price difference it'd be a hard sell to someone like me. The SuperHawk was more than twice the price (last time I checked) of a Y-Quad. I doubt it works THAT much better. A guy could do a Shooting star for less money.

Just a few thoughts.

[Nagant]

An option around that might be a remote switch box. I have an ICE 9 position (7.5kw rated relays) I use that works great. But there are a few manufacturers who make a 4 position, and everything in between quite reasonably priced I might add. The idea is to run a single good quality coax to the switch box, and from there you can pick and choose what coax you want to run to what antenna. On my experimental dipoles I had RG8x for instance as it was just about 25' to the apex, and on the one of VHF antennas LMR-400, and yet another RG-213 or RG-8U. When I had my dual polarity tubular Moxon up, it was a dream to use. Just like having it in the shack...only I didn't have to run multiple coax lines all the way back there. Just an idea as your next beam ideas might begin to unfold. Sure made experimenting with antennas easier that's for sure.

Thank you for the suggestion 231. A remote switch box won't work for me the way I have my current antennas. To far apart on different ends of my yard. I would save little if any coax with one. One would work well if I went with a dual polarity double feed array though which may happen if I don't like the V-Quad in dual polarity polarization.

[420Snowman]

Thats basically what I want it for, Horizontal DX beam, I am going to get the Imax and the Rotor design figured out, the I am going with the Y Quad for sure. Thanks, as usual guys!!!

Snowman

PS, still have the 300A if anyone is interested in it!!!