Thread: Comet CHA-250B
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Old 05-24-2011, 05:41 PM   #2
K4AC
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 17
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I would avoid any antenna that covers the entire HF spectrum without using a tuner or some other means of matching. The Comet must have a very lossy matching network inside it that allows a short vertical (especially on 80/40) to have an SWR less than 1.5:1.

Will it radiate a signal- absolutely, but you will lose much of your signal in its matching network. It is better than nothing, but probably not nearly as good as a screwdriver with a 108" whip or a 24' vertical run thru a tuner.

They claim that no radials are needed, but say that it should be mounted 10' off the ground, with 33' being optimal. Basically the mast it is mounted on is acting like the ground side of the antenna (think a vertically oriented dipole).

There are no ways to cheat the laws of physics...

Doug
K4AC
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