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New updates from Chameleon Antenna

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by OH8STN, Apr 25, 2019.

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  1. OH8STN

    OH8STN Ham Member QRZ Page

     
    AC7DD, N6SPP, N2GWT and 2 others like this.
  2. N6NLX

    N6NLX Ham Member QRZ Page

    Nice review.

    Very reminiscent of the Hughes Prc-74 antenna. That is a great little antenna if you can find them.
    Handles 100 watts and is collapsible in seconds. Just pull down on the band selector and rotate it to the band you want. It works on the low bands and 17, 15 and 10 as well with a tuner. I use it with my Elecraft KX radios with good success
     

    Attached Files:

    KK6AKH and AC7DD like this.
  3. AE7YD

    AE7YD Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Does the PRC-74 need full length radials? There is one for sale on eBay from Greece.
     
    TA3IE likes this.
  4. N6NLX

    N6NLX Ham Member QRZ Page

    I used mine quite often without full length radials. Sometimes two of them in a rotatable dipole config. Not sure that worked all that well. However, to get the most out of it they would certainly help. I just looked at that one Ebay. Not sure what that other piece is. It didn’t come with the antennas. I had a few of these years ago in sealed packages and that other piece wasn’t part of it.

    Don.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
  5. AE7YD

    AE7YD Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Thanks Don. 73, Yvon.
     
  6. WW4LDO

    WW4LDO Ham Member QRZ Page

    So pretty much the MPAS plus all the other stuff I bought to make it a viable POTA antenna system....
     
  7. KM6AB

    KM6AB Ham Member QRZ Page

    The new mil whip 2.0 is a military AT-271 that's been around since the late 1950s. Its copper plated steel tubing and was first used on the PRC-25 manpack radio. These can be had on Ebay new surplus in the $30 range. The PRC-74 whip mentioned above (mil AT-1887A) is a really good antenna and its resonant on many ham bands.
     
    K4XJ likes this.
  8. WB5GSA

    WB5GSA Ham Member QRZ Page

    I made a vertical with 18" tent poles, elastic string, an insulator made from my wife's cutting board, an SO-239 and a few other things. The tent poles resonated on 20M and with 30' of RG-8X, I was able to get some DX. This company was very good to me: https://tentpoletechnologies.com/product/easton-355-diameter-7075-t9/ I had to replace the rubber band thingy but otherwise, it works fine. I want to buy larger diameter tent poles when I move in with my daughter and her hubby especially since I'll have to move into HOA City.
     
    KC5MO likes this.
  9. VE3IQL

    VE3IQL Ham Member QRZ Page

    Do you have the base for it? How have you got it mounted and how do you feed it? I now have one and want to use it with my KX3..
    Thanks
     
  10. N6NLX

    N6NLX Ham Member QRZ Page

    Just a 3/8-24 to so239 adaptor. I made a spike and attached it to the spike. I use it with many radios. Kx2, Kx3, Ft817 and SG2020. Don’t forget ground wires to clip to it.

    Another mount is a standard ball mount or even a magnetic mount. I’ve used those as well.

    Don. N6NLX
     
  11. EI3IBB

    EI3IBB Ham Member QRZ Page

    I'm having a ball with this Antenna, one thing that strikes me is how quiet it is compared to my wire antenna, I've been making some cool DX from Ireland to as far as Chile, I'm getting regular contacts to South America since I got it around 5 weeks ago.

    Check out my QRZ, 99% of the DX I got since the 24th May has been with the MAPAS 2.0. I also live in a very quiet location in the country with a very low noise floor which does help me hear the DX.

    I have the whip, extension, hat, Spike and the Hybrid Micro and use the single supplied Counterpoise that comes with the kit.

    SWR on 20m is around 1.5:1 or less right through 20m and around 2.5:1 on 40m.

    I haven't really tried other bands except 20 and 40m but all my DX has been on 20m so far as I haven't really had the time to spend on other bands.

    The antenna is super quick to set up and take down including connecting coax and counterpoise, the winders are very convenient.

    It's funny, I actually got the MPAS 2.0 for portable use but now I have it set up on the front lawn to the sitting room semi-permanent connected to the FT-891, which I use as a 2nd radio setup, I certainly wasn't expecting it to perform so well so I decided why not leave it set up and use it daily ? then take it down when I want to go portable.

    I might try the full radial kit or try get it up a few meters on my spiderbeam and elevate the radials as someone on the chameleon groups.io group had mentioned he got it to perform better this way.

    Anyway, the MPAS 2.0 is a really great antenna system, excellent quality and super easy to set up and take down and can be used as a base antenna too, I highly recommend it and it also makes a very good SWL Receiving antenna for the commercial bands.
     
    OLDARCHER likes this.

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