[Antennas] ANTENNA INFO - Criticism of poor manufacturing practices...

Sun, 8 Jun 2003 12:28:32 -0400

Gary,
I fully understand your comments regarding Cushcraft's poor quality control.
I suppose that it was your apology that triggered my response. It seems
that people in general tend to apologize for their negative comments. My
advice is for everyone to make their comments, and criticisms without
feeling the need to feel guilty for making those comments. If you feel that
a product is badly designed, constructed, or, in some way fails to meet your
personal standards, publicize it through these reflectors. You are
providing valuable feedback for those of us who may be considering the
purchase of the very product that you are dissatisfied with. Your comments
will most likely result in further consideration before any cash
transactions take place.
If the product is good, say so... and add as much positive feedback as
possible to substantiate your claims. If the product is not to your
satisfaction, publish the details to give other buyers something to think
about. Regarding Cushcraft, I have owned several different antennas and
have found, over the past 25 to 30 years, that their quality control has
been deteriorating. My earlier Cushcraft VHF beams were furnished with
small amounts of extra hardware, just in case you drop that critical screw
in the tall grass... These days, consider yourself lucky if all of the
hardware is in the bag, and nothing that cannot be locally replaced is
missing.
No need to be sorry for your comments... I, for one, value them quite
highly...
73, Larry - W1GOR
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Smith" <[email protected]>
To: "David S McCallum" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 21:11
Subject: Re: [Antennas] ANTENNA INFO
> Hi David,
>> I have the Cushcraft and it's a piece of junk. When I
> bought it, the first thing I noticed was the poor
> construction. Burrs on the tubing, aluminum chips all
> over everything in the box. The assembly was
> straightforward, but tuning it was a bear. I used one
> of the MFJ meters to tune it and was never able to get
> it to resonate the way it should. I use a local 2m
> repeater on 147 Mhz and run about a 3:1 SWR because
> the antenna won't go any lower.
>> Sorry to be critical of Cushcraft but, in my opinion,
> they have really slipped in the quality arena over the
> past 5 years. You'd be better off building a j-pole
> antenna from 1/2" copper tubing. I have one of those
> that I built for about 20,ドル and it really kicks butt.
>> Hope this helps.
>> 73 es gd DX,
>> Gary
> WA1TJB