[Antennas] Old Cushcraft Satellite antenna

Wed Aug 20 20:00:45 EDT 2014

Billy,
Thanks for the pointer, I took a look and that antenna is very similar to what I am looking for, although it now comes only as a combined horizontal/vertical configuration and does not include the phasing cable assembly for circular polarization. I see they do make a power divider cable and stacking kit as options, but no phase delay line for circular polarization. Plus they only have the 148mhz version, with no similar version for 70cm/432. 
However, I decided I'd dig thru my collection of old manuals when I got home from work tonight and actually found my manual buried in there, along with a copy of the catalog I ordered from. So I now have all the information I was searching for.
Turns out my antenna is an A432-20T, part of a series of antennas Cushcraft made specifically for OSCAR use in the 1970's. The series was called the VHF TWIST group and consisted of 4 circularly polarized antennas as follows: A144-10T (144mhz with 5V/5H elements), an A144-20T, a 144-80QT and the antenna I was looking for data on, the A432-20T. All these antennas came complete with phasing harness and 90 degree phase delay line to switch from RHCP to LHCP. A complete package for OSCAR, just run a single coax feedline to your antenna, everything else you needed (antenna, phase/delay lines w/PL-259's attached, PL-259 coupler and tee connector) was provided as part of the Cushcraft antenna package. I'm wondering if the 144-80QT was really aimed at EME as it was a complete set of four 144-20T with booms etc for assembling in an H stack, 40 elements horizontal, 40 elements vertical and with the provide cables could be configured for direct feed or circularly polarized. 
My catalog is dated 1976, so it is closer to 40 years, than 20 years ago that I bought this.
Looking at the price list from this catalog, consider this:
The A144-10T was 32ドル.95 (I had one of these as part of my OSCAR station antenna)
The A144-20T was 47ドル.50 
The A144-80QT was 325ドル.00 (Imagine trying to build up a complete H stack of four 20 el beams with all cables except feed for that price today)
The A432-20T was 45ドル.00 (The other half of my OSCAR antenna system, the antenna I still have.) 
Remember, these prices included all phase/delay cables & connectors except for the actual feed line from radio to antenna.
Now, trying to build up the same antenna as my A432-20T from Cushcraft components today would look like this:
Two A430-11S antennas (one for horizontal, one for vertical) = 119ドル.95 each x 2 = 239ドル.90
plus One PD-2 cable set to feed the two antennas with one feed line = 69ドル.95 for a total of 309ドル.85.
And you still have to design and build a 90 degree phase delay line to get your circular polarization, although you also could stagger the two antennas by 1/4 wave and eliminate the delay line.
So basically it now costs a little less than twice what it did in 1976 when you figure in the cost of living (45ドル in 1976 = 190ドル in 2014) and 310ドル is a lot more than a 190ドル equivalent. So now I'm real glad I managed to keep my old A432-20T and found my manual!!! If I really stay into OSCAR I'll probably replace the A432-20T as it wasn't the greatest of antennas, but it did work and got me lots of contacts way back then.
73,
Paul W2EC
-----Original Message-----
From: Billy Cox [mailto:aa4nu at comcast.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2014 4:29 PM
To: Paul
Cc: Antennas at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Antennas] Old Cushcraft Satellite antenna
Hi Paul,
See if the link below helps.
http://www.cushcraftamateur.com/support.php?productid=A148-20T
73 de Billy, AA4NU
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul" <w2ec at bmjsports.com>
I have an old Cushcraft satellite antenna I've had probably 25 years. Took it down about 15 years ago to re-roof the house, finally getting around to reinstalling it for SAT work, but can't find the phasing harness. As I recall it was two pieces of 75 ohm coax and one piece of 50 ohm coax to establish the 90 degree out of face, since the elements on this antenna are close together, not spaced farther apart to create a physical out of phase condition. 

This antenna is for 70cm and consists of two 10 element yagis oriented in the horizontal and vertical plane. It is not the newer 11 element Cushcraft, but 10 elements, not 11.
Can anyone identify this antenna and maybe has a copy of the manual?
73,
Paul W2EC