I helped a friend assemble one of these back in the day, was a PIA ( compared to a Archer 5/8) wow that antenna was a good performer. He would talk across the Salt Lake valley with authority. I use 00 steel wool and old shotgun cleaning brushes to clean the inside joints. then clear coat with rust-Oleum spray. Works good, lasts for years and will not affect SRWs. That will look good in place of your old Droopy radials GP........... Cheers
Thanks for stopping by. I use a rolled up length of crocus cloth to clean the inside of the joints, but your method sounds pretty thorough to me. Back in the days when Pittsburgh was a smoky city I used to silicone and clear cost my antennas, but antennas stay shiny for years now. I'll probably wait until hamfest season ends in September, because at an earlier fest there was an original Hy-Gain Long John 5 element beam for sale that I should have bought.
Ok, so we put it up yesterday, and it's bandwidth at 25 feet is much narrower than it was at 10 feet. But, after reading around, the 2:1 bandwidth is about 1.2 MHz, and mine is a little bit better than that. Shrinking the length four inches raised the sweet spot to the SSB portion of the 40 channels. Channel 1 is 1.3:1, and the SWR doesn't get over 2 (11% loss) until you get into the 10 meter band. The AT-250 tuner brings it down, and I have a 300 watt MFJ tuner to use with the Siltronix. The spotted lanternflies loved the Super Magnum! Like barflies, they would begin landing on the radials and crawling up the radiator around noon, after their eye-opener they proceed to bomb my pool! The skimmer was almost full of them! Testing the Penetrator with a friend saw no difference, but a station in a neighboring county picked up two S-units on a Courier Centurion 40D. Time will tell.
i remember in the 1970s and 1980s this was the antenna to have. Even the RADIO SHACK version. Which I believe was just a relabeling. I dont know how the SIRIO version compares. The original was rated at 1500watts PEP but we ran 2kw in to them.
i remember in the 1970s and 1980s this was the antenna to have. Even the RADIO SHACK version. Which I believe was just a relabeling. I dont know how the SIRIO version compares. The original was rated at 1500watts PEP but we ran 2kw in to them.
That is not a ORIGINAL SPT-500. That is the RE-ISSUED MFJ one. The original Hy-Gain SPT-500 had 2 holes where the radial hud attached to the base. The MFJ RE-ISSUED only has one hole to attach the radials to the base. I have the Hy-gain super penetrator 500 up for over 50+ years.
I beg to differ with you. The radials are held in the radial clamp bracket by two bolts instead of one. The radial clamp brackets are fastened through the insulator by three bolts. The new ones have two section radials where the original has three section radials. The original is NOT a "SPT-500". That's the MFJ model number. My other video shows a genuine Hy-Gain catalog and it called "Super CLR", or "The Penetrator", and the order number was 500.
The radials are 108" and the vertical radiator is 22' 9.5". That's the original measurement from 1972, when there were only 23 channels. For 40 channel operation shorten it by 4 inches.
Its good to see a original,thanks for showing us buddy…👍
No problem 👍
I helped a friend assemble one of these back in the day, was a PIA ( compared to a Archer 5/8) wow that antenna was a good performer. He would talk across the Salt Lake valley with authority.
I use 00 steel wool and old shotgun cleaning brushes to clean the inside joints. then clear coat with rust-Oleum spray. Works good, lasts for years and will not affect SRWs.
That will look good in place of your old Droopy radials GP........... Cheers
Thanks for stopping by. I use a rolled up length of crocus cloth to clean the inside of the joints, but your method sounds pretty thorough to me. Back in the days when Pittsburgh was a smoky city I used to silicone and clear cost my antennas, but antennas stay shiny for years now.
I'll probably wait until hamfest season ends in September, because at an earlier fest there was an original Hy-Gain Long John 5 element beam for sale that I should have bought.
Ok, so we put it up yesterday, and it's bandwidth at 25 feet is much narrower than it was at 10 feet. But, after reading around, the 2:1 bandwidth is about 1.2 MHz, and mine is a little bit better than that.
Shrinking the length four inches raised the sweet spot to the SSB portion of the 40 channels. Channel 1 is 1.3:1, and the SWR doesn't get over 2 (11% loss) until you get into the 10 meter band. The AT-250 tuner brings it down, and I have a 300 watt MFJ tuner to use with the Siltronix.
The spotted lanternflies loved the Super Magnum! Like barflies, they would begin landing on the radials and crawling up the radiator around noon, after their eye-opener they proceed to bomb my pool! The skimmer was almost full of them!
Testing the Penetrator with a friend saw no difference, but a station in a neighboring county picked up two S-units on a Courier Centurion 40D. Time will tell.
i remember in the 1970s and 1980s this was the antenna to have. Even the RADIO SHACK version. Which I believe was just a relabeling. I dont know how the SIRIO version compares. The original was rated at 1500watts PEP but we ran 2kw in to them.
i remember in the 1970s and 1980s this was the antenna to have. Even the RADIO SHACK version. Which I believe was just a relabeling. I dont know how the SIRIO version compares. The original was rated at 1500watts PEP but we ran 2kw in to them.
That is not a ORIGINAL SPT-500. That is the RE-ISSUED MFJ one. The original Hy-Gain SPT-500 had 2 holes where the radial hud attached to the base. The MFJ RE-ISSUED only has one hole to attach the radials to the base. I have the Hy-gain super penetrator 500 up for over 50+ years.
I beg to differ with you. The radials are held in the radial clamp bracket by two bolts instead of one. The radial clamp brackets are fastened through the insulator by three bolts. The new ones have two section radials where the original has three section radials.
The original is NOT a "SPT-500". That's the MFJ model number. My other video shows a genuine Hy-Gain catalog and it called "Super CLR", or "The Penetrator", and the order number was 500.
Could you please send me the measurements for this antenna
The radials are 108" and the vertical radiator is 22' 9.5". That's the original measurement from 1972, when there were only 23 channels. For 40 channel operation shorten it by 4 inches.
The original instructions are available from online sources too.
He sounds like Wilford grimly.
I kinda look like him, too. 😅