I hear your disappointment, hope you got a replacement quickly! I got one of these now and works great, however I got a max 2000 and had to have that replaced because of a flaw as well:-(
I would have been pissed off Fred, my sections were straight as an arrow on mine, this should have been spotted several times in production to boxing. I was a Quality Assurance Inspector, starting with Atari Coin Opp. in Sunnyvale, & Milpitas, California. First, as a final Inspector, we insp.and played every game 100%, and the cabinets were inspected 100% before they got to the final assembly line. Not long after starting to work there, they put in a raised roller system with two main lines for the larger 6ft games. That would routinely put out 125 ea line 5 days a week. Plus a third line for the tabletop and shorter upright games. I eventually got into measurement ounce we opened up our own woodshop and worked my way to be the first article and tooling Inspector and worked with this cool old chap in Mech. Engineering from England that had worked for Rolls Royce. It was a real joy checking his work. His name was Bill; William E. Charters. [Happened across an Arari telephone directory online several years ago] this is how I got his full name. This was back in 1983 +/- UPDATE: YOU Responded to one of my posts a few weeks ago about the length of the top section of my A99 with lichens growing on it, They are still there and so is the A99 after going thru Hurricane Zeta's 100mph winds. Long Beach, ms. 2DX21 Mike 73's
Hi ya Fred I’ve got a 99 what frequency do you tune into. I’ve turned mine on the mid block (not the muppets) but have to the rings more towards the top of the thread and get about a 1.5 swr.
I orig did channel 20 UK FM. I also ended up with the rings near the top (its on a video on Fred1 somewhere). Recently ive tuned in on 27.305 and got the swr down to 1.2.
Quality Control must have been gone to the crapper. Two flaws is a bit extraordinary for sure. I suspect it was initially pulled and set aside and then somebody mistakenly matched it with two more sections. Either way, it is shagged and not a good QC assurance
I think i got a real duffer Andy. From a main UK seller as well. They did sort the problem quickly but that Antron had to wait a week or so before it went up. Been fine ever since.
It looks like solder that's got in the threads but that bent tube is terrible quality. I have a 20 year old original Antron and it's still working fine. I don't think the newer ones are as good and I had a few of the copies (Bandit etc.) back in the day and they were OK too as far as I remember. Who did you get it from and did they sort you out?
Yes someone else said that the older ones were better made. I think it came from Knights. Anyway they did send a new middle section asap and all was well in the end.
fredintheshed1 That's good. Some of the UK companies are terrible and they seem to be getting away with not upholding warranties. I returned a 6 month old Sirio mobile antenna to one and they just messed me about for a few weeks before they stopped replying to my messages. It wasn't cheap either but I don't think the quality was there to begin with. It had started to corrode showing it was poor quality alloy under the chrome instead of brass. I now use a cheap modulator that I modified slightly and it's just as good.
An easy fix with the correct tools.I have a friend who re-threaded a mobile mount for me & he did it in less than ten minutes in his shop.I have an Antron 99 that the same friend gave me a few years ago & it works great at just 30 ft to the base of the antenna on a telescopic mast pipe. {:>)
Yeah i have a tap and die set an could have re-threaded it myself but it was also as bent as a fiddlers elbow. As it was brand new i sent it back for a replacement which was perfect and the 99 has been working well ever since.
all the ones I have used never any probs I bought all of my A99 from knights and they check them so you get the right and the best deals been buying allot from radiozing and you get great deals there to but I have never seen one like that bent some quality control. I am getting another after xmass for static mobile and getting the ground plane kit to hope you get yours sorted and get some more great contacts and they work great on 10m as I am a ham to but I am not into it that side much I will add you to the group I run its full of like minded people like your self were all good lads take care 73s until next time
Their quality control is worthless. It's not the threads it's when it was soldered, the solder ran down and coated the threads. Same thing with mine. Had to re-tap the threads.
ya good point, it seen that later it was bent. Solarcon has been doing half ass jobs on the antennas these days, my imax is resonant at 28.380mhz and the tuning rings did nothing but wideband it a bit but I figure they are focusing on 10m now maybe....but those solder blobs where the wire is soldered to the section caps are not flush and on mine was not sealed properly and I'm sure water is getting in. My last Imax was 1.1:1 from 26.8 to 28 and never moved in the rain. I could'nt just piss away $100 to ship it back so I'm stuck with a lemon. Thanks solarcon!
Put some coax seal around the area that is not sealed & it will not leak in your lifetime or the lifetime of the antenna & it's a pretty cheap fix that will last.
Hi buddy, send it straight back. It definitely shouldn't be bent like that. They've obviously sold you a Friday one, that Fred isn't right as well, then normally pretty good aerials. I reckon the seller is just trying to get rid of some old duff stuff, or you might not have even checked, but definitely send it back. My friend.
Send it back buddy. It's definitely a Friday afternoon job, it shouldn't be bent like that and that's screw Fred is not right. Tell the seller to open the new one up and check it first, they are good aerial is just think you've got a dodgy one,
No problem mate. Sub to this one. This is where I will put up all the unedited straight off the camera rubbish. I had an email back and they are going to swap the mid and top sections tomorrow via the courier. He recons his checked the new ones and says they are normally good. We shall see.
knights are good...a99 i have has been up there 15yrs..top section failed last year. other than that no bother....solarcon dont make these its a tubing company in the usa now and they pay solarcon to use there name.
Looks like a fake! That wasn’t even close to a 99.......maybe a 39 😃 When you see obvious quality issues it really makes you wonder what it’s like inside. I’m not sure how old my 99 is but it’s getting pretty splintery. It still works well but I really should give it a coat of........well a coat of something. Fibreglass resin maybe?
Varnish does well. awlgrip works pretty good but expensive. I have an Antron 99 and before I put it up it's getting a coat of something, the gel coat just doesn't look well applied.
This is the latest video on the Antron 99 now with the FireUp kit. Its been working well for over a year now. th-cam.com/video/rWi8FJF4n-c/w-d-xo.html
When Fred gets in overalls that’s serious stuff 🔨🛠📡🔩🔧
I had to tap through a bunch of oversoldering. Took a while to get it to screw together bt I finally got it.
Never heard that expression before but did make me chuckle
Such an old vid now but i tell you i was right cheesed off at the time :-)
I use to hear about a co-phase harness available for A99, 18 feet apart. Anybody tried that
I had to re-tap two out of the four ground radial sockets with a 3/8 24 die.I feel your pain. rock on bro.
I hear your disappointment, hope you got a replacement quickly! I got one of these now and works great, however I got a max 2000 and had to have that replaced because of a flaw as well:-(
I would have been pissed off Fred, my sections were straight as an arrow on mine, this should have been spotted several times in production to boxing. I was a Quality Assurance Inspector, starting with Atari Coin Opp. in Sunnyvale, & Milpitas, California. First, as a final Inspector, we insp.and played every game 100%, and the cabinets were inspected 100% before they got to the final assembly line. Not long after starting to work there, they put in a raised roller system with two main lines for the larger 6ft games. That would routinely put out 125 ea line 5 days a week. Plus a third line for the tabletop and shorter upright games. I eventually got into measurement ounce we opened up our own woodshop and worked my way to be the first article and tooling Inspector and worked with this cool old chap in Mech. Engineering from England that had worked for Rolls Royce. It was a real joy checking his work. His name was Bill; William E. Charters. [Happened across an Arari telephone directory online several years ago] this is how I got his full name. This was back in 1983 +/-
UPDATE: YOU Responded to one of my posts a few weeks ago about the length of the top section of my A99 with lichens growing on it, They are still there and so is the A99 after going thru Hurricane Zeta's 100mph winds. Long Beach, ms. 2DX21 Mike 73's
Hi ya Fred I’ve got a 99 what frequency do you tune into. I’ve turned mine on the mid block (not the muppets) but have to the rings more towards the top of the thread and get about a 1.5 swr.
I orig did channel 20 UK FM. I also ended up with the rings near the top (its on a video on Fred1 somewhere). Recently ive tuned in on 27.305 and got the swr down to 1.2.
Quality Control must have been gone to the crapper. Two flaws is a bit extraordinary for sure. I suspect it was initially pulled and set aside and then somebody mistakenly matched it with two more sections. Either way, it is shagged and not a good QC assurance
I think i got a real duffer Andy. From a main UK seller as well. They did sort the problem quickly but that Antron had to wait a week or so before it went up. Been fine ever since.
never seen that or heard of that before..like everything else these day quality is slacking to keep costs low...a99 normaly are good.
Yes i was surprised. Its been fine ever since though and i get put very well.
take it you just re tapped it
No it was brand new and very bent. Knights took it back and sent a perfect section. Been very good since.
Does the bend cause issues? If it werent for the threading issues would you have sent it back still, newbie here trying to learn.
Yes i would have sent it right back with just the bend. It would have caused the whole antenna to be off center and less stable in higher winds.
It looks like solder that's got in the threads but that bent tube is terrible quality. I have a 20 year old original Antron and it's still working fine. I don't think the newer ones are as good and I had a few of the copies (Bandit etc.) back in the day and they were OK too as far as I remember.
Who did you get it from and did they sort you out?
Yes someone else said that the older ones were better made. I think it came from Knights. Anyway they did send a new middle section asap and all was well in the end.
fredintheshed1 That's good. Some of the UK companies are terrible and they seem to be getting away with not upholding warranties. I returned a 6 month old Sirio mobile antenna to one and they just messed me about for a few weeks before they stopped replying to my messages. It wasn't cheap either but I don't think the quality was there to begin with. It had started to corrode showing it was poor quality alloy under the chrome instead of brass.
I now use a cheap modulator that I modified slightly and it's just as good.
Yes cost cutting is a sign of the times. Shame really.
Hi Fred I think you might be the first bloke to read the instructions? 😃
Yeah i know it was very unlike me really.
Instructions need to be revised to say Step 1: Check the threads!
An easy fix with the correct tools.I have a friend who re-threaded a mobile mount for me & he did it in less than ten minutes in his shop.I have an Antron 99 that the same friend gave me a few years ago & it works great at just 30 ft to the base of the antenna on a telescopic mast pipe. {:>)
Yeah i have a tap and die set an could have re-threaded it myself but it was also as bent as a fiddlers elbow. As it was brand new i sent it back for a replacement which was perfect and the 99 has been working well ever since.
normaly this antenna come s with Rings between the parts
Looks like they sent you a return by mistake?
It may have been. There has been a fair few bad reports on build quality on the A99 in the past year or so.
who was the seller fred at least its sorted now
+stephen “quadrunner” hanson . I cant rem now Stephen. They were quick to sort it out though and recon it was rare to have one that bent.
all the ones I have used never any probs I bought all of my A99 from knights and they check them so you get the right and the best deals been buying allot from radiozing and you get great deals there to but I have never seen one like that bent some quality control. I am getting another after xmass for static mobile and getting the ground plane kit to hope you get yours sorted and get some more great contacts and they work great on 10m as I am a ham to but I am not into it that side much I will add you to the group I run its full of like minded people like your self were all good lads take care 73s until next time
+stephen “quadrunner” hanson Thanks Stephen. Radio people need to stick together. ;-)
Their quality control is worthless. It's not the threads it's when it was soldered, the solder ran down and coated the threads. Same thing with mine. Had to re-tap the threads.
Oh i see. I think i could have handled the threads if the pole had been straight. The replacement was fine and still up in 2017.
I had to do the same.
tap it out?
the other thing with solarcon is that fucking solder blob that isnt flush.
I might of done if it was second hand but as it was new i sent it back. It was bent as a fiddlers elbow as well :-(
ya good point, it seen that later it was bent.
Solarcon has been doing half ass jobs on the antennas these days, my imax is resonant at 28.380mhz and the tuning rings did nothing but wideband it a bit but I figure they are focusing on 10m now maybe....but those solder blobs where the wire is soldered to the section caps are not flush and on mine was not sealed properly and I'm sure water is getting in.
My last Imax was 1.1:1 from 26.8 to 28 and never moved in the rain.
I could'nt just piss away $100 to ship it back so I'm stuck with a lemon.
Thanks solarcon!
Put some coax seal around the area that is not sealed & it will not leak in your lifetime or the lifetime of the antenna & it's a pretty cheap fix that will last.
Hi buddy, send it straight back. It definitely shouldn't be bent like that. They've obviously sold you a Friday one, that Fred isn't right as well, then normally pretty good aerials. I reckon the seller is just trying to get rid of some old duff stuff, or you might not have even checked, but definitely send it back. My friend.
Is that Fred or Thread lol
Hi cliff. Its me Fred in the Shed. this is my try out channel for new ideas and tests.
Send it back
buddy. It's definitely a Friday afternoon job, it shouldn't be bent like that and that's screw Fred is not right. Tell the seller to open the new one up and check it first, they are good aerial is just think you've got a dodgy one,
That kinda money and that’s what you get 🤨 I run a Bandit 2. 1:1 match no problems and straight as an arrow.
By the way
I will not subscribe to this channel obviously you want to keep it private. If that's okay with you
No problem mate. Sub to this one. This is where I will put up all the unedited straight off the camera rubbish. I had an email back and they are going to swap the mid and top sections tomorrow via the courier. He recons his checked the new ones and says they are normally good. We shall see.
knights are good...a99 i have has been up there 15yrs..top section failed last year. other than that no bother....solarcon dont make these its a tubing company in the usa now and they pay solarcon to use there name.
Test comment 2
Test received 5+9 :-)
Test comment.
Looks like a fake!
That wasn’t even close to a 99.......maybe a 39 😃
When you see obvious quality issues it really makes you wonder what it’s like inside.
I’m not sure how old my 99 is but it’s getting pretty splintery. It still works well but I really should give it a coat of........well a coat of something.
Fibreglass resin maybe?
Varnish does well. awlgrip works pretty good but expensive. I have an Antron 99 and before I put it up it's getting a coat of something, the gel coat just doesn't look well applied.