I was recently given a Ringo Ranger. I downloaded the manual and found out
that I'm missing a radial kit. Is it needed? How can I cheaply home brew the
radial kit?

Randy ka4nma

You can buy the replacement (missing) parts direct from Cushcraft...at
least you could a few years ago when I odered some replacment parts for
my 6M yagi. I believe there was a version simply called the Ringo
(minus the Ranger part) which was just the antenna without any sort of
groundplane radials. You might just try using what you have and see
what the SWR is like and/or how well it works.

Scott
N0EDV


Theplanters95 wrote:

I was recently given a Ringo Ranger. I downloaded the manual and found out
that I'm missing a radial kit. Is it needed? How can I cheaply home brew the
radial kit?

Randy ka4nma

--
Scott
http://corbenflyer.tripod.com/
Building RV-4
Gotta Fly or Gonna Die

"Theplanters95" wrote in message
...
I was recently given a Ringo Ranger. I downloaded the manual and found out
that I'm missing a radial kit. Is it needed? How can I cheaply home brew
the
radial kit?

Randy ka4nma

Randy -

Scott is partially correct.

In the early 1970's Cushcraft introduced the "Ringo" series (AR-xxx) for a
number of VHF bands (10 meters, 6 meters, 222 MHz, 440 MHz) - both amateur
and commercial (business band).
http://www.cushcraft.com/support/pdf/951284.pdf

The "Ringo Ranger" series (ARX-xxx) was developed a couple of years later.
At first this antenna did NOT have the radials that you are missing.
http://www.cushcraft.com/support/pdf/951289.pdf

The "Ringo Ranger II" (ARX-xxxB) was introduced a number of years later
(late 1980s) and this model added the Radial Ring and radials at a fixed
distance below the Ranger.
http://www.cushcraft.com/support/pdf/951290.pdf

Greg
w9gb

"Theplanters95" wrote in message
...

I was recently given a Ringo Ranger. I downloaded the manual and found
out
that I'm missing a radial kit. Is it needed? How can I cheaply home brew
the
radial kit?

Randy ka4nma

I would imaging that your Ringo Ranger never had the radial kit, because it
is not a Ringo Ranger II. As Scott mentioned, you can purchase the specific
parts from Cushcraft to convert your Ringo Ranger to a Ringo Ranger II
(these part numbers can be found in the assembly / instruction manuals)

Cushcraft actually had a upgrade kit (specific parts as one order) in the
1970s and early 1980s -- for earlier Ringo buyers to "upgrade" their Ringo
models to the Ringo Ranger model.

w9gb

Randy:

I noticed nobody answered question 1.

When the original Ringo was introduced, performance reports were all over the map. Some worked fantastically well,
others fantastically poorly. It was finally discovered the difference was due to mast and feedline radiation.
Sometimes the lengths were right to radiate well, other times, the antenna radiation was canceled by unwanted from the
support and feed. So, the radial kit was added. Four radials just over a quarter wave (20 inches seems to work well),
but I don't recall the exact position on the antenna. Just below the feedpoint seems right, but I defer to CushCraft if
you can get the location from the Ranger II manual.

--
Crazy George
Remove N O and S P A M imbedded in return address
"Theplanters95" wrote in message ...
I was recently given a Ringo Ranger. I downloaded the manual and found out
that I'm missing a radial kit. Is it needed? How can I cheaply home brew the
radial kit?

Randy ka4nma

"Crazy George" wrote in message
...
Randy:

I noticed nobody answered question 1.

When the original Ringo was introduced, performance reports were all over
the map.
Some worked fantastically well, others fantastically poorly. It was
finally discovered the
difference was due to mast and feedline radiation. Sometimes the lengths
were right to radiate
well, other times, the antenna radiation was canceled by unwanted from the
support and feed. So, the radial kit was added. Four radials just over a
quarter wave
(20 inches seems to work well), but I don't recall the exact position on
the antenna.
Just below the feedpoint seems right, but I defer to CushCraft if you can
get the
location from the Ranger II manual.
--
Crazy George


CG & Randy -

Correct about the Ringo and original Ringo Ranger performance reports --
some lamented that it was the best dummy load Cushcraft ever built !
I liked mine, and actually used a Ringo Ranger at 200 feet hung upside down
(for proper radiation pattern) for a repeater's transmitting antenna in
1976 - with great results. We replaced it 2 years later -- with a heavy
duty commercial unit (that could take the wind abuse).

The Ranger II has a coax of specific length between the radial ring and
Ranger -- so that the distance of the radials is correct. This is covered in
the Ranger II manual.
http://www.cushcraft.com/support/pdf/951290.pdf

So, you have a standard Ringo Ranger and you can purchase the parts from
Cushcraft - IF you desire to upgrade it to the Ranger II model !!

Greg
w9gb

In article 6NWdd.225660$wV.134835@attbi_s54,
"w9gb" wrote:

The Ranger II has a coax of specific length between the radial ring and
Ranger -- so that the distance of the radials is correct. This is covered in
the Ranger II manual.
http://www.cushcraft.com/support/pdf/951290.pdf

So, you have a standard Ringo Ranger and you can purchase the parts from
Cushcraft - IF you desire to upgrade it to the Ranger II model !!

Greg
w9gb

Greg,

Thanks for posting the URL to the RR .pdf file. The Ringo Ranger
(standard) was the first ham gear I every purchased and it is still in
use today (27 years later).

Dick, aa5vu (the RR was purchased when I was wt7aan)

ospam (Theplanters95) wrote in message ...
I was recently given a Ringo Ranger. I downloaded the manual and found out
that I'm missing a radial kit. Is it needed? How can I cheaply home brew the
radial kit?

Randy ka4nma

Randy, I was once give a Ringo with the hairpin match and top part.
It had been through several typhoons and such. Anyway, I couldn't get
it to match as designed, so I gave it away. The ham I gave it to
threw away all of the extra stuff, and just used the bottom half of
the antenna and the ring "o" part. Worked great.

Don't give up if the radials are missing. You might be able to use
just the bottom half.

bb

If the radials are to decouple feedline radiation, then why wouldn't coax
coiled into a choke balun work? Maybe 6 or 10 turns at about 5 or 6 inches?

Randy

On 23 Oct 2004 04:27:21 GMT, ospam
(Theplanters95) wrote:

If the radials are to decouple feedline radiation, then why wouldn't coax
coiled into a choke balun work? Maybe 6 or 10 turns at about 5 or 6 inches?

Randy

You could give it a try and see how it works for you, definitely
simple to do. Just because Cushcraft uses the 1/4 wave coax & radials
doesn't make that the 'only' solution. Another possibility is a
ferrite balun; type 43 ferrite torroids with an ID to provide a snug
fit over the coax. This approach is shown on some of the variation of
the J-pole so if you do a search for that antenna you may find a
starting point for the number/size of the torroids.

Howard
KE6something or other