Ameritron RCS4 review

This review was posted to eHam.net back in February. I recently discovered that the problem was with the coax, so I posted an updated review. When eHam published the new one, the killed the old one. So here it is:

Bought the unit from HRO in November of 2009 and got it on the mast in time for SS. Initial configuration was Spi-Ro D-52 80/40 trap dipole on Port 4 (default port), Spi-Ro D-314 WARC trap dipole on Port 3, homebrew 10-m dipole on Port 2 and a cap (an actual Amphenol cap with a rubber seal and everything!) on Port 1.

Installed per directions and initial results were wonderful! Sometime in January, the antennas on Ports 2 and 4 went deaf and became non-resonant. I borrowed an MFJ analyzer and connected directly to the antennas in question, bypassing the switch. NTF. OK, so a switch issue? Swapped the two antennas and got the same results. Damn.

Called Ameritron, explained the situation, and they said to send it in.

A few weeks later it comes back. I grab the invoice out of the waybill pack and lo, and behold, tech says "NTF".

Nice.

Not.

Put it back up and get EXACTLY THE SAME RESULTS AS BEFORE. OK, so this time, I mix the antennas differently. And guess what? If I put the 40/80 on Port 3 and the WARC on Port 4 **it all works**.

I find that quite odd.

But it works.

Just watch out. :-)

If winter ever ends, I plan to try to use the remaining port for my KB6KQ 6-m loop. Hard to tell if the RCS-4 will work at 50 MHz, but plan to try. (RCS-4L docs include 6m, RCS-4 docs do not)