Sigma Venom Silver Hot Rod 5/8 wave (tinkering)

I ordered one of these Sigma Venom 5/8 wave and I got to say over my Imax 2000 that had a factory defect. I feel  almost back in the 80's.  I had a Radio Shack Crossbow64 back then, and of corse the conditions were crazy back then.  I also aquired the Rigexprt 35zoom about a yr ago,  then just had to get  the Nano VNA, the rigexprt has now quit working and out of warrenty...oh well...  any who, I took the seeming silly 3 short radials off the Sigma,  added 2) maco V1500 Ground plane hubs and running 8 radials. Seems I changed the take off angle a little more tah I should have. Works "ok" for local, but shines even better when DX is in...  I should note on the tune of the Sigma for the USA possable buyer,  they tune 1.0 :1 swr @50ohms around 27.500/600 in stock form. With the ground radials, it seemed to "widen" the  low SWR range. I'd say a good 60/70 Channel spread. Impedance does change a bit when you get awat from  your "sweet spot" of a tune. But nothing crazy. I get Snow, Ice, Wind, Rain,  here at my location. Last winter, I thought I lost it, wind and sleet made for heavy ice build up and a serious "lean".  Took it down and got the "kinks" out and back together...  Tower may go up soon, my climbing abilities are fading. May have to resort back to a imax 2000 a top of the 4el LFA. Just have to see.  This cycle 25 so far, has been a great awakening and  a re kindle of those ol  1980's days on air. Antenna theory hasn't changed though. 73 2CT351.

It does seem you can't go wrong with the original Silver Rod style antenna at times, I have just made several Short Skip contacts with my half wave Ringo vertical and I am pleased to say that included several Charlie Tango stations.  Great bandwidth and not so noisy when the weather isn't so great either I notice over the fiberglass antennas.

The Venoms do work ok, but I feel that the quality of them is far inferior to Silver rods of old. I had one and sent it back because it didn't feel like it would withstand much of a blow, and the way that the joints were cut made it feel pretty poorly made.

Currently I have a Sirio GPE 27 5/8 and the build quality and materials are far better, plus at the time it only cost a few quid more.

The venom could be useful for portable DX due to its light weight, the sirio is over 1kg heavier due to being made from thicker material.

We could say that for alot of the "re-made" antennas of the past.  I fully agree this Sigma isn't stout like some of the old GP antennas of the past.  We have high winds around twice a year, Fall into Winter (now) and Winter into Spring. Its already got a "lean" to it at only 20ft off the ground. It's rebuildable.  a few times anyways. Once the tower goes up and the 4el LFA I may have to resort to  a 1/4 wave vertical or go back to Fiberglass. Not a big deal I guess to leave the DX work to the LFA.

hi anyone converted the old gp 27 5/6 sections as a hf multiband vertical maybe with a balun i bought a 5 section vertical gp27 looking with an un un balun on is base i have found it has an intermitent fault i payed 100 pounds for it i think if i convert the old type gp 27 for a lot less thanks for looking paul m0bd 73s