Tom,

My Ultralite Senior has been up with no center support since the spring of 
2004, and survived quite well until it broke last year.  The instructions 
recommend that you install the antenna with a center support, but I haven't 
figured out a practical way to do that here so I just don't worry about it. 
You've heard me on 40 and 20, so you know what kind of a signal I have.  My 
only complaint with this antenna is that I don't think it performs well 
above 20 meters, but that's probably the fault of the installation.  I 
haven't tried it on 160 because it's a bit hard to tune; again, it might 
work better if I could raise the center.  Nevertheless, the antenna is quite 
well made, and has held up through several New England winters.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 08:26
Subject: Re: Cobra antennas


> You can support the center, it's probably a good idea but it's such a 
> light
> antenna, my friend with 2 of them has one just hanging by the ends and 
> with
> New England winters it's been that way for about 7 years now.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 7:03 AM
> Subject: Re: Cobra antennas
>
>
>> John:
>>
>> How do you support it at the center, or is that not required?
>>
>> Just thinking about my situation here, and ease or difficulty of
>> installation.
>>
>> Tom Behler; KB8TYJ
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 11:04 PM
>> Subject: Re: Cobra antennas
>>
>>
>>> The cobra ultralite has 2 or 3 versions, I've used the Sr. which is 140
>>> feet
>>> long and loved it, I really wish I had room for it here but I don't. The
>>> Jr.
>>> is the same thing but shorter, I forget by how much and doesn't cover
>>> 160,
>>> it covers through 80 and I'd imagine works great. I do know a couple
>>> people
>>> running them and they like them, it's a little pricier than some but if 
>>> I
>>> had the money I'd probably try the shorter one here based on how much I
>>> liked the big one. It's fed with ladder line and you really can't 
>>> shorten
>>> the ladder line by much, a little won't hurt but you have to make figure
>>> 8's
>>> if the ladder line is too long. I think it's 70 feet of ladder line 
>>> which
>>> would be another issue where I am now but I ran that in almost to the
>>> radio
>>> where I used to live and that's so far the best antenna I've ever used. 
>>> I
>>> can't see why the shorter one wouldn't be just as good for what it does.
>>> I
>>> had one, a friend of mine who turned me on to them actually has 2 up, 
>>> one
>>> pointing north and south, one going east to west, a friend who helped me
>>> put
>>> mine up went out and bought one because he liked it and he's very happy
>>> with
>>> it, and I know of several others running them. So far I've only heard of
>>> one
>>> breaking and that was installer's error, they are well made and really
>>> perform, I even did an A/B test with my old G5RV and it blew the G5RV
>>> away
>>> noticeably. I can't say enough good things about it.
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 9:22 PM
>>> Subject: Cobra antennas
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi, all.
>>>>
>>>> Please forgive me, since I know this antenna  has been discussed on the
>>>> list
>>>> before in various forms.  But, I am needing some basic info from the
>>>> perspective of someone who has actually used one.
>>>>
>>>> Here's the deal:
>>>>
>>>> As some of you know, for reasons I can't quite understand, I have been
>>>> having trouble getting my W8AMZ 80-meter half sloper to work well on 80
>>>> meters.  The SWR's for most of the band are at least 3 or 4 to 1, 
>>>> except
>>>> for
>>>> about 100  KHZ between 3.850 and 3.950,  where they are below 2.1 to 1.
>>>> Based on the better luck I'm having with the 160-meter sloper made by
>>>> the
>>>> same company, I'm convinced that there is either something wrong with
>>>> the
>>>> antenna, or something in my installation that is throwing things off.
>>>> Tom
>>>> (W8AMZ) himself has actually volunteered to come to my home QTH 
>>>> sometime
>>>> to
>>>> try to assess things.  He is about an hour and a half from me, so it's 
>>>> a
>>>> trip that will have to be planned by him when he has the free time.
>>>>
>>>> Since I'm not sure when that trip will occur, I'm thinking about other
>>>> alternative antennas that might be easily put up  and relatively
>>>> inexpensive.  I don't have a lot of room to put up another antenna, but
>>>> I
>>>> probably could handle  an antenna that was approximately 100 feet in
>>>> length.
>>>> Again, my main band of concern is 80 meters.
>>>>
>>>> I believe that some folks on here have used an antenna called the 
>>>> Cobra,
>>>> or
>>>> Cobra Lite.  If you have used this antenna, could you please describe 
>>>> it
>>>> to
>>>> me, tell me how you put it up, state any special installation
>>>> considerations
>>>> I might need to take into account, and tell me whether it worked well 
>>>> on
>>>> 80
>>>> meters?
>>>>
>>>> I am not sure of the price of that type of antenna, but I'm sure I 
>>>> could
>>>> get
>>>> that info from the Cobra web site via a google search.
>>>>
>>>> I simply don't want to spend money on yet another antenna, unless I 
>>>> have
>>>> some assurance from someone who has actually used it, that the antenna
>>>> might
>>>> be a good alternative for me.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks, and 73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>>>
>