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