MFJ 8-Band Cobweb VS Hy-Gain AV680 Comparison

So many people asked which antenna would I rather have and which one performs better. Well, this is a basic comparison on a day not so good for signals on the bands, but my take on antenna A vs antenna B. Your results may vary depending on YOUR installation height and location. The original videos of both cobweb antennas and the vertical are on my channel if you would like to get more information about each one of the antennas here.
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[@neilsheldon8355]

Hi Eric ... Just a note. That was an interesting video, and thank you for the comparison. The comparison would seem to be conclusive, however, there are differences between the two types of antennas, at least one is their polarization. Another one would be their angle of radiation. I haven't seen any published specifications on either antenna regarding the angle of radiation, but the difference in polarization is definitely different. With most horizontally polarized antennas, the angle of radiation is very different mounted at a low mounting height than it would be if it were mounted at a higher mounting height. Whereas, by comparison, the angle of radiation of a vertical antenna is affected more by it's ground plane than by mounting height. And, especially in your case, you could be skipping over a more local station with the vertical, but have a great QSO on the horizontal antenna at a low mounting height. (Similar to a NVIS antenna [NVIS - 'Near Vertical Incident Skywave' - something like a "Cloud Burner"]. So, in the A/B test, it would have also been very interesting to see what the difference would be if you were talking to someone in, say, Europe, rather than just closer to home. Thank you for all the info on the AV680 and the suggestions. (Did you ever figure out your 20 Meter problem?) My son and I are just building one. ... Hoping to have it in the air soon. 73 & DX! Neil K7WK

[@onnobeckerhof5790]

Very nice comparison. It would have been great if distance would have been taken into account. The take off angle of both antennas is different and hence distance (number of skip) becomes very important to compare.

[@jamespaton1708]

Although this is certainly a useful comparison, it must be noted that the feed points for the two antennas are quite different and therefore you will have a lot more ground loss for the vertical than the cobweb. It is still a useful comparison because it is much harder to get the vertical's feed point to be as high as the cobweb.

[@JonathanAdami]

Hey guys, polarisation is only important on ground waves, the ionosphere has a tendency to circular polarise. Anyway I'm happy to see this review, the vertical is kinda disappointing actually. I wanted to buy it but it seem like it'd have been a mistake! Thanks for the video!

[@millertime2976]

Thanks for making this video. I had narrowed down my search to these two antennas and you made the decision for me pretty easy!

[@oene43]

Horizontal compared with a vertical. Also depends of the other station.

[@KX4UL]

You made some valid points concerning the two antennas. Nice job. Since 80m on the vertical is really not very useful I'd go with the Cobweb. IMHO the Cob Web out performed the Vertical hands down. But again, where I live it is HOA controlled so, my current antenna options are a 37 foot 6-40m OCF Dipole in my 20'x20' garage attic or an MFJ 80m mag mount Ham-tenna on top of my van in the driveway. I seriously doubt I'll be earning my WAS award any time soon...lol!

[@vincentmckever5210]

And my cobweb is at 20 feet and all I can say is WOW! It is a loop and it is horizontal therefor it is going to have better noise to signal and the loop is a gain antenna Erick. N6OA/4

[@Ei2iP]

Stick up delta loop, cheaper and better. We have no idea where these stations are, so you'rejust listening to signal, and no idea if local or not... vertical will work further for longer dx .

[@dalemyers5096]

If the party being received is horizontal you'll hear them better on the cobweb. Although you can hear them somewhat on the vertical. sometimes the polarity can flipflop due to the atmosphere.

[@DaveBarnhart]

Hy-Gain specifically says the antenna should be mounted at least 8 feet above the ground. I'm sure your mounting it so low has a negative impact upon performance.

[@HamRadioConcepts]

But for the last year+. it has been superb in performance, and now testing this cobweb, outperforms the hy-gain. I have worked a lot of DX recently with that vertical.

[@dr.nunzio_improta]

You are very right !!!!

[@ssubaihi]

Thank U for such experiment and Effort , i Think Something wrong in the Switch or Cables , Yes i do agree it should be different But not such significant ! Beside the background Power Spans could emphasize or de_emphasize the radiation

[@NebukedNezzer]

An old ham saying. Vertical, works equally poor in all directions. vertical close to ground is going to be poor above 40m and good at 40 and lower. Inverted v is a good choice for 30 meters on down. I use a full wave horizontal loop for 80m. it works on 40 and 160 also but I get a bit more out of my 40 meter vertical on 40 and above. on 20-10m my horizontal beam on 40 foot tower works best.

[@PublicAccess26]

watched this on the almost smart-TV and wanted to come back and comment. the vert is going to transmit much better at low take off and reach out to DX better , but you may hear only local noise coming back , the cob web will work well for less then 1000 miles as at this low height its going to bounce off the ground and go straight up and come back down close almost like nvis . get the cobweb up a half wave length and it will reach out much better. you might also try turning down your RF gain and running the volume near full for a better s/n . 73

[@BartVanAllen]

And on 40 and lower turn off the pre-amp (in Yaesu that means turn the IPO on) to lower the noise floor and increase the signal to noise.

[@donaldsmith3048]

The high gain vertical is coming down in the next Hurricane.

[@anthonycosta1776]

And the cobweb will be standing.🤣

[@chalemi]

You should do a video on how to change screen colors on the 450.

[@BradSnyder1]

Excellent comparison Eric!

[@anthonycosta1776]

Tune the vertical for flat swr. The vertical will do much better on 20

[@MauriatOttolink]

Don't you get loads of QRN crap off those power lines?

[@denelson83]

I seem to recall you saying in a previous video that the 20-metre portion of the Hy-Gain vertical in this video was not properly tuned.

[@2012300]

I think you have confused the connectors on the switch. How is it possible for a vertical (Hy-Gain AV680) to have less band noise than an antenna with horizontal wires?

[@tomcruiser2407]

Great video thanks! Which antenna is better on the 10m band when transmitting, Cobwebb or the Vertical.

[@joelewis7941]

I think if you have the cobweb mounted horizontally like you do in your video it is actual a vertically polarized antenna. But so low to the ground it would have a pretty high take-off angle, especially on 40. The tremendous advantage is has is all that capture area from the full half-wave of wire. MFJ shows it mounted VERTICALLY - at 90 degrees from that, in their ads and drawings when they describe as horizontally polarized. That would make sense, since the old 6 meter halo and squalo mobile antennas were physically horizontal, but they were actually vertically poliarized antennas. 73 de KD4SR - Casselberry

[@toby000000]

That is incorrect - the cobweb is horizontal - never seen a picture of one mounted 90 degrees from that - think you are confused..

[@turtlekoff1]

Loving my Cobweb! Nice job as always Eric. 73

[@KX4UL]

Thanks for the A/B comparison. Interesting to see and hear the difference.

[@Ruben-8689]

I had work with verticals and dipole. I had noticed that you vertical antenna didn't had signal QSB. All the verticals allow receive long distances signals but with QSB. It is very notorious on all the band but in uppers is normally worst. Interesting video but something was wrong.

[@bradcfi2]

I like your style and have subscribed. I really want to get the cobweb. I worry about take off angles and working DX as my antenna would be no higher than 15 feet. Do you have any experience with DX. Maybe you can broadcast a FT8 signal and go to PSK Reporter and see what you get and let us know? Thanks, Brad N6GR

[@eduardopower5254]

In 40 you need to put the cobweb higher. Nice comparison. Thanks

[@johnarcher9480]

Seems more like the by gain is only quieter because it can’t hear very well to start.

[@BoboAthanassion]

Would you think, mounting the Cobweb on a chimney would work okay? If on my Chimney, the Cobweb would be roughly 20 feet high. About 5 feet above my roofs peak. And also, is there a certain position of the Cobweb that I would have to mount it like towards a particular direction?

[@WJ6FRadio]

Great comparison video! Unfortunately I am limited to vertical antennas. Look forward to your next video!

[@rl4795]

Eric... So, is the Cobweb Omni-Directional? And, I guess it doesn't need any ground, or Counterpoise... So, Just stick it up on a mast? Awesome. Great Videos, my Friend. KF4UTF - Robert

[@hoggif]

A kind of omni, I think simulations indicate about 3db down on side and less difference in front/back. No counterpoise needed, cobweb is basically a dipole that has been folded to almost a quare.

[@LegacyLost]

Gonna be up at Fox Lake for the Titusville Amateur Radio Club Tailgate swap this Sat morning... How accurate is it to have a antenna same polarization beyond line of sight doesn't the bounce change it beyond line of sight?There is one guy I hear consistent on 40 m K1KW up in Boston area ... Good comparison video as usual 73'

[@Chris.Schulz]

How reasonable would this be to pack up and take portable a few times a year? What would the tear down and setup time be (estimate). Could it be only partially torn down with wires left connected? I caught the part about 11ft, 22ft total. Thanks, Chris NR9Q

[@anthonymiller7992]

This is more of a vertical Vs horizontal. Doesn't matter what you run. To do a real comparison, you would have to compare it with another horizontal set at the same hight in order to keep the same ground distance which affects the capabilities of the antenna. Each band has a minimum hight requirement for optimal performance regardless of the type of antenna your running. 73's

[@richylad71]

Do the overhead power/phone lines (can’t tell which they are) (I’m from uk) by your garden have any effect on on your tx or Rx at all ? Rich

[@steelfabmechanic6545]

Hey Eric, are you not worried about RF exposure with the antennas that close to the ground??

[@peterbiltmark4221]

I have a Hustler 6BTV right now. It works ok, but I've been looking at the cobweb and hex web antennas as an alternative. I don't have a lot of room to work with either so looking at making the switch. I could put up a 15 or 20 foot pole pretty easy so... what do you think? Im really interested in how the MFJ-1848 works, any chance to get a review on that one??? Thanks for the great videos!

[@rreennommaann]

If you get that Cobweb up about 30 feet, the vertical will never come close and usually that's about as high as people put that vertical.

[@cobrasvt347]

How high do you have it now and after 2 years which one do you favor ?

[@edpetrovski6640]

Noisier? The cobweb is actually hearing more signal...including atmospheric and man made noise. According to your comparisons the vertical is functioning well as a dummy load. I saw an S1 go to an S9 on a few sigs. That's an 8 S unit difference...or about 48 db. Don't know about you, but the vertical would be my last choice.

[@sauroiu5asa696]

Hi all, I would rise up the AV-680 at least 8-9 feet above Grownd... Now It is too low..

[@RobPetty622]

He mentioned he could not because of the nearby power lines.

[@bpbass903]

Great vid

[@unitechmarine8076]

horizontal quieter than vertical?

[@grayhorse8855]

Thank you

[@Aleziss]

specs says 12' per side... I thought it was each side of the square... it's more like 15'-7" X 15'-7" square... that's quite big !

[@dxcluster2461]

Very nice Video TU ! Can ou give us an idea of the 1:2 SWR Bandwidth of the cobweb on the 8 bands ?

[@spacewx920]

I received an interesting email from MFJ regarding the SWR and bandwidth of the MFJ-1838 which I can hardly believe. Basically the answer to my questions is as follows "we do not have an advertised 2:1 bandwidth, only stated specifications are normally 1.2:1 or less on ALL bands, measured at 20 feet AGL. engineering says they scaled across the complete spectrum and were able to achieve that low swr."...

[@thormusique]

Excellent comparison, thanks!

[@2monkeyvideo]

Great comparison, thanks for that. Did you short the HighGain while switching to the Cobweb? I made the experiance that the Cobweb is not sensitive to environment like a gutter or other antennas (in this case like my fan dipole close to it while I needed to short the Cobweb to keep my dipole resonant.)

[@DaninVirginia]

Why leave the entire antenna switch out of the video??? You mention some of the switching but obviously switch between antennas several times without showing yourself turning the switch! Its do simple... well thanks for trying

[@MrAlphacallsign]

With all those wires your house yard looks like circo 🎪 hahaha

[@ondrejpovalac9811]

Hi, I am thinking about buying this antenna. I have a flat roof on my house so I would like to install it on top of my house on 10ft mast (max). Is the 10ft mast enough? What mast did you use? And please, can you provide EXACT dimensions of the assembled antenna? On MFJ page, there is mentioned, that the size is 12feet each side. Does it mean that the antenna is a square 12 x 12 feet or does it mean that each of the fibreglass spreaders is 12 feet which means it is 24feet total? Thanks a lot! 73 de Ondrej, OK2TOP

[@rl4795]

He said it was 11 feet from the middle of the antenna to the furthest spreader length... so 22 feet by 22 feet total, I would suppose.

[@Etherionix]

I wonder if anybody has made a cobweb antenna that is vertically polarized. Wonder how it would work.........

[@nateo200]

@Scott 1 Is that considered stacked or bayed if they are directed the same way but one vertical and one horizontal? Lol. Would be cool to put behind an RF transparent building with no chance of wind knocking it over lol

[@gregorgman]

Eric, I am going with the Cobweb, thanks for the video. I need to know, do I NEED to have an antenna analyzer in order to set up the Cobweb? that could be a deal breaker for me.....$$$$ Thank you,

[@LivePDOfficerInterviews]

Great video, thanks for the help.

[@potshot23]

The cobweb is quiet like my nvis wire at 10 feet..

[@edpetrovski6640]

Vertical is quieter? Yeah...because it's damn near deaf.

[@adrongarretson6195]

Just started a group on Facebook on regular Facebook it's called ham radio I'm trying to get people to get on it past the weird around this just ham radio spelled in lowercase or regular just spell it out and it's in groups

[@markanderson8066]

there are multiple ham radio groups already on FB.

[@reallybadaim118]

The vertical is excellent at picking up interference.

[@pmsecretary52]

you can use a lite weight rotor on the cob web it helps some times ...great demo....de w3les

[@Pieh0]

A cobweb is omni directional, so there's no point.

[@MauriatOttolink]

Lester Morrow. You're dead right... The Cobwebb (real original name) is unidirectional with some sharpish nulls. A rotator would allow you get out of a null or plant in on some QRM/QRN.

[@puglydoodle]

I would not recommend the AV680 to anyone. I got it based on your video along with others. Poor performance and poor support.

[@BenDover-wm7wf]

I don’t notice much difference.