A-99 CB Base Station Antenna

I purchased this Solarcon A-99 antenna from Amazon on July 5th, 2019 for $68. After being out of CB for 45 years, I decided to get back into radio. I passed my technician, general and extra exams and became an amateur radio operator in 2022. Out of curiosity, I thought I would experiment by mounting this A-99 antenna about 20 ft. up in a tree and see what it could do. Boy was I in for a great surprise! Most shocking of all was this A-99 tunes in 10 meters, 11 meters, 12 meters, 15 meters and 17 meters as well. I have contacted and spoken to people all over the world using this simple and inexpensive antenna. Every state in North America, many countries in South America, Europe, Central America, South Pacific, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and the list goes on and on and on. And all for $68? Kinda hard to beat that. As you can see, I mounted this A-99 about 20 ft. up in a tree. If you paint the fiberglass vertical with a non-metallic green paint, it is nearly totally stealth. We have repeatedly experienced winds of 30-75 mph here for the last two years...this A-99 takes a lickin' and just keeps on tickin'. This Solarcon A-99 has some tuning rings on the base so you can fine tune it to various frequencies. I set the tuning rings all the way to the top. I was totally shocked to discover this Solarcon A-99 has low SWR for most of 10 and 11 meters... yes, 1:1 at 26.9 MHz-27.4 MHz. The SWR begins to rise when you get up into the 28 MHz's, but it still works well all the way up into the 29 MHz's. I recently discovered the exciting world of FM at 29 MHz and this A-99 works wonders on FM. You will need an antenna tuner for 15 and 17 meters. I was totally blown away after speaking to people all over the world on 15 and 17 meters with this antenna. People tell me I should not run excessive power on 15 and 17 meters, so I stick with the Yaesu FT DX 10 at one hundred watts and have never had a problem on those bands. On 10 meters, people tell me this A-99 can accept 1000+ watts. I have only tried it up to 800 watts and have never had a problem. I am not sure why the price on this antenna has more than doubled in the last year or so. I am not sure if it is worth the $175 asking price. I am totally convinced the $68 I paid for this new antenna in 2019 on Amazon was totally worth it. Last, I hear many people get 10-20 years of use out of the Solarcon A-99. But some people complain about the fiberglass degrading. The cure for this challenge is super simple: coat the fiberglass with a non-metallic paint and you will be good to go for many, many years to come. 73's to all! UPDATE: Here it is, 2026 and this Antron A-99 is still going strong as can be. I watched it bend over nearly 180 degrees in 85+ mph wind storm, and it seemed to smile and say, give me more! I have used it for hours with 800-1000 watts on 10 meters and it just keeps kicking butt. I did take it down, sand it, apply a good primer paint, and then some of Behr's best paint and I believe it is good to go for many more years. A big hint: I raised this Antron A-99 up another 10 ft. to a total of nearly 30 feet to the base of the antenna and it radically improved both the transmit and receive abilities. Seems to work almost twice as good as before. If you plan on using this antenna on 10 or 11 meters, 35 ft. up or more will optimize this antenna in a marvelous way.

Great antenna! Easy to assemble pre tuned very good sat! Very good instructions, quality built!,,

Piece of cake to raise. SWRs were great from the get-go. Mounted it on a 21 ft mast. Opened up a whole new world of DXing for me. Wish I had bought this antenna first. Next stop, in the future, a directional antenna.

I don't often write reviews on Amazon.....I usually only do so when I really have something to say, or a strong point to make. Prior to purchasing this antenna from Amazon, I did a lot of research. I wanted something that would pull in CB well, so that I might have an opportunity to work skip on CB SSB. When I read some reviews that stated that the Solarcon A-99 Base Antenna would also work with some shortwave and ham bands, I was intrigued. I 've been a shortwave listener since the late 70's. I've used a number of radios/receivers and am currently using an ICOM 751A Transceiver and a new Grundig Satellite 750. I also am using a Galaxy DX 959 mobile CB with SSB for my base. I want to be clear that I am writing this review primarily to talk about the A-99's performance on shortwave.....I realize that most people will not be purchasing it for that, but it's a huge bonus to have an antenna that not only works well with CB (which it does) but also with shortwave. I am really sort of puzzled at the negative reviews with this antenna from writers who say that it is simply a CB antenna and nothing more. I do not work for, and I am not affiliated with Amazon or Solarcon. I work at a Child Abuse Intervention Center in Oregon and have nothing to gain by writing this review. I simply want to speak the truth about my experiences with the A-99. Those who say it does not work with ham or shortwave are simply not accurate. Either they are not using the antenna correctly, or they are not giving the antenna a fair shake. I want to be crystal clear......the A-99 works wonderfully from 25 meters down to 11 (CB bands). I am pulling in stations that I have not heard for a long time from all over the world. I live on the Oregon coast, so much of my late night/ early morning activity is from Asia and Europe and Australia. But the majority of stations that I am receiving are clear and audible. The A-99 has also functioned well for me on 31 meters and 49 meters, but not quite as well as the aforementioned bands. I live in a community that has HOA's so I am limited on what I can do as far as the bylaws are concerned. I'm not allowed to mount an antenna of this type on the roof, etc. I mounted the antenna onto a hardwood wooden dowel. I attached the dowel onto a metal stake that you would use to prop small trees up......and then I placed it into a metal garbage can filled to the brim with dirt and sand. It makes for a stable platform and since we get a lot of wind at times on the coast, I wanted to make sure it would handle that. The A-99 is at the back of my house and not visible from the road. It's about four to five feet above the roof peak, and about 40 feet into the air overall. That was the best I could do for height, but I am very pleased with the results. I have not had much opportunity to work CB skip yet; I've only had the antenna for about five days, but again.....I'm mainly writing this to make it clear that it will handle shortwave frequencies. I'm studying for my ham license and I plan to make this antenna my primary source of signal. I use it in conjunction with a MFJ -95E mobile tuner and it works well. I recognize that there are better antennas for shortwave listening. But my point is this.....if you are looking for an antenna that works on both CB and SW/Ham.....I'm not kidding.....you should give the Solarcon A-99 a good look. I'm super happy with my antenna and the very pleasant surprise that it has provided. I gave it five stars simply because it's so much more than "just a CB antenna". Scott Snyder Coos Bay, Oregon

Works great and easy to put up. SWAR is great.

A great quality Antenna. I haven't actually put it up yet, waiting for my new Coax Cable to arrive. I did check the Antenna out and it arrived in Great shape. Checked out to make sure that all the threads were good and they were.

It’s outstanding and was shipped very good! I had to paint it black to hide it from HOA!! Yes I used the right paint. Out of the box my SWR’s are below 1.1 talks great! Highly recommended!!

This is my second Antron 99 I have owned over the years. Overall I am quite happy with it and recommend it highly, especially if you are installing by yourself and if a larger, heavier antenna is impractical. Pros: Made in USA- It's nice to know there are still some​ locally manufactured products that are true staples of the market. The Antron 99 has been a go-to antenna for years and it's made "right around the corner". Lightweight- Though measuring in at nearly 18' the antenna only weighs a few pounds and is easily maneuverable and installable for one person. Sweet spot- The relatively low price of the antenna gives it incredible value. The Antron has taken a back seat to the newer and better selling Imax 2000, which sells for much more-almost double from some vendors. Form factor: The end fed vertical design is what you are paying for. You can certainly purchase or make your own ground plane antenna to outperform this one, but the simple, lightweight and unobtrusive outline of this antenna makes it easy, convenient and less of an eyesore than some of the larger high performance aluminum ground planes. Performance- The Antron seems to be in the ballpark with most other base antennas on the market. I have owned 3 different vertical base antenna models over the years and I never observed a dramatic difference between any of them. SWR was flat on​ the lower 20 and 1.3:1 on channel 40 out of the box. My first night with this unit, I made contacts 50 miles away in a neighboring state, on LSB. Cons: Claims of 9.9dbi gain- (DB gain over an isotropic radiator). 9.9 Dbi gain is just false, bad advertising, and insulting to consumers. Somewhat fragile in some situations- Two design flaws have plagued this antenna since its inception; the coating is susceptible to UV photodegradation, and the topmost section tends to fail in extreme wind. Each installation is unique, and each antenna will have its own lifespan based on a variety of factors, but these 2 manufacturing details could be improved. Separate ground plane kit- It's exorbitantly expensive (60% of the price of the antenna) and Solarcon provides no documented scientific trials proving its viability. Anecdotal testimonials all give varying degrees of praise or criticism, but without some actual evidence from the manufacturer, or even recommendations for certain installation situations, it appears more as an iffy investment at best and a cash grab at worst. Some owners claim it does nothing at all, others​ say it gives reduced TVI, some say it improves receive only and still others claim all around performance improvement. I have no opinion, since I have never owned the kit. From what little I know about antenna design, since the Antron is a 1/2 wave over 1/4 wave design, it would appear that the ground plane kit should ideally feature 1/4 wave, 107" elevated radials, (which it does not; its radials are only 72 inches). The desired effect of the ground plane is apparently to decouple the vertical element from the coax and mast, and to optimize the radiation angle. To me, it sounds like adding such a kit could theoretically change the entire design of the antenna from an end fed vertical dipole into more of an actual ground plane antenna. Poor documentation- Solarcon should take a page out of the Wilson 1000 handbook and provide some decent instructions, recommendations and scientific trials for their customers. Supposedly high loss design- The Antron utilizes a tuning coil at the base which is adjustable to provide a good match, yet which is a relatively inefficient design compared to the more simple and elegant ground plane antennas which should offer less loss and better performance albeit at a higher price point and larger form factor. Recommended overall, based on value, convenient form factor and acceptable performance.