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write your own review of the SuperAntennas.com.
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M0GGH
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 5, 2008 20:13
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probably works but...
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I was never able to try it. I sure purchased one from Waters, however I have 'accidentally' received the item which has been terribly misused before, so I was not able to put the antenna together. There was hardly any thread left on the elements, so it did not fit the coil openings. The dealer argued that antenna was shipped new (instead of apology) which I did not fancy at all. At least not in $500 price tag situation. I wish there was some sort of speedy way to buy directly from manufacturer. Buyers be aware, 60-70% of all NEW ham gear purchased from certain dealers, might be used or played with. And Yes, of course I have the photographs, even a few fellow hams to confirm the antenna condition upon arrival. Would I buy again? Yes, all I need is to figure out where and how.
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KE7HTQ
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 25, 2007 19:33
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works but...
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought the antenna used a few weeks ago. It was a deal I couldn't miss for just a little more than $100.
I tried it on 20m and couldn't bring the min SWR below 14.540MHz with the element fully extended. With the suggested dimension the lowest SWR (above 2:1) was at 14.87MHz. Still I was able to contact a mobile station on 14.242MHz near Seattle (WA) from Phoenix (AZ), with only 10w and the antenna 6 ft above the ground.
Email to Superantenna remained to this day unanswered and the phone number on the web site is answered by a fax.
WV4R suggested that maybe the coils were burned and shorted.
When I measured the 'red' coils I found that I had 2 different sets of values. Today I tried again and put the coils with the highest inductance in the driver element and the lowest one in the reflector.
Now the resonance with the factory recommended settings is 14,28MHz with an SWR of 1.1 : 1.
The propagation was very poor today but I had a QSO with a station near Atlanta (GA). This time the antenna was 7.5 ft above the ground in the back yard, turned in the wrong direction and I was running 100w.The other station was running 1KW.
Overall I think it is a very good design and it seems to work very well once the coil problem was discovered. Still I wish that the manufacturer would reply on emails and have a phone that is answered when customers are calling.
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W3SRL
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 18, 2003 23:04
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Awesome performance
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I purchased the YP-2 just prior to our NP2SH DXpedition to St. John, USVI with the idea that it would make a good backup antenna if needed. Small, light, portable and it covers 20-2 meters.
With the trip looming just two weeks away, I emailed Superantennas and Vern phoned to assure me that the antenna had shipped that day. Sure enough, the YP-2 arrived a few days later, and I reshipped it to the Caribbean.
Well, the advance element of the NP2SH trip ended up using the YP-2 as the primary 10-meter beam when the primary antenna didn't work out as planned. in less than a half hour the crew had the YP-2 up and on the air for the first time, with EXCELLENT signal reports stateside and into Europe, South America, Asia and the Far East.
In the 8+ days of operation, we logged almost 3000 QSOs in our mini-dxpedition, with a significant number of them being on 10- and 15- meters. Without a doubt, the YP-2 is an excellent performer. Good side-lobe nulls and front-to-back performance along with a nice, light and compact form factor combined to make this antenna a winner!
The downsides are few, but they are worth mentioning here: The laminated cards supplied that show the necessary element dimensions for the various bands were somewhat confusing, and inaccurate. We ended up lowering the beam several times to prune it to resonance when the suplied measurements didn't work. Second, for $360 US, a choke balun should be part of the package. 10 turns of coax works, but a balun would have been neater.
Overall rating: Something slightly less than a 5.0 due to the price, and the small nits I picked above. Performance-wise, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a portable HF antenna that performas and travels as well as the YP-2. This antenna is a winner, and now that we're home I can't wait to try it out with my FT-817 on QRP!
de W3SRL
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WV4R
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 17, 2003 04:46
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2-ele, 6-band, 7-pounds, 3-foot dufflebag... Amazing!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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“YP2” SuperAntenna Portable 2-element Portable Yagi Beam ships in an embroidered 3-foot by about 6-inch black nylon duffle with double handles And shoulder strap… quite impressive. Inside the parts look to be good quality… even the aluminum which is stamped “T6” with all kinds of velcro strapping and pockets fer parts… even a tape measure and plastic assembly cards are provided! Assembly is pretty goof proof.
The YP2 is a direct coax match design but a current balun is recommended. I bought their recommendation from The Wireman made with coax fittings on Each end to mate with the coax fitting on the driven element. I assembled mine fer 17m since it is a narrow band, would use their Hi-Q coils and I felt it would test their claims. Thank goodness my test tower has a 1.75inch mast.
I put YP2 up on my test tower at 42-feet and it performed like they claimed… about 12db F/B. Real good Front/Side rejection was seen and heard with Deep nulls at least 5-S units in my on-air tests on Both RX/TX… in short it spins and plays like any short 2-element yagi. I have no way of measuring Forward Gain so I switched between all my other antennas for other bands and it did appear to have comparably good Q and the Front Lobe was understandably about 60-degrees wide as it slipped into that deep F/S notch.
Put MFJ-259B Antenna Analyzer on it and SWR was 1.5 @ 18.14mhz with 52ohm impedence using W2DU current balun from Wireman and some New Beldon 9913 to shack.
GOOD: Good quality, lightweight, fits in 3-foot duffle, works any ONE band per setup from 6-20m, a breeze to setup without any tools except for wrench to tighten 1.75inch mast/boom bracket and Provided flousescent-colored tape measure to … well Measure! According to my ole kitchen scale, it weighed in around 9-pounds With the Optional balun in the bag.
BAD: The double stainless spring/snap boom extension design has no real Positive Lock to keep elements aligned parallel in a Real high wind fer example. It could Possibly go just a bit catty-wompus in a typhoon, instructions in small print and hard to read in the field fer ole tired eyes, Pricey? @ $360.
OVERALL: It has to git the WV4R “4” rating fer quality, size, weight, performance… and Super Portability!
73 es God bless, murf/wv4r.
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