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Reviews For: G4YKB Longwire HF Antenna

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : G4YKB Longwire HF Antenna
Reviews: 9MSRP: £50-£80
Description:
Compact (66 foot)Longwire Antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/qwam64/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0095
M6TVI Rating: 2017-11-10
perfect aerial for my location Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
took me less that 30 mins to get this up and running
works on all bands perfect.
very well packed and fast shipping by Yodel.
i have a small garden and this works as it should.
well worth the small cost for a great antenna
this is the one for me...a keeper!
GM0FSV Rating: 2015-10-16
Excellent Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Installed the G4YKB Longwire Antenna for the first time today, took all of 30 minutes. Mounted on my small tower it slopes from 20ft down to 7ft at the bottom of my garden. Done a quick check on my IC-7410 internal tuner and it tuned every band. Made 12 contacts on various bands and modes and recieved excellent reports every time so well pleased. Now looking forward to conditions improving and catching all that rare dx. Thank you Howard for this great Antenna.
M0MCI Rating: 2015-05-04
Excellent Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Only had this antenna for less than a week but has performed faultlessly. It was easy to install and tunes on every band via the internal tuner. The first time I used it in anger I worked Isreal, Kuwait, UAE and Japan all at 5/9 and all received at 5/9. I used a half size G5RV prior to this antenna which wasn't a patch on this long wire antenna. It would appear that if you can hear it you can work it .
M6NAE Rating: 2014-09-09
G4-YKB + YAESU FT450D Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have the yaesu ft450d. my first antenna was a half size g5rv but the would only tune on 20m and 10m with the radios internal atu..i borrowed a g4ykb antenna for a few days from a radio club member...well what a difference..
so i contacted Howard and bought a new g4ykb antenna to day 8/9/2014.i have installed the antenna and i must say it works a treat. my radio now tunes on every band including 6m...i now have worked over 10 stations with fanastic reports. all comenting 5+9 +++ this antenna is great i would highly recommend it....but this is my review ...you should buy one then you'll know the difference... last thing i only get a s2 of noise instead of s9 with a g5rv....thanks Howards...
M0GGK Rating: 2014-08-11
Amazing Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well
I bought this back in march i think, and since i moved QTH i had to wait until i then.
Howard is a really nice guy and very helpful, this is a excellent end fed wire.I am mainly CW op and QRP as well so this is amazing to use.I have had excellent reports and i am amazed how well this works. i have mine terminating in a tree up about 30 feet.
thanks howard..
G4UNB Rating: 2014-03-30
with 60 mtrs as well ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Having read with much interest other's reviews of Howards antenna, it struck me that as yet no-one has commented on the fact this antenna does tune also on the 5 mhz - 60 mtr band too, Let me just say i know howard the maker personally and he is a good friend of mine, but , this review is truthful and honest and i do not benefit in any way from it. However that being said; i have owned mine for about 4 years now, its been installed permanently outdoors throughout all this time and has performed 100% with no issues at all. All has been said already by others about it's performance on the other hf bands, and it does indeed work very well on 6 mtrs, but my experience on the 60 mtr ( 5 mhz band ) is also a pleasant one, i have had many contacts on said band and found to have received very favourable signal reports coming back my way. Mine is mounted just under my co-linear antenna and is up at 23 feet maximum, the other end of the wire is attached to a tree, i live in quite a low lying area also, i have several hf radios in my shack and each and every one finds no problem to tune the antenna on any particular band, so all in all this antenna works great, i know howard the maker ( g4ykb) is rightly pleased with his creation and gets many good reports on how they are performing. so it gets a true rating of 5/5 from me, thanks for reading my review and very 73 ! de G4UNB.
G8EWP Rating: 2013-12-16
Works Very Well Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This Antenna is definately in the category of 'Does what it says on the tin'. It consists of 66ft of wire and a black box, fully water-proofed, terminated in a standard PL259 socket for coax to feed down to the shack. It is supplied, ready to go, with a means of bracketing on to a pole up to 2 inches diameter with the 'U' bolt which is included with the antenna, it is also supplied with ready fitted insulators . Due to limited space and other issues my antenna is only mounted about 20ft above the ground and I am virtually at sea level. It is also quite near to buildings which is not ideal for any long wire. Even with these limitations this antenna works remarkable well on all bands from 160m to 10m. My normal set-up, from which I get most enjoyment, is QRP and consists of a Trio/Kenwood TS130V and a LDG Z100 auto-tuner. This antenna will tune to each band including WARC without hesitation . I have had many QSO's on all bands with stations in UK, most of Europe and the States. It also tunes perfectly with my Kenwood's TS570D built in tuner, which I use for top band. This antenna replaced a half-size G5RV which I had used for a number of years but due to it's limitations was not ideal. When I purchased the TS130V I wanted to expand on the number of bands I could work and this antenna seems to be the ideal choice. Although I use it QRP according to the maker G4YKB (Howard)it has been used at much higher powers without problems. If you have a limited space this Antenna is definately worth a try and won't break the bank.
G7JZD Rating: 2012-10-18
IT WORKS Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Must admit it does work on all bands, 160MTS to 6 MTS,My FT950 internal tuner tunes it in on all bands. And is very quiet antenna.Use to have a Carolina Windom 80 mtr antenna, it never realy worked.Must admit this antenna beats it hands down.
Signals on 40 mts and 80mts are at least 2 s points better,and a lot less background noise.
Will say i only use it on 40 mts and 80 mts,as i use a cobwebb antenna for 20 mts to 10 mts.
Plus it is a well made antenna.
Pleased i have purchased it.
MW0LDJ Rating: 2012-04-29
Worth Every Penny!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The G4YKB Longwire Antenna came to my attention whilst searching the net for any information on constructing a longwire for top band. The G4YKB was on eBay and the claims made by the builder of the G4YKB, Howard, made some impressive claims for its performance so I bought one out of general curiosity.
Having paid for the item, despatch was very swift and I received the antenna within a couple of days. Packaging was impressivly secure with foam and those annoying 20mm strips of shredded paper that get everywhere when you unpack the package. Annoying they are but guarantee the item arrived in the condition which it left the sender.
The first impression it made on me was the build quality, very well made indeed. The main housing is of high-strength ABS plastic and is sealed to privide (possibly) decades of protection against the (in)famous British weather.
The antenna wire is of the highest quality with all terminations sealed in heat-shrunk sleeves. The usual ABS dog-bone insulators are included ( x 2)as is a U-bolt ( x 1) for attaching to a mast up to 2" in diameter.
The antenna connection is of the SO-259 type, common to most HF antennas.
I am lucky enough to live on a non-working farm with acres of land surrounding me owned by friendly and ameniable sorts who are more than happy for me to trail hundreds of yards of wire about the place so I duly took my 12 metre portable mast with the antenna attached, raised it and guyed the whole lot safely. I ran the wire horizontaly in a straight, east-west configuration and attached the end to the apex of the barn. This gave a flat, 12 metre elevation. A simple earth was attached and we were away, job done in about 30 minutes.

My first impression on switching on my FT-1000MP was the low noise. No doubt due in part to my quiet location but in comparison with my full size G5RV, the G4YKB was a full 3db quieter on background noise. First QSOs were on the 20 metre band with 5/9+ reports from CT, DE, E, EI, LA, ES using 100watts.
During the excellent 20 metre opening on April 26th 2012 I also had a 5/9 report from PT (Brazil), TG (Guatemala) and a 5/8 report from the famously loud Adil A65EE in Dubai.
With a wire length of only 66 feet this is a longwire in name only but was starting to look very impressive indeed. Similar 5/9 reports were also easily gained on 12, 15, 40 and 80. I didnt use 10 metres as I have a dedicated vertical.
Now the main reason for my buying it in the first place, 160 metres.
My noise background here is usually a 5-6db from my wellbrook ALA 1530 active loop with the G4YKB giving a comparable reading. This is impressive in itself as the wellbrook is a famous for nulling background QRN/M. My FT-1000MP had no trouble tuning the G4YKB to 1.930Mhz although at 100 watts, it did set off our intruder alarm. This is in no way the fault of the antenna but due entirely to my 12 years old PIR units. Backing the power off to 40 watts did the trick and over about 2 hours I made about 20 QSLs on top band with mainly G/M stations but did get one 5/5 report from Holland.
Overall, this is a fantastic antenna. I didn't open the housing as it's sealed but wouldn't give any secrets away there anyway. My guess is there is a quality 9:1 balun in there. Whatever IS in there, it certainly does the job.
Top Band showed a tuned vSWR of 1:2:1 whilst 80, 40, 20, 17, 15 and 12 all tuned to a vSWR of 1:1:1.
The maker claims the antenna will tune from 160 metres to 6 metres and I have no doubt it will tune and give great results beyond 12 metres but I didn't test 6 as I don't have the capability to transmit at 50Mhz.
As the G4YKB is available on eBay at auction, expect to pay anything from £60-£90 for one but even at the top price, you will not be disappointed.
This antenna will suit anyone who wants to QSO on 160 and especially those who are stuck for space as the antenna also worked very well as a horizontal V and in an inverted L configuration.
It is so easy to set up that I will be using this antenna /P in preference to my Sirio 827 as it is lighter, easier to transport and set up and gives better performance.
M3/M6 operators will love this antenna too, I was getting excellent reports during the 20M lift from all the European stations mentioned above using only 6-8 watts.
This review is completely independant of G4YKB himself but even if I were being compensated for saying nice things about it, the review would be the same, a great wire antenna and a much valued addition to anyones antenna system
MW0 LDJ.