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Reviews For: AG6IF Talented Balun and Loop antenna

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : AG6IF Talented Balun and Loop antenna
Reviews: 16MSRP: $81
Description:
18g 126 foot, 8 inches of insulated wire with split ring
terminals on the ends.
Custom designed and built 2.5 to 1 Balun with SO239
connector.

The setup has been tweeked and tuned to work on 40 meters,
20 meters, 15 meters, and 10 meters (no tuner should be
needed, depending on your rig), and 80m, 12m, 17m, and 6
meters using a tuner.

I have included a picture showing the SWR and Theta sweep
for this antenna from 6mhz to 30mhz, which was made with an
AIM4170C analyzer.

This antenna has been hung and tuned, and tested, and is
ready for you to suspend from 3 trees, or 3 PVC pipes even,
and add your own coax.

If you are looking at this, you are probably a ham,
therefore, check my QRZ page for some diagrams and other
info. I have worked most of the
world on this little setup, with the longest being Kenya at
about 9,700 miles, using 40 watts.
I am running a triangle horizontal delta loop configuration
but you can hang a square if you like, My antenna height is
only 6 feet at the corners and 14 feet at the Balun.

I have been asked 'why dont I sell these?' So, here it is.

These are easily made using $25 or $30 dollars worth of
parts, but I spend about 2 hours constructing the Balun,
then I tune and test the antenna.
The balun works excellent with alternate loops wires also..
2m = 7 feet
10m = 32 feet
20m = 64 feet
40m = 127 feet
80m = 254 feet
160m = 508 feet

This listing includes the loop wire for a 40m installation.

$81 and free shipping in the USA.
73 from AG6IF
Product is in production
More Info: http://e-bay
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00164.9
AK9S Rating: 2014-12-14
Exceptional Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased the 40-meter (134-foot) version of the loop sky wire. When compared to my 27-foot elevated Zero Five vertical, the loop could not compete other than being significantly quieter on receive.

However, I added a random length of wire to the loop to achieve 233 feet, which resulted in a shortened 80-meter version of this antenna. Doing so changed everything - dramatically.

The loop will now often outperform the vertical on most bands, except 15M thru 10M. Performance on 80M is very good, although on 40M thru 17M, the loop performs superbly in both transmit and receive. This is by far the best wire antenna I have used in the last 20-years.

As reference, the loop is at 16-feet above ground and the base of the vertical is 18-feet over ground.

I run a maximum of 1 KW into the AG6IF talented balun and never had a problem during short QSO's. However, I did notice some saturation in the balun using the non-resonant loop during prolonged QSO's, resulting in my SWR's slowly increasing.

All said, highly recommended.
N2VRT Rating: 2014-07-13
Wow ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Finally got the AG6IF strung up into the trees ! Around 15 feet in the air. I mainly use 40 and 20 meters. The AG6IF out performs my MFJ 40 meter OCD and my G5RV noticeably ! Without the tuner, I get 1.3 SWR on 40 and around 1.2 SWR on 20 meters and excellent reports that I never received before like S9 ++. A great antenna ! Thanks !

Ed/N2EDY

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by N2VRT on 2014-07-06

Well after reviewing all the "hype" about this antenna, I took the plunge and bought a 40 meter loop version. As of now, I am still battling the trees trying to get a circular pattern with the antenna. This is going to take some time...

So the only review I can give to you for now, is several quick observations:

Quick delivery, well packaged, and the balun is built like a brick ( feces ) house. ( very well built inside as well as the outside).

Hopefully in the coming weekends, I will have the AG6IF up in the air and then I can grade the performance of the antenna and compare it to my MFJ OCF 40 meter dipole which I have been using for over 4 years. So far so good.

Until next time,

Ed/N2EDY
AG6VV Rating: 2013-12-25
It's the balun Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
In my opinion, the AG6IF Talented Balun is the best loop balun on the market. The secrete sauce is the 2.5:1 ratio. Typical full-wave loop resonant impedance is about 123 ohms, which works out very close to 2.5 times 50. That little detail makes all the difference!

I have made two full wave loops with this excellent balun and booth out performed any other matching scheme I have tried, including various types of feed lines, tuners and other "made for loop" baluns. A solid 5 rating...
W8BNL Rating: 2013-09-15
WOW is an understatement! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well - to say that I am absolutely blown away with this antenna would probably be an understatement. But I can't think of any other suitable accolades. All of the local (Great Lakes Area) HF Nets are being heard like never before and the other Net members have been asking me if I moved to a new QTH. The neighborhood where my remote is has some very noisy electric transformers - but I have been able to deal with it since it is mostly on 75 meters - 40 on down are very enjoyable. In fact - I was even more amazed when I put my call out to the Route 66 special event station in Albuquerque, NM and the guy came back on the first try - and that was on 17 meters. A few days later on 20 meters - I worked a guy in Mississippi who had just received his General ticket and was using the /AG identifier. I was his first HF contact and both of us were excited. This loop - even at only 22' AGL - is definitely not a "cloud warmer" - in fact - about an hour ago, I worked EA8YB in the Canary Islands on 17 meters with a 59+ signal. Wow - I was beginning to think that living in a mobile home park with no antennas allowed would spell the end of my HF activity. But thanks to a lot of research - and the fantastic product created by Jim AG6IF - I am back on the air!!! This is one antenna product that actually delivers and I will definitely be telling everyone I can about how well it works.
EI2HPB Rating: 2013-01-13
Great Antenna! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought the 40m (128ft) version with the 2.5:1 balun on ebay... construction of the balun is excellent and quality is top notch... I have a small garden and the loop is installed by using my tower to get the feed point up to about 28ft... the two corners of the delta are about 24ft in the air... I was using a resonant homebrew 1/2 wave dipole for 40m which was working very well for me... however the loop has out-performed the dipole right from the start both for contacts under the 1000 mile range but also its a much better DX antenna! I mainly use it on 40m but I have also made some nice contacts on 20m, 15m, 10m and surprise 17m... I use a simple MFJ 941C tuner to fine tune a nice flat SWR on all the mentioned bands... All in all I am very very happy with this antenna and would not hesitate to buy another.
WB8RJY Rating: 2012-09-12
BEST WIRE ANTENNA YET Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
THE FULL WAVE HORIZONTAL LOOP ANTENNA IS HAM RADIOS BEST KEPT SECRETE, I HAVE BEEN A HAM FOR 30 YEARS AND I JUST DISCOVERED IT. I BOUGHT THIS THING ON E-BAY FROM JIM, AG6IF. I HAVE A BRAND NEW OCF WINDOM UP AT 30 FEET WITH NEW COAX, 45 FT ONE LEG, 90 FT THE OTHER LEG.BEEN WORKING DX AND GETTING GOOD REPORTS FOR A MONTH (JUST GETTING BACK ON HF AFTER 25 YEARS)I PUT THIS ANTENNA UP AT 6 FEET AND PERFORMANCE WAS IDENTICAL TO THE WINDOM AT 30 FEET.I PUT HEAVIER WIRE ON IT , CENTER FED THE EAST LEG AND HOISTED IT UP TO 30 FEET IN A SQUARE CONFIG USING 4 PINE TREES.I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT I SAW. I LISTENED TO OVER 100 STATIONS IN AN HOURS TIME BOTH STATESIDE AND DX.ON EVERY SIGNAL, IF THEY WERE S3 ON THE WINDOM THEY WERE S9 ON THE LOOP !IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I EVER SAW MY S METER READ 20,30 AND 40 DB OVER S9 !THIS THING SHOULD BE PRODUCT OF THE YEAR.NOW THE BEST PART, THE SWR IS 1.2:1 ON 40, 20, 15 AND 10 METERS !!!I CAN SELL MY EXPENSIVE TUNER !I CAN HEAR STATIONS ON THE LOOP THAT DONT EXIST ON THE WINDOM.IT IS ALSO THE QUIETEST ANTENNA I HAVE EVER TRIED.THIS GUY HAS DONE HIS HOMEWORK !!HE ALSO IS QUICK TO ANSWER ANY E MAILS.
JEFF WB8RJY.......