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Reviews For: CHAMELEON EMCOMM II

Category: Antennas: HF Portable (not mobile)

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Review Summary For : CHAMELEON EMCOMM II
Reviews: 36MSRP: 125
Description:
Portable (or Base Station) HF Antenna
1.8-54 MHz

The CHA EMCOMM II Antenna has been specially designed for backup
emergency HF system or permanent installation.

It is the perfect backup antenna for apartments, condominiums, homeowners
associations, deed restrictions and CCRs (Covenants, Conditions &
Restrictions), ARES, RACES, MARS, EMCOMM, NVIS, First Responders and
especially for Emergency Preparedness.

The unit is totally waterproof. The antenna is 60’ long and covers 6M to
160M. An external tuner is required.

The antenna will perform very well with a sloper or an inverted “V”
configuration. For a NVIS configuration (40M – 80M) the antenna must be
installed horizontally with the ground and elevated between 9’ and 12’ high.

The CHA EMCOMM II do not required any ground- plane.

Specifications:
Frequency: 6M - 160M
Power: 500W SSB
RF Connection: PL-259
VSWR: Subject to configuration
Length: 60’
Weight: 1 Lb.
Mounting Configuration: None

The antenna system consists of:

1 X CHA EMCOMM II matching box 1 X 60’ wire
Product is in production
More Info: http://chameleonantenna.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00365
K5ACL Rating: 2015-12-24
First DX - great antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm a new ham, and have had some relative difficulty living in an HOA, but recently purchased the EMCOMM II antenna from DXengineering. Finally.... after 2 months of being licensed as a General, I got my first DX! From South Padre Island, TX to Sweden! Not to mention that conditions have been less than stellar last few days. As suggested by the instructions, I hooked up a 60' piece of ground wire to the transformer, and placed the EMCOMM II in a sloper configuration, using 100w, reception with this antenna was amazing! Construction is amazing, transformer already survived a 6 foot fall to concrete without a scratch!

Definitely recommend this antenna, the only thing I might change would be the mounting options. I may very well use this antenna at home for a base station antenna, but mounting it seems a bit odd, unless your hanging it from something.
K7VLX Rating: 2015-12-14
Easy up for a new ham. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm a retired broadcast contract tech, but a relatively new ham, just now getting on the air.

I was looking for an easy 'up', broadband antenna that works well to pair with a FlexRadio Flex-1500 QRP rig and LDG Z-100+ autotuner. I read the reviews here and elsewhere and settled on this entry-level SDR and well-regarded antenna as a combo to get my feet wet.

The EMCOMMII went up in about an hour as an inverted L working with the feedpoint just above a metal roof, with a length of PVC for the vertical section, an old DirecTV dish mount to get it in the air, and a tree at the far end. The horizontal section is at about 25'. I was impressed with the ease of deployment, and Chameleon's build quality.

Early experience with this antenna is that it's effective: quieter on receive than either the 65' sloping wire or the short vertical antenna I've been using for SWL, and first contacts indicate I'm getting out very well.

I planned an introduction to HF and the hobby that would be easy and have great returns, and the EMCOMMII delivers.
W1OFS Rating: 2015-11-11
Great for base station use Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm using the EMCOMM II as my base station set-up. It's currently configured as a sloper.

I'm in a small urban yard and the EMCOMM II is almost invisible running from my porch to the top of a tree in the backyard.
PA0NON Rating: 2015-11-09
Exelent antenna for 5 MHz Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I,m using this antenna for 5 MHz Emcomm communication in the field. Easy to use, durable.

With my Yaesu FT-857 and an LDG antennatuner its a "peace of cake".

73, Jan PA7O
K6BAA Rating: 2015-11-08
ARES Ready Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought the antenna for ARES deployments. Set up during a field training exercise. Sloping 12' to a ground stake with a 60' counterpoise. Immediately made 40 m contacts western US and 20 m into Japan from N California during average conditions 1400 hrs. local. Compact and easy to put in a deployment bag. Antenna is well constructed and designed for adverse conditions as expected during field operations.
KD4EBL Rating: 2015-10-22
Great antenna, great results Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
First time I used a Chameleon Product. I added a dedicated antenna for my JT65 and JT9 operations. I have it 5 feet in the air off of my back patio. Great Results!
VE4DL Rating: 2015-10-21
60 feet and big performance! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
60 feet and big ears? Who would have thought such a thing could happen!!
After a nearly 11 year hiatus from Amateur Radio, I decided to update my call after moving to Manitoba from Alberta Canada. When looking at antenna options, I was torn between a loop (40m) or a simple wire antenna, as my HOA has several restrictions and the lot also has issues, such as trees, which could interfere. After some deliberation and reviewing the other reports here on eHam.net, I decided to try the EMComm II antenna.

Carl was most helpful with several possible configurations of this antenna, and I finally decided on a simple 25 degree sloper off a 30 foot fiberglass mast, running NNE/SSW, with the feed at the SW end on the lower portion.

I have not even had this antenna a month yet and all I can say is... WOW! THis antenna gives big signals on the bands for what it is. Who would ever have thought I'd be reaching half way around the world, from The Pacific Islands to The Azores off the coast of Africa, and deep into S. America!

I get routinely 57-59 reports from the Carribean, 56 into western Europe (when bands permit) and even a 51 with heavy - and I mean heavy! QSB on 12m working a mobile station on the big island of Hawaii! All on 100W or less. Amazing.

Carl and his design group have done an excellent job designing this simple antenna to work well. It is very well made, all but invisible in daytime, and the Balun and choke system together with a good ground make this antenna radiate very effectively!

The key to success for me is two fold: one, the antenna should have a decent ground system, and I work off an elaborate radial counterpoise that is grounded in several spots on the property. Easy to hide those wires! Two, make sure that whatever you drive this with, that your modulation is good without distortion - that really goes for any system, but I find that the comments I am getting during heavy QSB fadeouts is that my signal holds right to the noise floor with Q5 copy. So, I thnk that this combination of good ground, and proper modulation techniques is a key to the huge successes I have had so far.

Less than a month, and I have over 100 contacts from Portugal, Azores, Cuba, Venezuela, Southern Brazil, Hawaii, and more! All from the heart of N. America: Manitoba! I think that this really says something about how well this antenna works!!!

I have two friends also returning to the hobby, and the EMComm II for one fellow and an additional choice of loop for the other is in their workings getting back on the air!

If you ever need a good, reliable, and simple antenna that works well, and is easy to hide and setup, the Chameleon EMComm II is a superb choice!!

I am looking forward to spending many cold winter nights at the radio logging warm locales from the confort of my chair! Thanks again Carl!

73 de Darren, VE4DL
Winnipeg, MB Canada
KG7QKY Rating: 2015-10-16
Great Antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Due to my HOA, I chose this antenna as my base antenna as it was 'easy to hide'.

It went up very quickly and easily (I have mine set as a sloper at about 25' off the ground with a counterpoise), and I was on the air in no time. I was easily picking up Hawaii, Mexico, the Gulf Coast, and the Philippines shortly after powering up. My latest passion is Winmor WL2K. I was able to reach out a few states away on 2.5 watts (I am using this with and FT-817ND) sending email/packet data.

I am so impressed with the function of this antenna, if I can talk the wife into it, I will be purchasing a Skyloop as well. I would definitely suggest this antenna to anyone that wants an easy to set up and use EMCOMM or base antenna.
AC2KV Rating: 2015-10-02
Great Antenna! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Update:

Since my original review I've been able to make multiple JT9 contacts to Japan and Asiatic Russia on 20 meters. I'm going to try adding some ground radials to see if it will make this antenna even better!


I've been using the Emcomm II for about 18 months now and it has been a great performer.

Using it primarily on 20, 30 & 40 meters I have worked all continents and have used it a lot for JT65 and WSPRnet.

With WSPR running about 2 watts I've been spotted in Australia multiple times, (a 10,000 mile shot from my QTH in NY), and have also made JT65 contacts in Antarctica.

Very easy setup. I've got mine configured as a sloper, running up 40 feet or so to a tree in my backyard.

The Emcomm II would be a great primary or backup antenna, especially for folks that have to deal with community antenna restrictions as the black wire is difficult to see from more than a short distance away.
N6OG Rating: 2015-10-01
Very Quiet Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used the EMCOMM II for a couple of years now. I added 43' to the length of the antenna, raised it to 12' off the ground horizontal and fine it extremely good on all bands, and the quietest antenna I own.