AD5VM |
Rating:   |
2023-04-16 | |
I don’t get it. |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
So I understand the concept of noise canceling by adding the noise from a second antenna, matching the amplitude and then phase shifting until the two signals are 180 out… subtracting the noise from the signal. I’ve owned the MFJ-1026 as well as the Timewave ANC-4 and they were both, intuitive, easy to use and effective… one gain knob which ONLY affects the gain of a preamp on the noise antenna… then a phase knob which adjust the phase relationship of the noise wrt to the main antenna… super easy to use.. bring up the gain till you just hear the noise start to increase (that tells you your noise signal is now slightly higher than your main signal) then Back it off a hair… (now the amplitudes are somewhat matched) then turn the single phase knob till the noise disappears.
The Wimo unit has two phase knobs??!? Why? So the two signals can chase each other around in the time domain?! And then there is one gain knob that just seems to be an attenuator for your main antenna or both antennas, I can’t really tell. Like the previous reviewer said “just turn the knobs till the noise is gone”. Right... I’m gonna sell it and buy another Timewave. |
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NN2X |
Rating:      |
2021-12-21 | |
Miracle! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
My Second review
I recently purchase the Yasue FTDX 10...With the display, I can easily adjust for best C/N...(Rather than Hearing best C/N (When I used my old rig that had no display). This is perfect combination....
Yes, Indeed a miracle for me, as I can't have any QSO without it..The WIMO 26000 is taking down 20/9 noise from Solar panels from my three neighbors..Also needed is a real RFI Antenna, (I used DX 33 FT, POLE, AND 40-10 SWL PAR)...The cancelation can only work, if the RFI antenna can produce similar strength, otherwise no matter what canceling unit you use, it will not work, unless a good RFI Antenna...
Feedback on WIMO / 26000
One word, Miracle!
My Noise was 20/9 noise and now completely vanished!
Actually below zero..No noise..Turn knobs until gone, presto...Miracle work..
I am using DX Commander, vertical (10-40), and there is noise from Neighbor (Solar Panel Power)
I used a SWL (End fed) covering the same bands as my main antenna (40/30/20/17/15/12/10) (DX Commander) /This was the second antenna (For the RFI Antenna)
I purchased a mast from DX Commander (SOTA) to support the RFI antenna (10M / 33FT..) Weighs, 1.5Lbps (Maybe)
Anyway, Noise vanished, completely gone...Turn knobs until gone...Very simple to operator And effective
Without this WiMo Unit, I would had sold all the Ham equipment.
NN2X/ Tom
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OE3SGU |
Rating:   |
2021-12-20 | |
very effictive, but patience required |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Update of my initial review: Performancewise very good, but building and craftmanship lacks. Imho too fragile, knobs are easily worn out etc.Mine has been on repair several times, and repairs can be pretty expensive.
Don't get fooled by the headline of the review-topic: The unit is called 'WIMO QRM-Eliminator' and has nothing to do with the 'Ezitune' from the same great company which is a very useful tuning-aid. The QRM-eliminator is very effictive but needs a lot of fiddling around and patience. You also need to find out which reception-arial is best to use for the particular noise. I live in the 8th floor of a huge living-compound (630 flats in total) and naturally have to deal with varous noise from unlimitles sources. While my IC-7600 has a very effictive NB that eliminates most pulse noise etc. on 40 meters the QRM-eliminator really shines when used with my TS-480HX. Now if there was a QRM-eliminator that eliminates automatically by the push of a button I would rate this product a 10. |
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5Z4J |
Rating:      |
2021-01-17 | |
This is a keeper |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought the MFJ-1026 several years ago to reduce or eliminate the noise that seems to get worse every year as more and more cheap Chinese devices flood the market and spew EMI all over the bands. I was not too happy with the MFJ-1026 - it worked, sort of, but often the null point on the tuning appeared to be at a point beyond where the phasing knob could reach. It appeared that it could not do a full 180 degree of phase reduction - I would just start to see a drop in noise where the knob was at full rotation. It also regularly blew the pilot safety lamp inside the unit.
Forward to 2021, I have now been living in Kenya several years, and I get a lot of EMI from neighbours, although I live on a 6 acre property. I have long considered the WIMO QRM ELIMINATOR, wondering if the German Engineering was any better.
I purchased and imported the WIMO late 2020 from DXEngineering in the USA. It is small, really small and compact, almost pocket size. I installed a 30 ft long wire "noise antenna". I installed it at low height - 8 ft just high enough so nobody could walk into it. I Installed it low, because I wanted maximum noise and minimum DX signal being picked up by the noise antenna. I ran the wire in the direction of the noisy EMI neighbours. This unit is great, and I have it permanently inline. For the times when there is noise on the bands, the adjustment is very quick and very effective. I am able to drop S9 noise down to less than S2 in most cases, making the DX easy to hear and improving the SNR dramatically.
I don't like to reduce the gain on the main antenna (otherwise you may as well just use an attenuator). So I always keep the main antenna at max gain, and adjust the phasing of the noise antenna from there. It allows for a full 180 degree of phase adjustment. Noisy bands on my IC-7300 bandscope, turn to a nice dark blue colour on the waterfall, and the noise level on the S meter plummets down to a very low level on the S meter when the WIMO is correctly adjusted, leaving just the wanted DX signals on the band at their same level
When I really like a product, I always buy two of them. For this reason, I will buy a second WIMO, as I would hate to be without one if something happens to my existing one. A must have in any suburban location.
Don't expect the noise blanker or DNF in your rig to eliminate the noise. The noise is already in your rig, and most of the time all these do is try to mask the noise, cutting out the highs, dulling the noise. To eliminate noise effectively, you need to stop the noise BEFORE it enters the rig. This can either be done by switching off the power to your neighbourhood :) LOL or by using one of these WIMO devices to phase out the noise. DXEngineering make one, which I have no doubt works very well, but is outrageously expensive. WIMO is both cheap and effective.
ADDED: The key to this unit being effective, is FIRST understanding where your noise is coming from. BEFORE you install your "noise antenna", establish where the source of most of the noise is coming from. I walked my property with an IC-705 for the receiver, and a small whip antenna. An AM radio will also work. I found most of the noise came from neighbours to the south of my property. This is why I ran a low height wire in that direction to use as my "noise pickup antenna". I used a dipole centre insulator that the noise antenna is connected to. On the shield side of the dipole centre insulator, I just dropped a short 6 ft counterpoise hanging down. I don't think this makes much difference, but the connection point was there, so I just added a very short counterpoise.
ADDED: Connecting the WIMO is simple if you have a modern rig with RCA connectors for the TX switching. Simply connect an RCA to RCA cable from the WIMO to your TX/PTT relay jack on the back of your rig. For extra safety and caution, with my IC-7300 I also go into the menu and adjust the TXD (transmit delay) to maximum which is 30 ms. This gives peace of mind that the WIMO has gone into bypass before any RF power goes through the WIMO. Then connect your noise antenna and main antenna to the WIMO |
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W6UXB |
Rating:     |
2020-02-05 | |
Works pretty good, but not great |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After using this device for the last 2 months or so, I can say it is something I will keep in my shack but it is not the panacea of all RFI problems. First I had to find the best auxiliary antenna, ended up settling on a wire attached to a 22 foot copper gutter I have on my garage/shack, secondly I found I could only get a deep null if I turned down the gain control to almost zero, I then turned up the gain so I could hear the signal, bypassing it shows there is a definite improvement in using this device to increase readability. Keeper until I get a loop receiving antenna! |
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N2EIO |
Rating:      |
2019-12-26 | |
Good product |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This is a first-impressions review, and my impressions are very positive. First of all, the current version looks quite different than the eHam picture. Look at a current ad. (It looks much nicer now!) I worried that it might be hard to use, and maybe not very effective. Wrong on both counts. I comes with a one-page "manual" that seemed a little sparse on information. It actually covers what you need, which is a clue that operation is pretty straight-forward. It took all of about 30 minutes to set up, and most of that was preparing a PTT cable. A cable is supplied with an RCA connector on one end for the WiMo unit, but nothing on the other end. I had to solder another RCA connector to the other end for my Icom transceiver. Likewise there is a supplied 12V power cord that only has a connector for the WiMo unit on one end. The unit installs between the transceiver and antenna, with an additional connector for the "auxiliary" antenna. So you will need a short coax jumper. It can handle 200 watts directly, and if you use an amplifier, the WiMo goes between the transceiver and the amp. The WiMo is bypassed by turning it off. It turns out that most RF noise is local, so you don't need much for the auxiliary antenna. In fact, you don't want much as you will phase out the desired signal if it is on both antennas. Now, I've powered it up. Is it hard to adjust? No! Start with the three knobs in the middle position and adjust the phase knobs one at a time for less noise. Then do the same with the gain knob. There is some interaction between the knobs, but not enough to make adjustments difficult. You can get close the first time around, then tweak a little more if you like. At the time of my first test, I had S8 noise on 20 meters. In seconds the Wimo had it down below S1. First try! You may see the desired signal reduced also, but much less than the noise. There were signals below the noise that I couldn't hear at all with the WiMo off that were completely readable with it on. After listening around and contacts on different bands I could see there are many variations in band, signal and noise conditions that affect how well the Wimo works. You will do a little Wimo tweaking on each contact to get the signal and noise "just right". Tweaking is easy. If you are familiar with high noise levels, WiMo could be for you. Excellent product. My only gripe was having to find and solder an RCA connector on the PTT cable. Small potatoes. |
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SM2OTU |
Rating:      |
2018-02-27 | |
Wow! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have some local interference on many bands that comes periodically. It makes 80/40/30 impossible to work if signals are weak. So I gave this a try. I must say, it works exactly as in the demo video available on www.wimo.de. And I just use an electrical wire about 10 m long out from the shack and right now located on the snow outdoors. (1 m snow and minus 20C when I installed it so made it easy)
Quite easy to to tune. If you have a waterfall on your radio you can see the improvement. Just listen with your ears too and do not get fooled by the S-meter. After a moment of practice it takes a few seconds to tune. |
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BILZIN |
Rating:      |
2014-12-08 | |
What did I do before ? |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Had my Wimo just over a week now, and have to admit that although I am fairly new to DXing, I really was considering giving HF a miss due to the massive (S9) QRM at my QTH. There was no need to worry as this device has cleaned up my incoming signals in a fantastic fashion (S9 - S1 or less) and now I have made contacts that were impossible before.
Full marks to Wimo for this invaluable piece of kit that is now a permanent resident of my shack (shelf unit)
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SA3AYF |
Rating:      |
2014-01-12 | |
Very useful ! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I live in a suburban area in a 3 story apartement building and have S9 QRM, produced by everything from TV-sets to ventilation fans and various powersupplies and chargers.
It takes a while to "get the hang" of adjusting, but when you do, this unit works almost like magic!
The unit is connected in-line with the antenna in question and has a PTT connector in the back that switches the unit to bypass when you TX.
I am honestly suprised by the resuls and, for the price, I warmly recommend this product to everyone suffering from local QRM. |
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