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Reviews For: LNR Precision EF-QUAD

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : LNR Precision EF-QUAD
Reviews: 20MSRP: $125
Description:
End Fed resonant antenna for 40,20,15,10m 65ft long.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.lnrprecision.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00204.8
K5LOL Rating: 2021-11-15
Shunts not UV Resistant Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned the EF-QUAD for 6 years as my primary HF antenna at my QTH. I have a very strict HOA so it blended in well and the first 2-3 years it worked as advertised. But this year, I noticed that the middle shunt had come loose and slid down the wire. Upon inspection, it appears that the plastic connectors that they use to attach the shunts are not (or were not at the time I purchased the antenna) UV resistant. All three of the shunts need to be replaced which is not a huge effort other than an old man having to climb out on the roof to take down the antenna. My expectation was to get at least 10 years out of a wire antenna. It would be nice if the shunts could be designed using a different material that would have more endurance to UV rays.
KI4QYI Rating: 2020-09-06
rf on coax at 15m Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am surprised no other reviewers experienced problems with RF on the coax getting back into the shack. My EF-Quad tunes up on 40/20/15/10 just as expected but the 15 meter portion is sometimes unusable due to loud buzzing when transmitting at 10 watts on my KX2. I have about 125 ft of RG8/X running to the coupler about 16 feet up on a painter pole, the other end at 30 feet to a tree. The antenna is all in the open running beside my house and across the back yard. The buzz seems to disappear when the grass is wet from dew or rain. About 25 feet of coax lies in the grass. Connecting the 100 foot run directly to the coupler with little coax touching the ground always results in feedback. My Par 40/20 QRP antenna has never experienced this problem nor my many dipoles with no baluns. A homebrew choke balun may be in my future. Still like this well built antenna and may try a half wave length wire to the coupler for a mono band end fed.
DEANQ Rating: 2019-07-25
4 Band Resonant Atenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have it 30' up in a horizontal configuration. Hears great and I have no problems getting out. I wasn't as lucky as some of the other reviewers. I had to trim all the bands except 15M. 40M was trimmed about 9". All bands were tuned to match the published SWR graphs on their website using an antenna analyzer. Pretty impressive! Pretty good for running barefoot (100W) power.
N7AG Rating: 2019-01-10
Trustworthy Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Of Dale makes it, you can trust it works as advertised.
K7EXJ Rating: 2019-01-10
Works great with my K3 and KX3 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought my LNR "Quad" off eBay last summer as an impulse buy-it-now price of under $100. I had just bought my Elecraft K3/100 and my other LNR Endz Fed antennas (EFT and EF 10/20/40 versions along with an EF30M) were not rated for 100-watts. At the time I had our tent in the backyard and had been using my KX3 inside the tent with the EFT10/20/40 with good results... even on 30M!.

The "Quad" arrived and it is clearly more heavily constructed to handle the 100-watt power. It's also longer than the EFT10/20/40 at 65-feet (versus 41-feet for the EFT). I had barely enough room in the back yard to string it from one corner of the house to the top of a corner tree. About 10' high at one end to 30' high at the other.

The dangly bits ("stubs") are a noticeable feature of the Quad and could impair the stealthy nature of the Quad in an HOA setting. I have no HOA so it's not an issue for me but at the low end they can be annoying.

With no tuning of the Quad itself, I found that the internal tuners of both the KX3 and the K3 (and my K2/10) gave me good results from the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) on 40 and 20 meters. 15 was dead as was 10. However the antenna tuned up easily on all its rated bands with 1:1 SWR; even on 30M and I got excellent reports from the RBN on that band with both the K3 and KX3! That was a pleasant surprise.

I'm a big fan of LNR (PAR) EndzFed antennas for QRP field/portable use and the Quad's power rating makes it good enough for club Field Day use but I do not think it's "stealthy" enough for HOA permanent installations. I've left it up over the winter and it's still working well despite snow, sleet, wind and temperatures down into the low teens (F).

We anticipate a move in 2019 to a smaller home on a larger lot and I plan to erect several LNR antennas in different directions (and possibly an 80M monoband) but the Quad will certainly be the first one put into service.
WM5F Rating: 2018-03-08
Wow! Very broad bandwidth Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I read the reviews here for the LNR Quad and was very intrigued with the 200-Watt power it could handle. Another vendor’s end fed did not seem to be able to handle 100W CW.

Many of the reviews here convinced me to try it. It was the weekend before the ARRL SSB DX contest. I did not think LNR could get it to me in time. So, I was very surprised to see the package arrive by Thursday.

Saturday morning, I thought why not try it out on the contest. I strung the match box end on an 18-foot MFJ tripod and the other on the top of a 31-foot Jackite pole, braced against a tree with some bungee cords.

I had not tuned the antenna. And just used my KX3/KXPA100 tuner. During the contest I was surprised to hear Italy and France with strong signals on 20 meters. What the heck, why not try. I was completely surprised to hear my call back from both stations. Wow! I contacted several other DX stations on 20, and later that evening worked DX into Europe on 40. Given my QTH in the Pacific Northwest it was a pleasant surprise.

I’ve since tuned the antenna and it appears like the antenna has very broad bandwidth. I’m able to work CW as well as the SSB bands easily on all four bands. This is what surprises me. The antenna is extremely flat across a large portion of the bands. Look at the LNR instruction manual and they show the SWR curves and these are similar to what I see as well.

Overall, I am very pleased with the results. Nice job PAR and LNR!!!
K2MK Rating: 2018-02-14
Well made and easy to tune Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I’ve been experimenting with end fed dipoles in my HOA restricted home. I secretly deploy it on contest weekends with the balun box hung in a tree (cord and pulley system) and the end insulator secured to a plastic tent peg in the ground. I’ve only been able to elevate the balun end to 19 feet. To my surprise, however, I am able to work lots of stations with 100 watts. DX can be challenging, however, I’ve worked a fair amount in a short period of time primarily on CW and RTTY.

My tip for tuning is to use a portable analyzer and slowly cut away wire monitoring 40 meter SWR. Stop cutting while resonance is still below 7.0 MHz. At that point carefully review the SWR on 20, 15, and 10 meters as well as 40 meters. Then very carefully trim a little at a time until the SWR on all 4 bands is acceptable to you. I haven’t found it necessary to do any trimming of the 3 stubs.

Construction is very good, however, I would have liked to see a support eye or a hole in the plastic piece on the end of the box opposite the coax connector.

For someone like me that winds up the antenna every week I suggest purchasing one of the numerous extension cord winders available online. Trying to wind up the antenna free-hand is tricky thanks to the 3 tuning stubs.
W6UXB Rating: 2017-11-26
Brilliant antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this antenna for over a year now and have to say it is absolutely brilliant, I have it installed as a sloper one end is about 12 feet high the other about 36 feet up a tree, my only ground is a 4 foot copper rod outside my garage/shack, I have had great success with it SWR is below 1.5:1 on all bands no tuner needed but I am using it with an MFJ 901 tuner just to give my radio a perfect match. What has made a difference though is I just added an MFJ 931 artificial ground to tune the reactance out of the ground, that has made a big difference to the performance of the antenna, I think I am now going to run a 66 foot counterpoise under the antenna, very happy camper with this antenna you will not be dissapoited if you are in a very small lot as I am.
KI8M Rating: 2017-09-03
It is my go to antenna for portable operations Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased EF-Quad over a year ago and it is part of my portable "kit" when I go out of town or to one of the many parks in S.E. Michigan. I had little problem getting the antenna resonant on the phone portion of 10 thru 40 meters.

I can't say anything negative about the antenna. It is everything I want for portable operation. Glad I bought it.
KK9H Rating: 2017-07-17
Used for portable station Time Owned: more than 12 months.
During the summer we go on vacation to the north woods in northeast Wisconsin. I like to take my K3 with me and over the years I have experimented with a number of antennas. When I read about this antenna it sounded just perfect for my situation and it is. There are many tall trees around so I can easily get both ends up over 40 feet. Being an end-fed antenna, feed line location is very convenient. Out of the box, the lowest SWR point is approximately 1/3 up from the bottom of each band and well under 2:1 at the upper ends so I did not feel any need to adjust it. Performsnce is exactly as expected for a half wave antenna. It works equally well talking to friends back home in Chicago on 40, working DX on 20, 15 and enjoying some band openings on 10. It is a great antenna for portable operation including Field Day.