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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
N6STA Rating: 2015-06-01
fantastic Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Had it for two days now. Trimmed a foot off the end and left all the 'pigtails' alone. SWR using YouKits FG-01: 80 - 6.3; 40 - 1.2; 30 - 7.1; 20 - 1.4; 17 - 3.2; 15 - 1.4; 12 - 3.2; 10 - 1.7

This is with a low installation (peak at 16 feet) and a right angle about 16 feet from the far end.

I am happy.
KB7MGA Rating: 2015-04-08
Excellent Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
It had been a long time since I was able to work 10 thru 40 meters on one antenna. The EF-Quad enabled me to easily work these bands and also helped renew my interest in the hobby as another review stated.

I live in a restrictive HOA. I draped the antenna over a tree in an inverted U fashion. The antenna easily hides in the tree even in the winter time and works great radiating in all directions with this configuration. If there is a pileup anywhere, I have great confidence that I will work the station in a few calls.

I cannot say enough good things about the antenna.
K4RCH Rating: 2015-03-16
4 bands easily Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Quad is a great antenna to get on 40,20,15,10 quickly. Build quality is excellent. My only quibble with the Quad is the antenna connector location. I'd rather have it 90* from where it is now to facilitate an easier mounting solution for permanent installations.
N5NX Rating: 2015-03-15
Excellent wire antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Living in an HOA, I already had an LNR Precision 40/20 antenna since I could put it up and take it down quickly. I've used it with great success.

I purchased the EF-QUAD so that I could expand into 15 and 10 meters. Since I had an existing setup, I took down the 40/20 and put up the EF-QUAD in about 10 minutes.

I checked all four bands with my analyzer, and as expected all bands had the best SWR at the low end of the band. I decided it wasn't worth trimming to tweak at this point in time since I mainly work the digital modes at the low end of the bands.

I got on 15 meters for the very first time and made contacts all over Europe during the EA PSK 63 contest.

Very happy with this antenna!
N2PH Rating: 2014-11-06
This antenna just works Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I installed this antenna as a sloper with the matchbox up about 30 feet, and the rest of the antenna sloping down to about 12 feet. This simple antenna works great, the SWR is spot on for 40, 20, 15 and a little high but, usable for 10 meters. I am making contacts and getting good signal reports with stations and countries that I rarely heard before I started using this antenna. Simple to set up and minimal tuning-I used a MFJ antenna tuner. I told my wife this antenna has renewed my interest in ham radio!
KB1GMX Rating: 2014-09-21
Update, very good Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I finally got the far end up to 32ft and rechecked the swr and tuning. The earlier reading were in error as I for gt the highpass filter when testing the antenna as local BCST station on 1200khz was messing with the antenna analyzer. Result is that the antenna was well matched no SWR over 1.3:1 on any band.

It performs as expected for the primary bands. The benefit is the SWR for 17M was under 2.5:1 well within the reach of transceiver internal tuners. In my install I can also get 12M at 4:1 and that tunable on my Eagle.

Simple antenna, simple install and it works.

I will recommend it to anyone.


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Earlier 5-star review posted by KB1GMX on 2014-08-06

I gave it a 5 as it arrived exactly as I'd expected based on other products from PAR and now LNR. Excellent package and build quality.

The antenna was installed in a hurry due to weather with one end at 28ft and the other about 20ft and tuning needs attention butat this low height I left it as was SWR for 40 was under 1.5, 20M under 1.5, 15M was under 1.7 and 10m under 2:1. Right now the antenna favors the CW ends of the bands. Those numbers for my radios are good enough as a right out of the box setup. The comparison antenna was the older PAR EF40,20,10 in all cases they were the same or the QUAD slightly better those being on 40M where the QUAD is full size and 15M where the triband is listen only. There was nothing really new save for 15M works well and 40M signal is better to known stations.
The plan is to raise it at the far end from 20ft to about 35-40ft and adjust the tuning.


On air it just works. It simplified my antenna system for the primary bands and is good for the nominal 100W level as well as qrp. In the past the QRP EF40/20/20 was my goto antenna this replaces it, a keeper. I'll keep the QRP tribander as well.

Over all:

Straight forward end fed four band antenna with good power capability and tuneable design. Its biggest feature is simple install where a center fed multiband would not be acceptable. The high build quality assures a long like in use.



KX6G Rating: 2014-08-29
Excellent...as usaul Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my 6th HF antenna made by LNR. And as usual, the installation and tune up was a snap. Again not situated in an ideal configuration the performance amazes me.

Anyone needing a stealthy wire antenna should consider these as they are extremely easy to tune, and provide amazing results.

The only tuning I did was on the 20 meter band which required shortening the stub by a few inches.

Why anyone would consider any other wire antenna would be crazy these things perform extremely well right out of the box thanks again to LNR for making me like it.
WB4DBO Rating: 2014-08-12
Installation and operational experience Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received the LNR EF QUAD and within one hour I had it hung and trimmed!  Instructions are very simple and installation is easy!  NOTE: An antenna analyzer is not a requirement but without one the job would be much more time consuming! 

First of all, the environment in which this antenna was installed and trimmed was generally open space over a lawn with no obstructions within 30 feet of the antenna. The coax end was attached to a wooden patio pergula at a height of nine feet.  The closest structure was my brick home at approximately 18 feet from the coax end. 

The far end was tied off to Dacron cord terminating at approximately 25 to 30 feet.  The wire was over open lawn with no trees or structures within 30 feet.

The antenna analyzer used to trim/tune the antenna was the “Rig Expert, Model AA-30.”

The following outlines my experience tuning this antenna for use with the CW portion of each amateur band specified for this model.  Those who operate both SSB and CW will probably need to tune differently, although, even tuning for the lower part of each band still kept the SWR below 2.1 : 1 across the entire band!

40 Meters

Setting my antenna analyzer for a frequency of 7.050 the antenna exhibited a SWR of 1.2 : 1 basically flat across the entire 40 meter band.  At the high end of the band the analyzer indicated a SWR of 1.45 : 1.  The antenna impedance indicated on the analyzer was 62 ohms.  This closely tracks the chart included in your antenna characteristic graph in the provided tuning instruction manual.  As such, I made no tuning changes to the length of the antenna on the 40 meter band.

20 Meters

Setting my antenna analyzer for a frequency of 14.050.  Using the analyzer, it indicated the lowest SWR of 1.2 : 1 was located at a resonant frequency of 13.700 Khz. Making two trips to tune the 20 meter stub I trimmed a total of two inches off the 20 meter tuning stub resulting in a 1.2 : 1 SWR.  Again, the analyzer graph closely matched your graph for a SWR across the 20 meter band of an SWR no higher than 1.4 at the high end of the band.  The antenna impedance indicated on the analyzer was 60 ohms.  The fact the lowest SWR was well below the amateur band supports the suggestion one should consider using an antenna analyzer to ascertain the true SWR and thus allowing a more accurate tuning scenario.

15 Meters

Setting the antenna analyzer for a  frequency of 21.050 the antenna analyzer indicated a SWR of 1.2 : 1 across the entire 15 meter band.  The indicated impedence was 51 ohms.  No trimming was required on this band!  The SWR graph across the band was again within the specifications included in the antenna tuning instructions.

10 Meters 

Setting the antenna analyzer for a frequency of 28.040 the analyzer indicated a SWR of 1.5 : 1 across two thirds of the lower portion of the band at my designated operating frequency of 28.040.  Toward the far end of 10 meters the SWR exceeded 2.0 : 1.  A person wanting to operate both CW and SSB could easily trim the tuning stub to achieve a SWR within limits for both modes.  Indicated impedance was 35 ohms.

Following are observations not specified or advertised with the product.

The EF-QUAD will tune in the 17 meter band with an Elecraft K-3 internal tuner.  The tuner bypass SWR was around 3 or 4 : 1 at 18.080 Mhz.  The tuner easily brought the SWR down to 1 : 1.

Also, the K-3 tuner easily brought a 10.115 Mhz SWR down to 1 : 1 - The bypass SWR was about 6 : 1.

I have not operated with this antenna - I will provide my operating impressions after a period of time.  
WD9HOT Rating: 2014-08-07
Stealthy and versatile Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I live in a small Apt at a large University and need to keep a low profile with my Amateur radio activities and yet would like to obtain reasonable performance despite my need to stay under the radar so to speak, Short story, The LNR Engineering EF-QUAD does not disappoint. Pruning and tuning can be a bit labor intensive though so please consider using an antenna analyzer when adjusting this antenna.
W4OP Rating: 2014-08-06
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had an EF-QUAD up for about three weeks. The high end is 60+ feet up and the low end 10'.
Bandwidth is very good and worst case VSWR was 1.45:1 ON 10M (RigExpert 600 vector analyzer).
Unlike any other end fed in the market place, this antenna uses a unique set of stubs allowing independent tuning of each band. No tuner required.

The matchbox does not use the generic electrical box, but rather a custom injection molded housing.

Dale W4OP