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Reviews For: INAC AH-521

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : INAC AH-521
Reviews: 4MSRP: 440
Description:
Mag-Loop 40-15M
Product is in production
More Info: http://inac-radio.com/en/AH521
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0043.8
G0LFF Rating: 2019-01-25
Blew me away with its performance Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered an AH-521 and received what must be an updated version as mine covers 7mhz through 24mhz so I guess it is a new AH-524!! Just standing in my shack at 1.25m AGL I worked 42 DXCC on five continents running 25w on two bands 17m & 30m in FT8. The performanance has just blew me away. Just waiting for a lightweight rotator before I put the magloop in the loft. I purchased the LAC-2 controller which tunes the loop very easily. If like me you do not have access to any real estate then this small but highly efficient magloop will get you running on six bands, how about that :-)
ON5HF Rating: 2016-02-06
Nice performance and well built! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just received and tested the AH521 for a couple of days - so can't tell anything about the lomg term. I ordered the antenna directly from the company in Spain and 4 days later, it was on my desk at home! Nice package, well secured and an unusual but pleasant white coloured frame with a blue INAC sign on it. I ordered the LAC2 control box as I read that the default box is not that good. After quickly mounting the antenna on a 1m high tube indoor, I started testing on all bands from 40m up to 12m. RX signals were pretty solid, directivity is quite noticeble at frequencies higher that the 10Mhz. My high-power line QRN is fairly reduced when beaming towards the line which is a good thing.
The tuning is for sure tricky on 40m because of the narrow 20khz bandwidth around the tuned frequency but by slowly turning the knob of the control box while tuning, you should be able to get a satisfying 1:1 or 1:1.5 quite rapidly. I was running QRP, so cant tell with higher power.
Indoor, I was able to get contacts with Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Russia,... the same day with 5w in CW. Reports were quite good from 559 to 599! So far, I am a happy Ham witht his antenna! Tuning works on every frequency, this type of antenna will work under the poorest environmental condx, in a room, along a wall, in the middle of furnitures and at 1m above the floor! That is quite amazing isn't it!? Almost considering 40m and the very small size 93cm x 68 cm of this loop, you can't beat this! So, very satisfied when looking at the performances, the construction and the weight of the loop. The LAC2 does the job even if I would like to see one day a possibility to recall the positioning of the air comdensator for a specific band by simply pushing a knob.
WA1JIM Rating: 2015-11-23
Works well in limited space Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had this antenna for about a month. The moment it arrived I un-packed it and installed it. I hooked it up to my Omni VI Plus. Lightly following the manual, I tuned to 17m and the first call to IN3ZNR was returned with a 59 report. This is running 100w and tuning the antenna using the noise output of the speaker. Since then, I have had many contacts, some DX to note is YV4MP on 17m and ZD7FT on 15m amongst a number of stateside contacts here and there. I am very happy as I had nothing but a 20m dipole strung about 15ft high which got me out but not like this. I am able to regularly check in to the nets on 7.192 which I could not do before. The antenna is not without its faults. The previous user described a de-tuning by merely touching the tune button on the controller and I have witnessed the displacement of the dial when I press the button and in fact, it does change the tuning when that happens. Note that I have the LAC2 controller. I further read the manual for the recommended tuning process and proceeded to tune for highest noise on the band, I then press the attenuator and tune again for highest noise. Using the SWR meter on the radio, I always find 1.5 to 2.0 SWR on any band. I do find it easier to tune on 20M through 10M. 40M is a bit challenging even with this process but I consistently achieve sub 2.0 SWR with it. I don't use an external SWR meter or power meter due to convenience. The antenna is also a bit finicky when it comes to how the control cable is routed to it with respect to the coax. My radio is currently installed at a temporary location and it is not grounded, I attribute the problems with RF to that fact. Moving the control cable a little bit, resolves the issue that I get from time to time. I have been able to make many contacts without much trouble which is a plus for me. I think the price is a bit steep but it works for me and looks nice in all white, too bad it does not work on 75m, that would have been the bomb. Would I buy it again? Very likely, given that you don't need much space to put it in and that it actually gets you out a mere 4ft off the ground. It works for me, I don't have much space for antennas and this one gets me out. I am satisfied with it.
SQ6RKY Rating: 2015-08-28
Don't buy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered AH-521 antenna with LAC-2 controller. Shipping was quite fast and the antenna was well packed. Nothing to complain here.
The antenna itself looks well, however it could have better connection for control cable than simple DIN5 connector used in audio equipment.

After mounting antenna, I wanted to connect LAC-2 controller and start DXing. I started to tune antenna. Every pressing of the push button without touching tuning knob caused, that LAC-2 motor run and changed position a bit. It is really difficult to tune antenna with this behavior. There is lack of expected precision during tuning. Tuning process is random and almost impossible on 40m, where bandwidth is very narrow.
In this way I was an owner of very expensive dummy load.

Based on my example and other stories described in the network, I recommend to stay away from INAC. They definitely have to improve quality control and customer service.