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Reviews For: Ni4L ZS6BKW/G5RV Optimized Multi Band HF Dipole Antenna

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Ni4L ZS6BKW/G5RV Optimized Multi Band HF Dipole Antenna
	Reviews: 4	MSRP: 112.00
	Description: The ZS6BKW/G5RV is capable of operating on 10, 12, 17, 20 & 40m bands generally without a tuner, with SWR readings usually 1.5:1 or less. Using a tuner 6, 15, 30 & 80m bands with much higher efficiency then the original G5RV.
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ni4l.com
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	4	5

KH6CT	Rating:	2021-03-30
Best Multiband on the Market			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Outstanding multiband antenna!! Performance... Much, much better than I expected. SWR curves are really great. My SS Amp is pretty sensitive to SWR, but hasn't beeped at all. Outperforms my HEX quite frequently. Build... Like a rock. Only a direct lightening strike would take it out. Very well weather proofed, no chance for rainwater intrusion. Customer Service... The best. Chris treats every customer as his best friend. Summary... Buy 2, one for yourself and one for a friend !! Note... Disregard the picture on this page. What you will receive is seen in detail on Chris's webpage. 73 to all, Steve KH6CT

KO1C	Rating:	2021-02-27
Improved Design			Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
THIS IS A CORRECTION TO MY SWR FIGURES ON 10 METERS: I installed this antenna up to 40-45 feet. I have a 125 foot run of LMR400 leading to the antenna. Please note that others had moisture intrusion problems near the balun causing SWR problems. The way mine was made, this cannot happen now. The pictures on the web site do not show the new design. Antenna is supposed to be resonant (less that 2:1 SWR) on 10-12-17-20-40 meters. I found this to be true in my installation. 10 meters measures from 1.0:1 to 1.9:1. I usually still use a tuner on parts of 10, especially if I use my amplifier. It's a BIG band. I use the antenna a lot on 80 meters, my HF-Auto easily tunes the antenna on that band. For this antenna's relative small size, I am extremely pleased with it's performance.

N4HNH	Rating:	2019-04-15
Great antenna! One oversight that is easily fixed.			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I found this antenna a couple of years ago and recommended it to a friend who needed a stealthy solution for an HF antenna, due to restrictions in his subdivision. I also recommended it to my brother, when he got his first HF rig. So, I finally purchased one for myself. It performs the same as my traditional G5RV, but with the longer ladder line and shortened wire elements, it needs no tuner on 17, 20, and 40 meters. They advertise that it doesn’t require a tuner on 10 or 12 meters, but mine is only useable without a tuner in the FM portion of 10 meters, around 29.600 MHz. The SWR on 12 meters is around 2:1. The tuner easily touches it up. It is very robust in its construction. The center point uses a ladder-lock style insulator, providing great support for the ladder line. The one flaw I noticed is the piece of rope that they have affixed to the ladder line and wrapped around the bolts where the ladder line connects to the balun, to provide strain relief. During rain the rope gets soaked and creates a short circuit between the two conductors of the ladder line. The SWR will go crazy high. Be sure to seal these bolts with RTV, which will also provide insulation against the wet rope. If they would have run the rope through a piece of tubing to insulate it from the electrical connections, it would reduce the risk of damage to your radio, due to an unexpected high SWR in rainy weather. Fortunately, we can fix this issue ourselves, with RTV. I’m still giving a 5-star rating, though I believe it deserves a 4.9, due to the less than ideal strain relief solution on the balun end.

K7IN	Rating:	2015-11-30
Best multi-band I have used			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had been using another G5RV type multi-band dipole for about 4 years when it developed an 'open' somewhere that I could not find. So, I decided to buy another antenna. I had read about Chris Fox's antennas and liked the fact that the window line was #16 stranded conductor rather than solid. It also used a very strong termination at the top that can withstand weather quite well. I have only had this antenna in the air for about 10 days and used it this past weekend on all the bands it covers. I use a LDG AT-100Pro auto tuner with an IC-7200 transceiver and was very pleased with it's performance. I was able to achieve a 1.1:1 SWR across all the bands except the very ends of 80/75m and 10m. It tuned the full bandwidth on 40, 30, 20, 17, 15 and 12m with no problem and only a slight reduction in output near above 29.1MHz. My installation is not "ideal" by any means. The apex is only 28' and the ends of each leg are at 20'. I also doesn't run in a straight line but, looking down on it, the angle is about 120 degrees. The window line makes a gentle loop across an open space and then is suspended about 16" below my eaves and about 16" away from the side of the house. The 70-ft of coax runs under the eaves, around the back of the house and returns to the window where it enters my ham shack. Since this was the CQ-WW CW contest, there were precious few places to have a casual QSO but, once the contest ended, I worked all but one station that I heard with good signal reports. I operate mostly CW but, was able to check in to a regional SSB net and received strong signal reports that were much better than my previous antenna. In conclusion, I believe this is one of the best designs for a multi-band wire antenna available today. It make a great portable antenna and since it uses "flexweave" cable, it can be easily coiled up for storage and quickly deployed without kinking or tangling. The stranded conductor window line is very forgiving in the wind and I am sure it will tolerate a lot of movement before it ever fatigues. I recommend this Ni4L antenna to anyone with limited space especially or for your next field day outing or your "go-kit" for emergency work. I am happy to answer any questions anyone may have. 73, Paul Cavnar, K7IN

Category:

Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

Product:

Ni4L ZS6BKW/G5RV Optimized Multi Band HF Dipole Antenna

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

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