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Reviews For: W4KGH Multiband End Fed Antenna Matchbox Kit

Category: Antennas: HF Portable (not mobile)

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Review Summary For : W4KGH Multiband End Fed Antenna Matchbox Kit
Reviews: 7MSRP: 35.95
Description:
Multiband Random-length end-fed antenna matchbox
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0075
W3AAP Rating: 2018-08-10
Great antenna. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This end-fed longwire kit exceeded my expectations. Living in New York City, one has few options for an antenna, so I gave this one a shot. Set it up according to the instructions. It worked like a champ and I have made contacts all over the world with it. I was sorry to hear of W4KGH Ken's passing a little while ago. He made a great antenna kit and it's a real shame more people won't be able to get one at a reasonable price
KK5R Rating: 2017-02-10
Great Little Antenna exceeds expectations Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have built a lot of 4:1 and 9:1 open wire ununs. Experimenting with end fed dipoles, I used a 9:1 unun and 53-ft of wire, using 16-ft for the counterpoise. With this, I was able to make contacts on 160M barefoot with my FT-450AT. I had a B&W TTFD that would transmit on 160M but not very many people could hear me.

The End Fed antenna with the homebrew 9:1 unun worked great on all HF bands. It was running from my roofline to a tall tree, the unun about 15-ft from the roofline and the coax running across a metal roof. The counterpoise ran off at an angle of about 120-degrees from the main element and coax. While it was good, I wanted to go higher with the antenna. Then I ordered the tuner kit from W4KGH.

The simple tuner kit went together easily in about 30-minutes or so. Instead of sealing it as the instructions said, I wrapped several layers of black plastic (electricians') tape around the seams after making sure the bolts and connectors were watertight.

As a first experiment, I used my 9:1 open wire unun. I ran the 53-ft of wire and the counterpoise to a tree on the other end of the antenna, making it about 50-ft high between two trees. The SWR was not as good as it was in the earlier configuration so I changed the unun to the W4KGH tuner but it was still not very good on the lower two bands. Something had to be done.

It was mounted as a dipole with the coax falling away and slightly toward the radiating element. Tuning up, I found the antenna was great from 40M up but was poor on 160M and not very good on 80M.

Then I ran the feedline back toward the counterpoise which meant the coax fell at an angle about 45-degrees down from the counterpoise and away from the driven element. BOOM! The antenna now worked great from 160M to 6M, the SWR under 3:1 at worst case but mostly under 2:1 on all bands. The FT-450AT internal tuner tackles it easily and the LDG tuner on the IC-718 does it in a breeze.

Even with tuners bypassed, the radios work well, no SWR cutback in power. However, I would not try it without the tuners unless I had checked the SWR on all bands first. This is why I modified the feedline so the angle would fall away from the radiating element. The fix was in and it worked...!

Building the tuner is a breeze. There is plenty of room in the enclosure to mount components and make all the connections. The tuner could be made even smaller but for me, it's already smaller and much lighter than the open wire baluns I built before.

The tuner could be mounted in a 1-1/2 to 2-in diameter container about 3/4 to 1-in deep if the connections to the antenna and counterpoise were brought into the container and soldered directly to the coil, eliminating the suspension and wire mounting lugs (eye-bolts), and making sure the wires were anchored to the box. I would keep the SO-239, however, lest the arrangement be a mass of wire with coax that would be unhandy to make it very portable. The weight and wind-load saved would be negligible, though. Hard to improve on something so good.

I'm very happy with mine. Might even buy another one to use when I take the little Xiegu X108G to the mountains.
K0WVM Rating: 2016-12-01
Incredible antenna matchbox for portable or fixed stations Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I live up against 9,500ft mountains, so getting out anywhere east of Colorado and beyond is very difficult.

Over the past week, I put the matchbox through its paces. I have kept the 50ft TX line in use, and added four radials totaling 120ft. Two of the radials are 20ft and the other two are at 40ft.

With my manual tuner, it took me just a few moments to tune it on each of the bands it's specified for. But I was able to tune to high power and lower it to a 1.3:1 on most of 40 and 80 meters. All other bands have tuned flat with the exception of 15 and 17 meters. Not the matchbox's problem as I have used a lot of antenna configurations to make 15 and 17 meters work. The tuner doesn't like those bands for some reason. May eventually try a new antenna tuner to get on those bands with higher power.

Over the past week (because of other obligations that have kept me busy) I have only made 4 contacts for the time being using the matchbox in any free time that I have:

22 Nov 16: KØWVM -> VE7SCC (Canada, BC) SSB 40m 772.6mi (1243.3km) - Signal report back from contacted station 5-9 +20

22 Nov 16: KØWVM -> ACØW (Minnesota, USA) SSB 40m 982.4 mi (1581.0 km) - Signal report back from contacted station 5-9

23 Nov 16: KØWVM -> KY6N (Oregon, USA) SSB 40m 620.6 mi (998.7 km) - Signal report back from contacted station 5-9 +10

30 Nov 16: KØWVM -> W5IFN (Oklahoma, USA) SSB 40m 885.55 mi (1425.15 km) - Signal report back from contacted station 5-7

I am very impressed! With the band conditions the way they have been on 40m to make these small amounts of contacts, I am a "happy camper"! If this worked well up against 9,500ft mountains getting back East and to the NW, imagine what it can do in flatter locations.

I look forward to having more "breathing room" further west of the mountains to improve my chances making contact with friends and fellow hams back east!

Hopefully will use it for DX beyond North America too!
W7YT Rating: 2016-09-02
This matchbox really works! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this kit for operating while hiking. Kit went together very straight forward with no problems at all. It's very sturdy and light. My KX1 AT tunes very easily at nearly 1:1 on 40/30/20 with about 34 feet of Antenna Man #18 silky wire. When I stop to operate on a hike it takes maybe 5 minutes to set up the EFHW, which is a high priority when operating while hiking. Best surprise was taking the gear to Maui. Facing west and from the 2nd floor I would throw the wire into some brush off of the lanai...maybe a 30 degree angle down. With 3.5 watts on 30 meters I was able to log Tuvalu (2,600 miles), Marshall Islands (2,483 miles) and Tasmania (5,560 miles). On 20 meters at 3.5 watts I logged Australia, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands and Wallis & Futuna (2,820 miles). For the cost, this matchbox exceeds my expectations and I'll happily continue to use it.
KC9UNL Rating: 2016-04-20
Antenna You Won't Regret Buying Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I live in a condo and have to use a antenna that will not be very noticeable. I run mostly QRP and Low Power on digital modes. However, I sometimes use 70-100 on SSB and CW. Combine this with a MRJ-939 Tuner.
Installation was easy and performance seems to be excellent. What I like about this antenna is that the Balun matchbox is lightweight and doesn't present a large windload.
For the $$ this antenna is GREAT! No need to spend a fortune to get a good antenna.
N9MXQ Rating: 2016-02-07
Great little antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Ordered from eBay straight from the maker. Kit came in short order. Got the little monster up today and have to say I'm impressed.

Tunes 80-6 easily with the built in tuner on my 756PROII. First contact in Vermont for the QSO party answered first call and was 5/9 both ways.

Antenna is at about 20'AGL and is basically flat across.. Once weather is warmer it will become a sloper at 50' or so on my tower to a tree out back.

If you need an inconspicuous antenna that fits in a small area, but gives big performance try this one out. Would be a great addition to any home shack or GoKit.
AG6YK Rating: 2016-01-06
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this kit from the manufacturer's Ebay site. Fast shipment. Build instructions are excellent, including photos. I assembled the unit in about 1 hour,and I was taking my time and being very careful. You have to supply your own antenna and counterpoise wire, but most hams are drowning in spare wire anyway (hi). Unit is also available complete with antenna wire for around $50.

Hooked the unit up with a main radiator of 30 feet long and counterpoise of 17 feet long. Used with my 897D and LDG AT897Plus tuner. Tuner had no problem matching from 8 to 6 including WARCs. Band conditions were not the greatest and I did a temporary setup indoors (thundershowers), but I was able to check 80,40, 30, 20, 15, 12 and 10.
Reception was much quieter than I would have expected with an end-fed.
Only "con" I have is that the nuts holding the antenna and counterpoise leads to the case have a tendency to loosen, you should use some Loctite or similar to keep them tight.