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Reviews For: EAntenna EA270ZB9

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : EAntenna EA270ZB9
Reviews: 2MSRP: 69
Description:
Dual band yagi VHF/UHF
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.eantenna.es
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0024.5
KG7OR Rating: 2018-06-12
Superb antenna, lousy instructions Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The EAntenna EA270ZB9 is sold by DX Engineering (DXE). It’s exceptionally well made; superior to what you often get from the better known manufacturers.

So much for the good part. EAntenna is located in Spain, so the instructions come to you in Spanish, with badly fractured English sub-notes that you can sort of figure out—it’s almost as if they hired that Japanese guy who wrote the English instructions for Yaesu in the 1980s. I had to review the antenna’s photos on the DXE website to confirm how the elements go together (the diagrams in the instructions are as bad as the English).

Also, since it’s a European product, the hardware is metric—not a major issue since the screws all have Allen (hex) slots and the appropriate metric Allen wrench is included. But be forewarned that you must tighten a 7 mm. metric nut on the backside of each screw, and there’s no way to do it with anything other than a 7 mm. nutdriver or possibly a narrow 7 mm. socket. The nuts go deep inside the boom, so long-nose pliers or a crescent wrench won’t work. Make sure you have that 7 mm. nutdriver before trying to assemble this antenna. (I made do with a 7 mm. socket, using it like a wrench. The nutdriver would’ve been a lot better.)

But the biggest problem is the feedline connection. The instructions only tell you to connect your coax center conductor to one side of the 2 meter driven element and the shield to the other side. However, the length of the pigtails from the coax to the two driven element terminal screws is critical: they must be as short as possible. Long pigtails change the electrical length of the driven element, severely raising your SWR. The instructions give you no warning about that, and an inquiry to DXE was no help, suggesting that I use one of their manufactured products with lengthy pigtail leads; the opposite of what was needed.

I discovered all that by first trying a pigtail cable similar to DXE’s version, which got me a 3:1 SWR at 145.9 mHz and worse everywhere else. After experimenting with various pigtail designs, I got an excellent match with an 18-inch piece of RG58. I stripped one end to just an inch and connected the center conductor and shield directly to the driven element terminations (taking care to insulate the shield from the boom). The other end has a PL259 and a UHF barrel for connecting my coax. With that configuration my SWR dropped to less than 1.5:1. RG8X should also work, but RG8 would be too bulky for the purpose.

Bottom line: a superb 2m/70cm antenna, but remember to get yourself a 7 mm. nutdriver before you start, and make your feed line connections from the coax to the two driven element rods absolutely as short as possible. Any unnecessary pigtail length will raise your SWR.
ON4LG Rating: 2016-03-23
A great pocket size antenna for satellites! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
About 2 months ago, I decided to get my chance on satellites (FM as a start, SSB later).

As I had good experiences with Eantenna products in the past. I looked at Rodrigo's EA7JX catalogue to find a low profile, light weight antenna with enough gain to catch the "birds".

As a beginner on satellite, and don't really know if I will like that aspect of the hobby, I dedicated a small budget on a tiny satellite station. My choice went to the 9 elements dual band yagi EA270ZB9. It's a 4 elements on VHF and 5 elements on 70cm fed with a single coax. Boom is about a meter long and it weights only a bit more than a kilogram. A 13 elements version exists as well.

The antenna was in stock and delivery was organized the day after my order. I also order 25 meters of low loss coax cable at Rodrigo's web shop (www.hamradio.es).

Immediately after reception of the box. I built the antenna. Very easy job. Box was including a parts list and all necessary hardware. Even spare screws and other rings "just in case". Process took me less than an hour.

The antenna was installed on a push-up mast (build by EAntenna as well) with a fix elevation around 25°. An old TV rotator I have for years was used to turn the yagi.

I was QRV and starts making QSO on SO50 and AO85 FM satellites. 2 weeks later I started on SSB sats like AO73, XW2A, XW2C and XW2F.

Actually I never miss a QSO when I'm QRV on satellite pass. This is just fascinating!

Yesterday evening, on XW2C, right after a qso with UY2RA in CW, I made a simple test by calling CQ and see at what elevation of the sat I will loose my signal on downlink. In fact, I lost the copy of my own signal when XW2C was at only 2° elevation over the horizon. Amazing!

Thanks for the great job, Rod!

73!
Fred ON4LG