| AB0R |
Rating:      |
2020-01-01 | |
| Very Happy with myantenna |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I've been using the myantennas.com 80-10P with my KX-3 for a few months now. I have it strung up between two trees at my QTH and I am very impressed with it.
It works great right down into 160 and I have used it for 10 meter local nets as well. Works as advertised.
If this antenna fits your needs, don't hesitate to give it a try. I think you will be pleased. Mine is presently coated in frozen rain and it's working great. It's well made. |
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| N6IJB |
Rating:  |
2019-12-31 | |
| Hardware failure, poor service |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The external hardware is NOT stainless. After just 1 year of operation at my seaside QTH the whole antenna failed. The manufacturer was difficult to reach, argumentative and completely unhelpful. I replaced the whole antenna with one made by Maxcon that included stainless hardware, a much better choice. |
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| K6BRN |
Rating:      |
2019-12-29 | |
| East to put in, Works Well |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This 130 foot long end-fed wire antenna has been optimized for ease of use and is not at all fussy about how you lay it out or how high it is mounted (within reason).
It's an end-fed multiband resonant wire antenna with a built-in matching network (49:1 autotransformer, I think) at the feed end. Just plug the feed end into your coax, run the other end to a convenient mounting point, and you are good to go.
It covers 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30, 40 and 80M, and in SOME setups will even load up on 160M and 60M (at reduced power and efficiency - not at all recommended by the maker - but I've made quite a few low-power 160M JT-65 contacts with it) with decent SWR (less than 2.5:1). It can be arranged as a straight dipole, bent dipole, inverted V, inverted L, horizontal V and other shapes without serious SWR degradation or significant RF current on the outside of the coax shield (external shield currents can cause RF feedback into the "shack"). Works way better than my Comet CHA-250B and old elevated Hustler 6BTV vertical antennas, but not as well as my Mosley TA-33-MW + 40M 3 element Yagi, as expected.
Actual users of this wire antenna tend to really like it because of its extreme ease of installation, good behavior under less than ideal mounting conditions, reasonable performance and relatively low cost.
Armchair antenna analysts who have never used this somewhat unique wire antenna (needs no external tuner, little RF on the coax outer shield, not fussy about placement, etc.) often bash the antenna as "impossible" for various humorous reasons (mostly, they just don't understand it, so therefore it can't work). Yet it violates no physical laws (Danny, the designer, is very frank about how and why it works) and really works quite well.
It comes in 200W, 1,000W and 1,500 W ICAS (Intermittent Commercial Service) versions, which differ mainly in the beefiness of the matching network and has a little brother in the half-length (63 feet) EFHW-4010 10-40M version. BTW, while Danny has tested these antennas at higher power, I always take "ICAS" with a grain of salt and significantly derate any ICAS power spec. If in any doubt, or running high duty cycle/high power modes like RTTY, buy the higher power version rather than the lower power one.
I was a skeptic myself, initially, until a Ham I talked to near my QTH invited me over to look at it and try it out at his place. His installation was nearly absurd by most measures, but he was making lots of contacts nonetheless. So I bought an EFHF-4010 for a trip I was taking and used it (portable) at various locations with great success. I liked it so much I bought the EFHW-8010 1K version for my West Coast QTH, where it adds 80M and 30M coverage and works great, but has also worked for me on 160M and 60M (not recommended by maker, but works for me at low power levels), in a horizontal V configuration, about 22 feet up.
This is not a miracle antenna, will not work as well as a well-placed Yagi, but is great for travel (coils up into little space), as a nearly invisible stealth antenna (I usually have to point it out to people or they don't notice it) or as a band gap-filler antenna.
If you do happen to run into someone who does not like this antenna and its cousins, ask first: Why, have you used it? Do you have one? I've yet to see a bad review from actual users.
UPDATE (12/28/2019): This antenna continues to simply perform. I had to splice the wire recently at my CA QTH after a tree came down on top of it in a windstorm. No other damage than the broken wire, and easy to fix. External metal hardware is all good quality stainless steel and looks brand new after years of service , both at my CA beach home and my CT beach homes (2).
Best Regards - K6BRN |
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| WU7X |
Rating:      |
2019-12-25 | |
| Works great! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| This is an update to a previous review that seems to have disappeared. I've had this wire up in an inverted L configuration for just over two years. I have just completed 160 m WAS FT8 using a Palstar AT2K to tune it on that band. Previously in the past 24 months I also completed WAS FT8 on 30, 40, and 80 meters. It is well worth the money spent. I hope to add a loop receiving antenna to the setup and begin knocking off some more DX. My best so far on 160 FT8 has been Lithuania from here in 7-land. |
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| K8EZB |
Rating:     |
2019-09-30 | |
| Surprisingly effective antenna |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I am using the EFHW-8010-HP version of this antenna rated at 1.5KW. While the SWR readings are somewhat to substantially higher than those published by the manufacturer, this may be attributable, at least in part, to the unusual installation conditions. To fit within the lot on which it its located, it is installed in a more or less horizontal "L" configuration, with the feed point at 15 ft above ground, sloping down to 7 ft above ground at 90 ft from the feed point, then making an acute angle bend and rising to 10 ft above ground at the far end of the antenna. To complicate matters, the antenna is in close proximity to and below the height of two large steel sided Morton style industrial buildings, and within 50 ft of power lines which parallel a portion of the antenna. Despite all this, SWR readings are 1.7 or better on all bands except 80m, but not as low as specified. On 80m, SWR is about 3.2, which my auto-tuners can handle. I use a MyAntennas common mode choke at the xcvr end of the coax feed.
Given the installation conditions, I have been impressed with the performance of this antenna so far, and expect this can be improved as I experiment further with grounding, feed line length, etc. To date, I have used the antenna for digital modes only (FT8, FT4, RTTY, and PSK31) on 80m-15m. I am consistently able to work stations in these modes throughout the U.S., western Europe, and South America running no more than 50 watts using an Icom IC-7610. In one case, I worked Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean from my Boston area QTH on 20m. Using PSK Reporter, I am finding that I am being heard even more widely than the stations I have worked so far, including Japan, Australia, and New Zealand on 40m. I have also used WSPRnet to further characterize the performance of this antenna and am seeing similar results running just 1 watt.
So, while I don’t yet fully understand some of the measured results I am seeing (SWR in particular) I am impressed with how well this antenna is working given the compromised installation.
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| K7HG |
Rating:      |
2019-06-14 | |
| Nice basic antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I hung mine as an Inverted V with the ends at 10' and the center about 20', using PVC plumbing pipe and their Mounting Kit. It all went together quickly and the quality was very good. I am seeing SWR about as their manual predicted. I will likely ground the feedpoint but I haven't yet. I did install a Common Mode Choke at the end of the coax and it made it quieter by an S-unit or two. I think it is a good product for the price. |
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| W0BKR |
Rating:    |
2019-04-15 | |
| Not For Me sadly |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I really wanted this to work mainly for low band, but in my set up with the tower and slopers, just too much interaction. Mounted 6 Ft up to the eave and then to a 25 foot pole about 25 feet from the nearest sloper, SWR was anywhere from 2.0 to 6.0 to one. I found my sloper heard signals much more (it is up higher and some of the signal strength is noise as all vertical antennas tend to be noisy). Moved to a different location again, not all that far from the existing wires and still no joy. So for me, just not going to work out in this arrangement. Hanging on to it though. |
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| N8FVJ |
Rating:      |
2019-03-08 | |
| LOw SWR All Bands |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is a great performing antenna. It is less than 2 to 1 SWR on all bands. Most are about 1.5 to 1 SWR. No tuner needed, I just tune my tube amplifier for about even lower SWR as the amp has a tuning range.
The antenna has a quiet and strong receive and it must be rather efficient as any good signal always hears my signal. |
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| KB1HMJ |
Rating:      |
2019-02-03 | |
| A simple design and solid performer |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've had this antenna for a few years now and have been pleased. It is not a high altitude dipole or a Yagi on a tower, so it is a compromise in the situation for me, at least. Mine is up as an inverted-V. The vertex is up at 50 feet in the limbs of an oak tree. One end is attached to the feed at 20 feet. and the other end is 12 feet up some distance away. It has survived wind, rain, snow, ice, all the weather that New Hampshire can throw at it. I work mostly on 20m, 40m and 80m: no issues there and really do not need a tuner until the band edge is met on 80m. I can easily work on 17m and others as well, but I do not frequent those bands too much these days. Tuner? Not really needed, but I can use the rig's internal tuner easily enough. For those puzzling the operations of this wire antenna, it is like the classic half-wave, end fed Zepp of old. There are plenty of sites which describe how this works. For those with wires that break: MyAntennas will sell you replacement wires as a package... but you can also just go out and buy the proper length as needed, likely for a lot less money. Just a thought. |
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| K5VVV |
Rating:      |
2019-01-21 | |
| Terrific antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have two of these antennas. One runs from the East end of my lot up to my tower at the 32 foot level and then down to a tree near the front of my lot. The second antenna starts about 10 feet from the base of my tower up to the 32 foot level then to a tree at the east end of my lot then bends back toward the West and ends in a tree near the front of my house. I use the antennas with my Kenwood TS820 running 100 watts out. SWR is as advertised. Most of my activity is on 20 and 40. I have worked all continents using these antennas. I can usually work whatever I can hear. The antennas survived Hurricane Harvey. I am very pleased with their performance. |
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