| W7AML |
Rating:      |
2016-09-11 | |
| As advertised |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Received in a couple of days after ordering, was very impressed with the quality of the build. High end is at 50 to 60 above the ground with the low end at about 10' on the eave of my shack. SWR's are as advertised without using any external means, I do use the tuner in my radio to trim a couple that are 2+. |
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| W5RG |
Rating:      |
2016-08-03 | |
| GREAT ANTENNA |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I live in a HOA and have used the EFHW 80-10 meter end feed antenna before, I wanted this antenna to have a larger balun for 1.5 KW plus 160-10 meter operation. I used my own wire which is smaller than what he sends with the package because my wire is harder to see by the HOA cops! It is mounted 30ft at each end and after playing with a counterpoise the only band with high SWR is 80 meters at 3:1 all the rest are 1.5 or less. I can use my tuner in the rig for 80 meters. The counterpoise worked out to be a little over 100ft long and ran down from the tree to the ground which I then just lay the rest on the ground around the back yard. After playing with that I raised the feed line...50ft of lmr-400...6ft off the ground to the 1:1 balun then into the shack. Very well made and so far very happy with it.. Bob W5RG |
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| KK4MC |
Rating:      |
2016-07-09 | |
| Performs as Advertised |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Installed as Inverted "L", vertical up about 40' (balun on dead stump about 3' off ground), and remainder of Horizontal connected to vent cover via supplied insulator at 2nd story roof top height (slops down slightly from Apex).
SWR dips are all as advertised, 1.7 and below, most are 1.5 +/- 0.1.
Great antenna for $ and thinking about a back up for portable use.
Highly recommend.
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| WA2ZFO |
Rating:      |
2016-06-23 | |
| Outstanding performance & versatile |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I've had this gem of an antenna up for about 6 months now, and wanted to give it some time before I posted a review.
I generally love wire antennas, but this EFHW-8010 is truly awesome. With 100 watts or less, I've been making some very nice contacts, both DX and stateside.
My configuration is an Inverted-L, with the vertical up about 30 feet, and the horizontal out about 90 feet to a tree 40 feet high. I then have a 10' "tail" end extended away from the tree.
While not a perfect "L", its performance is outstanding.
SWR is less than 2:1 across all bands, typically 1.5:1 or less, however it needs a bit of tuning help on 80 and 30 meters.
I use 100 feet of RG-213/U and a copper ground rod. No other counterpoise or radials.
As I mentioned, I've been using the EFHW-8010 for about 6 months, and I couldn't be happier with its performance across all bands in all modes.
Another very important consideration is the customer service from Danny - E73M. I had many questions prior to purchase, and he spent quite a bit of time with me discussing configurations, antenna theory, and even how this EFHW could be modeled.
Danny is a great guy, and designs very very good antennas!
The antenna has made it through a bad New Jersey winter and windstorms just fine. Construction is solid and you can see Danny's attention to quality.
If anyone wants details on my QSOs and my EFHW-8010 configuration, please feel free to email me.
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| WB4DBO |
Rating:      |
2016-05-28 | |
| Does what it claims to do! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased the EFHW 80-10 and was a little skeptical about the SWR claims! The end fed design fit well on my restricted HOA lot. Not having to run a counterpoise was a big factor in my trying this antenna. The antenna arrived in two days. I am impressed with the quality and fit/finish of the antenna! First rate on all components. Now the true test, does it work as advertised? YES IT DOES! The antenna performs as advertised. The SWR was measured using my K3 SWR meter. All SWR readings were around 1:1.3 with the highest 1:1.8 on 30 meters. I no longer use the K3 internal tuner with this antenna. My antenna is installed as a slopper, high end at 70 feet and end fed end at 6 feet. I have a ground rod with copper braid grounding the end fed box. Using 100 feet of RG8X, no counterpoise needed. I ran about two weeks of comparisons with this antenna and my other end fed wire, 9 to 1 UNUN and dipoles. The EFHW performed better and generally had a lower noise level. It was not uncommon to have a S unit or more RST in TX report and receive report. This antenna is well suited to the restrictive HOA environment. It can be configured to fit most restrictive situations. Inverted Vee works well with this antenna. In summary, the EFHW 80-10 is a quality antenna that delivers what it promises! |
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| N4RAY |
Rating:      |
2016-05-27 | |
| Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This antenna works better than described,took down my dipole,the end fed antenna has great swr no tuner needed,put it up just opposite my other antennas now working people I couldn't before,
Never had a 80 meter antenna with 1:1:1 swr the light doesn't even show up,it's quiet and if I hear them I get them was even qrp, you can't go wrong with this antenna I got it up as inverted Vee 12' off ground at box 6' off ground on other end and works great,when my loop breaks I'll be getting another endfed, great communications,get one you need it |
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| N5ID |
Rating:      |
2016-05-07 | |
| Excellent antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I was very skeptical of an multi-band end fed antenna with a matching transformer, But after putting this antenna in the air (About 20' feet at the high end and 8' at the low end) it far exceeds my expectations. The SWR on 40, 20, and 15 meters is flat across the entire band. SWR is as advertised on other bands. It actually works and I would recommend this to anyone who lives in an antenna restricted area. |
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| TBUSHNEL |
Rating:      |
2016-04-16 | |
| Great antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I was able to put the antenna up and use without tuner on most bands. This is despite a suboptimal setup. It is in an inverted V configuration with the ends bent >90 degrees (~Z shape as viewed from above) to fit my small lot. Also, the tip of the V is only ~18' up and is very close to an 8' length of metal gutter. The worst band for me is 10m with VSWR ~3. otherwise less than 2 on all other bands. |
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| K4MPE |
Rating:      |
2016-04-11 | |
| Remarkable Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After 57 years of hamming (mostly chasing DX) health & age issues forced a downsizing. We sold our big house and my big rigs, ants, etc and moved to a small house. Decided to keep things simple. Saw Danny's ad in QST & ordered the EFHW-1080 a few months ago. Installed it the week before ARRL DX test in February in an inverted sloping L config with feed end @ 12', apex & far end at 50' in my trees. After years of big beams, I wasn't expecting a lot. To my surprise, I found myself working the world on CW/digital with 100w or less. I won't bore you with the details, but some of my most recent DX was FT4JA & VK0EK on 40m & 30 m (needed for "band countries"). I have worked 50 new band countries and added such items as 3B9, FR5, T32, TX7, A9, ZL, VK, 4W, LU1ZI (S.Shet), many EU and SA stations to name a few. Most of these (almost 500 QSOs) have been on 80, 40 and 30 meters. Stateside contacts have yielded excellent reports. Considering the band conditons lately, I have been pleased! Maybe its my location... antenna...luck? Who knows. I have continued my many years of chasing DX thanks to an excellent designed antenna. Not to mention, I'm having a blast busting the pileups when only I know what I'm using! Hamming continues on with just a very basic setup. Highly recommend the antenna!
Phil K4MPE |
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| NW6V |
Rating:      |
2016-03-29 | |
| Outstanding results at my marginal QTH |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My urban QTH is not great for low band DXing - a postage stamp sized 1/6th acre lot, lots of QRM from scads of gadget-happy neighbors, and naturally, low hills in most directions. But hey, moving isn't in the cards, so getting smarter was the only option.
Two years ago I put up a 70 ft. longwire fed with a 9:1 unun, 30 feet AGL. With many, many hours of hard work I managed to get 41 DXCC entities in the log. But the noise levels were awful - shattering - but even so, many stations I could hear couldn't hear me. Quite frustrating.
In an attempt to improve things - by increasing efficiency - I lengthened the wire to 116 feet, oriented as sort of an Inverted-L, but testing at 500W, I noted the SWR creeping up rapidly and discovered that the UNUN was hotter than hades... this wasn't "working." It was melting.
About then I saw an ad for the myantennas 80-10 on DX-world.net, and decided to give it a try. At the suggestion of Danny, the designer, I ended up with the matching transformer from the 160-40 version with the antenna wire from the 80-10. It's erected on the same supports as the previous longwire, with the extra length down the first pole as sort of an inverted-U.
The first thing I noted is that it was quieter than the LW. Not by much - a few DB perhaps, but the character of the noise was quite different. I always use a large-screen panadapter, so I "see" the band, and it is just "smoother" and less chaotic. It is a marked difference and makes copying signals down into the noise much easier. I remarked on this to Danny, and he offered the opinion that the resonant nature of the antenna acts as something of a band-pass filter, so that the effects of noise outside the passband are lessened. This seems reasonable, and matches what I see.
Second, by adding a couple of feet to the antenna I managed to get the SWR on the low end of 80 down to about 1.6:1 without a tuner. On 40, it's at 1.7:1 at the low end, and 1.2:1 around 7200. (I'm a 100% CW guy). And on 30M, for which the matchbox is not designed, the SWR is 3:1 but easily comes down to 1.2:1 with a tuner.
Third: It works. And by that I mean I've added 15 new DXCC entities on 80 in the last month - and the perception that "no one can hear me" is gone. On the contrary; I've succeeded in working anyone I've been able to hear. This is so different that I've ordered a Pixel loop as a receiving antenna, in order to further improve my receiving S/N ratios, with some confidence that I'll have a shot at working them.
As an anecdote: just yesterday AM VK0EK came up on 30 CW around sunrise pacific time. He was weak - just barely copyable - working JAs and US stns. So I joined in - and got him on the second call! Then wondering if 80 was open, I tuned down to 3534 and there he was again - and again I got him on the second call! I was floored - 11,500 miles from here to there is just about halfway around the world. And based on experience, I don't believe either Q would have happened on the previous 9:1.
Highly recommended.
PS: I put my antenna up the week before the QST review came out - so it didn't influence my choice - or my perceptions. |
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