| EA1BP |
Rating:  |
2005-01-19 | |
| If you make modification, it works great |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Hi,
this is my second review of the antenna. The other was about Superantennas and the way they work (Still bad) :o(
I agree with one who said if you make some modifications, it works well.
In my case I use a Hustler mast, or sometimes a long telescopic antenna (MFJ-1954) and It works very well, lots better than the original MP-1.
Have a try, and you will see you can improve the results.
If you dont have a Hustler mast (Basically because is a bit expensive for what it is), buy a piece of aluminium and use it instead with the same size or so. You will spend few bucks and for sure it will be lighter. Also you can do it in two pieces to fit in your bag.
Have a try.
All the best,
Miguel
EA1BP |
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| JL1KRA |
Rating: |
2004-10-27 | |
| MP1 = full size Zepp |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Every summer I struggled in bush to raize full
size Zepp at my mountain cottage. This year
the MP1 just in front of the house work as well
as the full size zepp. This is amazing but truth
based on my experience. Using KX1 QRP
transceiver, counter stations mainly QRPers
reported nice signals. Only disadvantage of this
antenna is price. I hope manufucture will
lower its price by mass production. Then I would
like to have a second one. Now I am enjoying the
HF portable rather than VHF talkies.
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|
| N9OHW |
Rating: |
2004-10-26 | |
| Very Effective Compact Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I fully recommend the MP-1 antenna for base or portable stations. I originally bought it to use on a condo balcony, but then started using it more and more portable. The anntenna works fantastic in both settings.
While portable, I only use 5 Watts, and this antenna has allowed me to work amazing DX. In just one month I've worked about 20 states, both coasts, Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Islands, Japan, Australia, Holland, Spain, and some rare ones like South Cook Island and Tonga. All with just 5W SSB and the MP-1. So hands-on work with this antenna showed real results.
One way to improve this anntenna is to mount the coil on a longer base. SuperAntennas sells a mobile mast that is about 2' long, or you can buy one from Hustler. I have a 2' mast and a 5' mast that both lengthen this antenna and get the loading coil up.
However, I've also worked great DX with just the 8" mast supplied with the MP-1.
It seems that it is very important to have a good radial system for this antenna for it to be effective. It comes with a set of 4 10' radials made out of computer cable. For the first week I had this antenna, I used these radials and had great success. However, after some tinkering, I cut my own radials out of similar 4 conductor computer cable, each 16.5' long, or 1/4 wavelenth on 20M. This seems to make it easier to tune the antenna for low SWR and also seems to improve the radiation.
The whole antenna breaks down in to small parts so that you can put them in a carry-on or backpack for a true portable station.
I also bought all the accessories: the 80M coil, the tripod, and the FT-817 bracket. I have only used the 80M coil for receive, and I haven't yet put the bracket on the radio. The tripod works fine and unscrews into a very small package for easy travel. If you lengthen the antenna with a longer mast, you may find that the tripod won't keep the antenna up in strong wind.
I've also tried mounting the MP-1 on a camera tripod with the supplied C-clamp. This works very well, elevates the feedpoint, and gives the antenna a sturdy base if there is wind.
The antenna seems to be very tough. I've left it out in wind and rain and the tube still slides smoothly on the coil.
When the antenna fell once, the plastic screw that holds the tube in place broke. The designer of the antenna, Vern, W6MMA, immediately sent me two replacement screws as soon as I sent him an email. Great customer service.
Overall, this antenna is a great partner to both my FT-817 for portable work and IC-706 for base work. Sometimes, I keep my 817 and MP-1 in a backpack in my car, and if the weather is good and there is a band opening, I'll set the antenna up at a park for a break at work. I can get everything set up in 5 minutes, work some DX, and then pack it all up again and get back to work.
I recommend this antenna highly. |
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| VA2VYZ |
Rating: |
2004-10-09 | |
| An good portable solution |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Hi,
I recently ordered and received the MP-1 antenna from W6MMA.
I read a lot about this antenna before ordering.. Some people do not like it, some people do... And the good result depends on how people experiment and use this antenna.
A few points that make me choose this antenna:
- I have a Buddipole, and they use the same threading, so parts of one antenna can fit on the other and vice versa.
===) The combination of those two antenna makes an excellent experimental kit like LEGO blocks!!! (==
- MP-1 is a very small kit. For a backpacker like me, weight, space requirement, etc...
- The quality of construction of this antenna is almost as good as the Buddipole.
One thing that is very important, if you use 80M coil option on the MP-1..... don't even think to use the radial kit that normally comes with the antenna.....
You must build another radial kit. I built one using cheap #18 AWG twin speaker wires. Do 2 wires of 33 feet each, splice the two wires to separate each wire. So you will have a total of 4 wires of 33 feet each. Using a cable terminator, attach the 4 wires to the radial terminal on the base on the MP-1 like before. Deploy the radial in a star pattern... like a big X. Note that the use of a MFJ antenna analyzer is really recommended to fine tune the antenna and to save a lot of "AAARRRGHHH" time!!!
The transmit and receive gain is greatly improved !!! 33 feet is approximatively 1/4 wave lenght of a 80M antenna based on frequency 3.750 Mhz....
So the kit is enough compact to fit in your Elecraft K2 case.
73 |
|
| KB3JLZ |
Rating: |
2004-09-20 | |
| Pretty good! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Owned this guy for about 2.5 months now. It works rather well if you do the modifications as listed by others in this review. Basically,
1. Take the counterpoise supplied with the antenna and toss it into your junk box. Take that handy dandy roll of #22 Radio shellac speaker wire and cut two 33' lengths and split the zipwire into four wires and use that as the counterpoise instead.
Another issue I have is the 80m loading coil. Is it me or is it kinda off kilter (threads not cut straight at all) when you put it together? It dosent make it work any worse but im one of those folks that feels fidgity if it dont look straight (read wierd!)
I didnt buy the "tripod" that comes with it instead use an old heavy duty video cam tripod I had down in the basement.
Not a bad choice for a multiband vertical. You could do worse and spend a lot more money. |
|
| IV3EPO |
Rating: |
2004-09-14 | |
| The best for portable op. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I'm just returned from SV5 and for the first time I've used the MP1 for a long time.
With my FT-897 and it in CW I did many qso all over Europe and most of them gave me 599.
It works fine in Rx and also in Tx, easy tuning and heavy costruction.
No questions about it...it's the best portable antenna you can buy.
73 Giorgio IV3EPO |
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| KC8ERP |
Rating: |
2004-07-20 | |
| Suprised at the results!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I recently moved into an apartment building and was just looking to at least be able to monitor HF and saw some good reviews of this antenna and decided to give it a try. Picked it up at HRO in Woodbridge and after seeing its size in person wasn't expecting too much....got home, clamped it on the balcony rail (12th floor) attatched the radial wires and fired up the rig. I have been very impressed..worked Algeria, England, Croatia, etc all with 55-59 reports. The antenna seems to be very well constructed and I can't wait to try it mobile as an alternative to my Hustler coils. |
|
| KE2SP |
Rating: |
2004-04-03 | |
| Tricky |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I ordered one to use with my FT-817 for an upcoming trip. When I received it I thought it was very slick, well made, a work of art. But after I tried to use it the 'romance' ended. It is very difficult to adjust to frequency without using an SWR bridge, and I don't want to carry one of those. It gave a great match when screwed into a mag mount on my car, however, when mounted on the supplied clamp mount (which is a nice design) I found that it was a big pain to adjust. Because the metal tube which slides over the coil acts like a capacitor plate, as soon as I moved my hand near the coil it was detuned. This meant that I had to use a plastic ruler to push down on it to try to adust it (literally tuning with the proverbial 10 foot pole). I'd like some of those reviewers who said it was easy to adjust to frequency to explain how they did it, how long it took, and what equipment they used. I don't buy it. I have a homebrew bug-catcher whip on my car and it was a lot easier to adjust and the clips stay in place so that returning to a band is simple (much the same as a buddipole or MFJ bugcatcher). Also, unless you adjust the length of the counterpoise to a quarter wavelength at the band of operation, the feedline currents are unbalanced and touching the rig detunes everything. I finally gave up and shipped it back to HRO for a refund. I then built up a short dipole (16 feet)with tapped loading coils, which is easy to bandswitch (move clip leads) over 10 - 20 meters and it works like gangbusters from here in Greece (SV8 IOTA EU-075). The MP-1 might have been handier to mount in some situations, but it wasn't worth the trouble to me. |
|
| N2ZD |
Rating: |
2004-03-10 | |
| It even works in bathrooms!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Hi Rich here,
I ordered my MP-1 from a ham store on Ebay and saved about 10 bucks that way from the factory websites cost. It came with the antenna, an extension mast, collapsable whip for the top, counterpoise wires (cheesy) and a nice mounting bracket with a "c" clamp. Add a piece of coax to it, mount it and your off.
Out of the box the fit and finish is good, and the antenna is assembled with care and attention (my hats off to Vern!). I did lots of research before buying any antenna and felt this was the way I wanted to go. It is easy to adjust and setting the bands becomes intuitive, it will do 40 thru 10m out of the box no tuner or traps needed.
How does it work you ask? Well, while tuning around I found the rx qualities to be very good. I was regularly pulling in stations at s-8 thru s9+ (its no beam at 80 feet but impressive to say the least). I set it using my 817 on an unused 20m freq for the most noise on RX and this will give you a ballpark figure on setting it for low swr on TX without hunting around for a match and bothering other hams. I then set the rig to AM and quickly set it for low swr. Bada bing, no problem.
I found a station in Florida a few kc's away on 20m (where I had quickly set it) I sent out my call once and WA2JUN Tony in Ocala Florida came right back, he said I had no kilowatt signal but it was a respectable 5x5 with the lousy 3 watts I was running. Hey not bad from my bathroom (dont ask) !! First shot! I'm impressed.
Anyway, it works and works real well while keeping the footprint of the "817 experience" small, I did add a few of Verns accessories that I ordered right from his shop (super fast shipping BTW)I bought the 80m coil and the 817 mounting bracket, all received in record time. I didnt have time to try out the 80m coil, but I will report back here on it at a later time.
The coil threads right on and off for easy use. The bracket I added is nice, it allows you to mount the MP-1 directly to the side of the rig (or any other threaded antenna for that matter) for back pack portability Vern includes the screws that match the rig which allow for the thickness of the machined bracket, it swivels to allow the radio to be flat or upright (military manpack style). If you use it indoors simply tilt it forward so the weight of the antenna pushes forward against the 817 (so it stays upright and wont fall over).
The MP-1 is a nice package for under 200 bucks (with all of the optional accessories)and best of all it works. Yes, I wouldnt over tighten the plastic retaining nut for the coil as it will strip, but this prevents you from damaging the coil if overtightened. Nice Job Vern!! I would kiss you if I were in California!! :-) Regards.. Richy N2ZD |
|
| KG4JBJ |
Rating: |
2004-02-21 | |
| Manufacturer promptly replaced defective part(s) |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Note: This is my second review of this antenna, to indicate that a problem with it was satisfactorily resolved.
I have two of these MP-1 antennas. One purchased in late 2001, the other in summer of 2002.
I was pleased with them, using them to mainly listen (with one CW contact made) until recently, when the one purchased in 2002 recently stopped operating. I was suddenly unable to move the tuning sleeve on the coil. It had frozen up, like it had been superglued. I figured that the metals had fused together, but when I shipped the parts back to the manufacturer, he explained that a part of the coil had become loose and jammed up the parts, and sent me replacement parts.
In the past, I had received quick responses from Vern (W6MMA) with regard to questions and replacement counterpoises and tuning lock knobs, and was pleased with his product support. In this case, it took a little bit longer for his initial response, due to travel, but once we got in contact, things were resolved quickly.
The portability can't be beat. I can fit an MP-1 into its original box, along with a tripod assembly, and be ready to use the antenna in just a few minutes. Using the analyzer, the antenna tunes up as specified in the instructions, as long as it is kept away from other metal structures, which can de-tune it. One of the antennas went with me overseas, in 2002. |
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