| M3VXJ |
Rating:  |
2018-02-15 | |
| Awful |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've had this about 11 years. It got chucked in the attic after I struggling with it in 2007. Given I have more experience now I thought I'd give it another go. I cannot get a better SWR than about 4:1. I remember why I didn't use it. RX is fine with counterpoise but TX SWR is just too high. RX would probably be fine with some wire plugged in to the back. What a waste of money. Given other people's success with this, I wonder whether the quality is a bit variable. Mine is not particularly high quality... |
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| VK2ZEE |
Rating: |
2017-02-20 | |
| atx walkabout |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Bought this antenna 10 years ago,dug it out just recently ,thought I would give this another chance and have a good go at taming this thing .....well all I can say is DONT BUY IT ,you will do better with a wire slung into the trees ,the atx is just not worth the effort truly |
|
| EI5JZ |
Rating:  |
2014-11-28 | |
| Excellent. Stupid beginning. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| This is excellent. I was so stupid and mounted the loading coil upside down. No match possible because the the wander lead sockets didn't match the instructions, no 1 is the lowest one and no 6 the one at the top of the coil. I ended up connecting no 6 and no 4 for 14Mhz. That can't work. The instructions with the wander lead / sockets points are very close to reality. Adjust SWR with the counterpoise according to the counterpoise lenghts given in the instructions. |
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| OH8GEJ |
Rating: |
2014-08-27 | |
| Better than expected |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The ATX Walkabout is an amazing antenna. I have owned this one since 2003 and would never consider parting ways with it as long as I am into /P QRP operations. Certainly, one could get better performance out of a buddipole or other larger antenna, but to compare this antenna with them is simply silly! The point of this antenna is to have a small size antenna which can be used man-portable. It's called "ATX WALKABOUT" after all! So if you go into this discussion understanding the focus and goal of this antenna, its very difficult to fault it.
Tuning the antenna is very simple. The tap points for specific bands simplifies operations, and it only takes a few tries to get used to the tuning method. NO TUNER IS NEEDED.
People often say they don't require a counterpoise! There is some truth to that, but not the entire truth. You can tune this antenna without a counterpoise on 18 meter and up. With that said, performance is certainly increased when using a counterpoise. So don't believe that "no counterpoise" nonsense. Below 18 meters is impossible and requires a tuned counterpoise for best performance. Personally I use a a fixed length counterpoise (6 meters length) and the only band I cant tune well is 20 meters.
Finally, I use this antenna man-portable. I am not always heard, but I regularly make contacts out to 2000km range. Storage size and carrying weight are reasonable for extreme hiking, reaching summits, or the back country explorer who cares about weight! For the operator who drives to his outdoor activation, there is no point to buy this antenna. For that QRP adventurer, its a compromise, but its the best compromise.
The only problem I have ever had with this antenna was the contacts breaking about the taps. That was easy enough to repair. Just do a search for "ATX Walkabout antenna repair".
Other than that, I have not found any problems. You'll have to be patient though. Getting used to the tuning method might be confusing for some new hams.
best regards
OH8GEJ
----------------------
Earlier 4-star review posted by OH8GEJ on 2014-08-27
The ATX Walkabout is an amazing antenna. I have owned this one since 2003 and would never consider parting ways with it as long as I am into /P QRP operations. Certainly, one could get better performance out of a buddipole or other larger antenna, but to compare this antenna with them is simply silly! The point of this antenna is to have a small size antenna which can be used man-portable. It's called "ATX WALKABOUT" after all! So if you go into this discussion understanding the focus and goal of this antenna, its very difficult to fault it.
Tuning the antenna is very simple. The tap points for specific bands simplifies operations, and it only takes a few tries to get used to the tuning method. NO TUNER IS NEEDED.
People often say they don't require a counterpoise! There is some truth to that, but not the entire truth. You can tune this antenna without a counterpoise on 18 meter and up. With that said, performance is certainly increased when using a counterpoise. So don't believe that "no counterpoise" nonsense. Below 18 meters is impossible and requires a tuned counterpoise for best performance. Personally I use a a fixed length counterpoise (6 meters length) and the only band I cant tune well is 20 meters.
Finally, I use this antenna man-portable. I am not always heard, but I regularly make contacts out to 2000km range. Storage size and carrying weight are reasonable for extreme hiking, reaching summits, or the back country explorer who cares about weight! For the operator who drives to his outdoor activation, there is no point to buy this antenna. For that QRP adventurer, its a compromise, but its the best compromise.
The only problem I have ever had with this antenna was the contacts breaking about the taps. That was easy enough to repair. There is a video about the repair and maintenance of the antenna http://youtu.be/EqRKwq_j_sQ
best regards
OH8GEJ |
|
| HB9LCF |
Rating: |
2014-01-07 | |
| Did not match ... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Bougth this one from wimo in Germany. Setup for receive was simple.
I experimented with the FT-817 to bring it up in the air.
Without tuner difficult, I used just 1 radial lambda/4-long 1/2 m over ground.
Size and weight are fine to be portable.
Sold it after buing a buddypole.
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|
| SV1JRF |
Rating: |
2011-04-19 | |
| Excellent little antenna! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased this antenna after a fellow Radio amateur operator gave it to me for a test. He told me that it will tune everywhere with no efford and also that i do not need a counterpoise. I could not believe him till i started testing it. I placed the antenna at the rear of the FT-817 with a 90 degree adaptor. 10m first, i placed the little cable at the apropriate holes of the center coil and voila! The swr meter of the 817 showed 2 bar of swr. I lowered the vertical element a little bit and no swr at all! the same thing happened with all the other bands! even in 17m and 12 meter bands. No swr indication on the swr meter of the 817. I also made qso's using 5 watts all around Europe and Russia, Israel and Japan(which really amazed me because i was heard from the JA station through pille up). And all these with only 5watts. Off course we all know that the propagation goes up so this hepled alot. After that i tried to increase the antenna efficiency. What i did about that, i used a tuned counterpoise which worked great.
Amazing antenna for all that like qrp qso's. At the past i was using several antennas at my qth with 500watts power but believe me there is nothing like doing a qso with only 5watts even if it is in my neighborhood(meaning Europe).
I recommend this little antenna, and also i recommend using counterpoises for increased antenna efficiency, it will help alot!
Thank you very much,
73 de SV1JRF
George |
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| SV2HTC |
Rating: |
2011-02-02 | |
| very good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Maybe the performance is not that of a full size antenna, but before purchasing I already knew that and for its price and size I evaluated that 4/5 is OK. It cooperates with my Yaesu 817 mostly in CW mode. Maybe a portable dipole would do better but this is very light and won't need a tuner for different bands. It surely needs counterpoise and as I 've seen on web, I use a metallic measuring tape about max length of 8 meters. Using the mathematical type on the brochure you calculate the counterpoise's length and in 2 min you are set. It was Ok for my cw qsos and for all my HF-SOTA activations. 73 to all |
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| M0JHA |
Rating: |
2010-03-07 | |
| it works |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
i was given this antenna to try and it sat for 12 months as i couldn't tune it with the using the 1/4 wave counterpoise at lowest freq method i was told to use. didn't work on my car on any band except 10m 2m.
i then decided to spend a few hours and tame this beast.. i won't go into it here but my website has a page on it www.m0jha.com
does it work? yes i can set it up anywhere with repeatable swr results. RX seems very good indeed ,on par if not better than other more expensive portable qrp antennas.
The little time i have had to use it with it being winter has been very promising with contacts easily made into europe on 20m. 40 as expected is a little harder but still managed contacts with ease.. 80m not tried as i dont really do 80m so it working or not on that band doesn't matter to me.
i think the antenna is well worth the money and if second hand you cant grumble. initial tuning can be a pain but once done this antenna takes minutes to set up and it works..
this one is a keeper . I no longer think the atx is a waste of time and money . check out my web page for an easy way to cut the counterpoise so just one needs taking out with you. |
|
| G0LGB |
Rating: |
2008-06-16 | |
| Excellent! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Well I got back into radio a few months back after a gap of many years, I bought myself a little FT-817 (a cracking qrp rig)& I read the reviews I bought one of these ATX telescopic whips from a local dealer...(from his comments & price paid F5NZY seems to be confusing it with the Miracle whip??).
£45 for an all band antenna seemed too good to be true but after reading assorted reviews i thought I'd give one a go.
It's unlikely to last very long mobile,its not meant to,so I parked up on my way home, connected it to my mag-mount on the car roof, tuned the rig to 10m fm, dropped the power,plugged the little wander lead into the correct holes, put out a carrier & adjusted the length, as per instructions & watched the swr...sure enough within an inch or two of the recommended length the swr dropped to zero. This procedure only took about a minute or so.
Tuned up the band & found a HB9 station just winding up a qso..I waited a min then gave him a call...5&9 he replied...I was pleasantly surprised , then I noticed i hadn't changed the power setting...I had just worked him on 2.5 watts not the full mighty 5! That's approx 1,000kms!
I changed bands/modes to 20m ssb, again the antenna tuned in very easily, I put out a call or two & got a Dutch station again fine report...
Then i started getting "broken" reception & the swr kept shooting up, the 817 flashing the dreaded HIGH VSWR warning..I wiggled the antenna about slightly & discovered the problem...& to me the only fault with this antenna...the supplied adaptors.
Throw them away & buy some decent ones, they really are lousy very lightweight items.
It seems the centre pin on the 3/82 to PL259 adaptor had been damaged by the small amount of breeze, as the antenna bent slightly, it broke the centre pin so every sway disconnected the antenna.
So back to the shop, £4.50 spent on a quality adaptor & I was back on the air again.
In a couple of hours i had got a wide & varied selection of stations from 80m up to a local 6m repeater, all good reports & the antenna performed flawlessly!
Back home, due to space & neighbours (& no garden!) I have nowhere for a decent outside antenna so it was "stealth mode" time...this involved sticking the ATX back into the mag-mount..this time in my attic(to try to reduce rf in the "shack")...ok not the best location for an HF antenna...but you have to make do with what you have...I use an MFJ931 artificial earth to balance the antenna against a tunable counterpoise...& again I cannot fault this antenna!
In the last couple of months I have got into psk & all the other digital modes with great success with this antenna from my attic...43 countries, all over Europe,averaging around 1500kms but getting as far as 5,000kms at times.
(although last time i was on air we were at sunspot max...this minimum business isn't fun is it?)
I've recently put a small end fed zepp outside, purely as it was such a chore to change bands with it in my attic, so I only use it portable now, but it has had lots of use, works well & i'd recommend them to anyone...just remember spend a little more & buy some decent adaptors & you should be very happy with this little antenna. |
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| M3OCH |
Rating: |
2007-08-21 | |
| excellent |
Time Owned: N.A. |
Just bought an ATX Mk 2 to go with my Yaesu 817ND
Great little antenna works well with counterpoise no probs £49 great value for the money been into europe from the uk several times today! easy to operate and set up.............if you have an 817 try one of these you will not be dissapointed! |
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