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Reviews For: ATX Walkabout Portable Antenna

Category: Antennas: HF Portable (not mobile)

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Review Summary For : ATX Walkabout Portable Antenna
Reviews: 31MSRP: 59.99 British Pounds
Description:
A portable telescopic antenna covering 80-6M
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.wsplc.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00313.4
CT5GSI Rating: 2002-09-16
Wonderfull antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the SO-239 right angle version, so no stress on the BNC plug. First time I use it, it was inside my living room with FT-817 (5W) on 10m band adding only a ground wire to the radio according to antenna instructions. Good reception and them I pressed the PTT... Wonderfull, not only I could hear but they hear me too. I´m in Portugal and in this conditions I worked USA, Canada, Italy, Yoguslavia and South Africa in an hour. What could I ask more. I was inside home making DX from the sofa in a rainy day. I worked also in 2m band, but couldn't take out some SWR, tought I could work all repeaters. No experience in other bands. Please, try this antenna!!! It fits the spirit of the FT-817. I waiting for my second FT-817, Z-11 ATU (for dipoles) and of course, my second ATX Walkabout.

73's
Nuno B. (Portugal)
EA1BP Rating: 2002-08-25
Good antenna for FT-817 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Easy antenna. Its very easy to use. Maybe the worse thing is that its tooo heavy for the BNC conector (Anyway there is the traditional conector to put it in a magnetic antenna or somwhere).
First QSO on 21 Mhz with TF (But in my room, over my bed) and then...TA0, UA9,...
What do you expect for an antenna with this size???

I bought mine in England (Ebay.co.uk). About 45 pounds. New one is 89 pounds.


EA1BP
K4ZAU Rating: 2002-03-20
Yuck. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got the MFJ version of this antenna. Bad idea. I bought it for use with my FT-817... wait a minute, that's what everyone buys it for. Nevermind that, then. Annnnyway I tried it both through an extension hooked up to the rear SO-239 and directly on the front panel. I used the recommended counterpoise as well. It received well on all bands when in either jack, but I called CQ several times under various conditions/locations and did not make any contacts whatsoever. I tried changing the counterpoise, length of whip, etc. but nothing worked. I took this thing back to MFJ and used the money to get a tuner and mobile antenna. Overall, a 1 of 5, because it is a cool idea, and did great for receiving, but is overpriced, flimsy, and useless for transmitting.

73 de Jake k4zau/5
N3CS Rating: 2002-03-11
First Impression, Good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First, what is it? The ATX Walkabout is a small, low power (5-25W), base-loaded, telescopic antenna with taps for 80 through 6. (see http://www.wsplc.co.uk/). Has BNC, Coax or 3/8" stud mount options. Intended as a very portable HF antenna. As a receiving antenna, it's excellent and isn't a fuss at all. Just plug in to your radio and select the right tap with whip extended. As transmitter, it's a little more fuss and compromised (nothing in radio/life comes free). Aside from like low TX power rating and inefficiency of small coils, a counterpoise wire is essential for matching and transmitting! Just over $100, shipped, from England.

I first "characterized" the antenna with my MFJ antenna analyer. I found I could get less than 2:1 SWR on the 5 HF bands (I did not fool with WARC bands, but suspect it's OK there) using the suggested counterpoise wires (a little less than 1/4 wave each). HOWEVER, the supplied whip (just 4') was 12-18" too short to match two of the bands, so I had to make a longer whip from junk box parts. I recorded the whip lengths for each band to have a closer starting point later to fune tune for best SWR. On 80 and even 40, you'll even need to adjust a few times across the band.

I then tried it on the roof of my car without the counterpoise and found this arrangement OK as well. I used a mag mount with a BNC jack and coaxed to the radio. Again, 2:1 SWR or less possible on all 5 HF bands with the longer whip length again needed on same 2 bands. With 20W, I quickly worked Ukraine and France on phone (15 and 20 meters) from the East Coast just fine.

I think this is a decent product if not a little pricey and perhaps in need of a 6' whip design. It's really misnamed "Walkabout" as the BNC would not likely survive the stresses of moving while in use nor would dragging a 50' counterpoise for 80 meters be too smart! Maybe "Campabout" is a better name?
KQ6XA Rating: 2001-12-17
-4.6dB Down from a 1/4wave Whip Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I purchased three of these and gave one to a friend. It is convenient, and I've worked some DX on it, but very weak signals on transmit. It's somewhat lossy but usable.
The ATX was measured at the HFpack Pedestrian Antenna Shootout using an FT-817 on 20meter CW. The antenna measured about -4.6dB down from a fullsize quarterwave whip. It was one of the average efficient antennas tested. The Outbacker Joey was similar in loss to the ATX, and the "Miracle" was 5dB worse. The Superantennas MP-1 is 3dB better than the ATX. That's like twice the power. So I mostly use the MP-1 now when I am walking portable or pedestrian mobile.
See the results and photos of the antenna shootout event at:
http://www.hfpack.com
Here is a sample of the measured dB results... Reference Vertical is a quarterwave whip.
-------------------------------------------------
VERTICAL POLARIZATION
ANTENNA=========================dB+/-Ref
Reference Vertical============== 0.00
KA5DVS "PAC-12M" =============== -1.76
SuperAntennas MP-1 ============= -1.88
KA5DVS "PAC-12"================= -1.88
SuperAntennas MP-2============== -1.94
Webster Short Bandspanner======= -3.92
Diamond RHM5==================== -3.95
Waters & Stanton ATX Walkabout== -4.61
KA5S Backpack Delta Loop======== -4.82
Outbacker Tri-Split============= -5.03
Outbacker Joey================== -5.12
Miracle Antenna Miracle Whip==== -10.48
W6ZO Portable Delta Loop======== -10.78
Miracle Whip [no counterpoise]== -29.21
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Note: The estimated "margin of error" was +/-0.3dB.

http://www.hfpack.com
All about HF Portable.

73---Bonnie KQ6XA
AB8JC Rating: 2001-08-02
Mechanically weak, good performance for tiny whip Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First thing to remember is that this is no beam! Seems like a lot of folks have unrealistic expectations for the latest generation of tiny antennas (MP-1, ATX, Maldol, Miracle Whip). These are all heavily loaded, extremely short verticals, and as such, their performance is very compromised compared to full-size antennas. That said, you can do some amazing work with these things!

The electrical design of the antenna is ok -- it's basically a lightweight version of the Outbacker tapped-coil loaded vertical, with a telescoping whip rather than a "stinger." Having such a small diameter coil means it's a low-Q, thus low efficiency, antenna. It is extremely convenient for pedestrian mobile HF work. You must use a "counterpoise" with this antenna; typically a 1/4-wave piece of wire trailed out behind as you walk. It'll work better if you can elevate this "radial" above lossy ground, of course.

The mechanical design is weak. Most are being sold with BNC connectors. Mine came that way, and the spike on the antenna connector broke off (and is still stuck) in my rig within a day. The local radio store wanted ~$100 to fix the radio, so I ordered the part direct from Yaesu (hasn't arrived yet but I don't anticipate any problems fixing it myself). If you get an ATX with the BNC, *RUN*, don't walk, to Radio Shack or your local ham store and pick up a female phono plug to PL-259 adapter (get a couple PL-259 90 degree elbows while you're at it). Pull the BNC off the antenna and replace it with the adapter you just got. It's just a press-fit, though it is kind of tight.

I also had the whip portion break off, just as Anthony (previous poster) did. I haven't decided what to do about it yet, other than telling the dealer (WiMo) about it and requesting a new whip.

All said, if I had it to do over; I'd get an MP-1 from Vern Wright, W6MMA (www.superantennas.com). It's almost as small and far superior, both mechanically and electrically.
VK2ATN Rating: 2001-07-25
Quite well made and it work's Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased my ATX-PL Walkabout antenna from WSPLC over the net and it only took 4 days to be delivered to Australia from the UK, "WOW". Once I got the antenna out of the box I found it to be fairly well made and quite light in weight. After I decided to read the instructions seeing it is only 2 pages I then proceeded to screw the ext-whip section to the black coil base. As I was screwing the 2 sections together I heard a slight snAP! After inspecting the base of the whip, I then noticed what had happened. The brass housing that was "spot glued" onto the bottom of the whip which then screws onto the top of the coil had broken due to insufficiant amount of glue. So what I then done to rectify the problem is I softly filed the 2 parts which had come apart with a needle file and then reglued the 2 surfaces and let it set over night. The next morning when the 2 parts had plenty of time to set I then cut a 3 inch section of heat shrink tubing to secure and make the antenna look new again. 1 week later, on writing this review I have had no problems at all with the 2 sections I had rectify. With using the antenna I find it to work quite well and able to hear stations that were fairly readable before. If you are considering on buying an ATX, I would look at the Model with a PL-259 termination, as many people with an ATX which is terminated with a BNC have had problems with the centre pin of the BNC on the antenna breaking off. It is not that the antenna is real heavy, it is mostly that when the antenna is fully extended it adds extra pressure to the BNC sockets on both the radio and antenna. I am now happy with the structure and the performance of the ATX.
K5ZP Rating: 2001-06-21
Good Solution for Portable/Travel Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the ATX 1080 from WIMO at the Dayton Hamvention for around $115 delivered. I looked at all three versions (the Walkabout, the MFJ version and the WIMO ATX 1080) and determined that they are all from the same source or extremely good duplicates. I couldn't see spending the extra money for the same product so Wimo got my business.

The antenna was relatively easy to use however, as mentioned in an earlier review it does put a lot of strain on the front BNC connector on the FT-817. My initial solution was to use a right angle BNC adapter so that I could easily view the radio. Also, unless you have a way to stabilize the radio it will fall over easily. My final solution was to use a right angle pl-259 on the rear connector with a BNC adapter. It still puts pressure on the joint but I'd rather replace a $3.20 SO-239 to BNC adapter than the FT-817 front panel BNC.

I used a thirty-three and a sixteen foot run of four conductor (JK) telephone wire as the radial and connected them to the rear ground post. In the 33 foot section I connected three of the wires to the ground point and soldered two togather at the distant end. I clipped one wire at 24 feet from the ground lug. The result is one folded radial at 66 feet long - 80 meters, one 33 foot radial - 40 meters and one 24 foot radial - 30 meters.

On the second JK I left one uncut 16 feet - 20 meters, clipped one at 13 feet - 17 meters, clipped one at 11 feet - 15 meters and one at 8 1/2 feet - 10 meters. I added a separate wires for 6 and 2 meters.

This arrangement is fairly compact when coiled and worked well once I understood that hooking a radio directly to an antenna effectively makes the radio the center of a dipole. Wimo uses the exact words.

My problems began when I was tuning it up on 20 meters and higher. 80 and 40 were easy. I set up on my concrete covered patio here in south central Texas. I didn't realize that as long as I was bare foot on the concrete and touching or even near the radio that I became an intergral part of the antenna. My theory is that I became a six foot gamma match of relatively poor conductivity!

Shortly after insulating myself from ground - "rubber flip-flops". Things began to work much better. DX on 20 was easy to hear and even easy to catch the strong ones. 80/40/30 are pretty much a compromise but the antenna is useable. 20 - 2 seems to be the better bands for it's short physical length.

6 and 2 meters are a bonus and can be matched with some tinkering with the length/radials. Performance was good enough to work all of the local repeaters.

As you strive for smaller and lighter please keep a firm grasp on the physics of RF. A 3898 KHz frequency generates a RF wave that is around 75 meters across and has a much larger ground wave. Anything in that zone is pretty much a part of the antenna. Physically short antennas can work however a good full size radial is required. This antenna doesn't work at all without a radial system.

I've used a lot of business portable systems in the past and this solution appears to be the best. It's relatively small, light and breaks down into two suitcase portable sections. In fact I can carry my FT-817, ATX 1080, radials and two 3 amp gel cells with ease in my suitcase. It will become my primary travel/portable antenna. 73
VE6SH Rating: 2001-03-20
Performs Well(but a bit pricey!) Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well constructed antenna and works well with the 817(Yaesu should have bundled this antenna or a similar one with the 817). Needs an effective ground to really work well.

My only concern is the stress the antenna places on the BNC connector. I am not sure if the connector(not the antenna) would stand up to the rigours of a "walkabout"! I fashioned a connector to use the antenna on the rear SO239 connector( two right angle PL259/SO239 connectors, a Barrel Connector and a PL259/BNC adapter). This brings the antenna up the side of the 817.
WB0SED Rating: 2001-03-20
Great portable antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Very, very nice. It is a snap to use, easy to set up and really works. On the FT817 it really shines. Able to be packed into the Cutting Edge backpack and a whole ham station right in the palm of your hand!! Fast service, less than a week from England to Florida. Nice product, great service, can't ask for more.