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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
K3WVU Rating: 2001-03-11
Great HF Portable for the Yaesu FT-817 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The ATX Walkabout is perfect for the new Yaesu FT-817 QRP rig, is well-made, and it performs very well. It's rated at 25 Watts on all bands between 80-6M, and is terminated with a BNC connector that enables you to mount it directly on the front panel of the 817. You change bands by plugging the included 'wander lead' into the appropriate socket on the base coil. Fine tuning to get the best SWR is done be adjusting the telescopic whip. The maximum length of the whole antenna is about 65 inches and the loading coil unscrews from the telescopic whip for easy transport--it is about 12 inches long broken down. It's a snap to set up and tune, especially with the 817's built-in SWR meter. The manufacturer also recommends the use of a groundplane wire of varying lengths attached to the radio's ground connector for maximum efficiency.

I've had good success with mine. My first QSO was with Harry in Padova, Italy on 10M, running 5 watts out of my Yaesu FT-817 from my living room with a 77 inch ground plane wire laying on the floor. Since then, I'm getting consistent 5-5's to 5-7's to Europe and South America.

If you need a good portable antenna or a stealthy base antenna, check this out. The staff at Waters and Stanton PLC are very helpful and responsive and I recived my antenna a week after I ordered it from their website. The price on their website is shown as 69.95 Pounds, but the export price to the US is 59.95 pounds plus 12.50 pounds for postage.

I can't wait to try this for a little mountain-topping on 6 Meters!