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Reviews For: Iron Horse mobile HF antennas IHF-20,17,15

Category: Antennas: HF Mobile & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Iron Horse mobile HF antennas IHF-20,17,15
Reviews: 32MSRP: 17.95 (average eBay)
Description:
Iron Horse mobile HF whip antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.atoctechnologies.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
12324.7
M5MDH Rating: 2003-10-25
Good enough for me Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I own the 15M antenna and have been trying it out in the CQWW phone contest. I didn't fiddle around with getting a perfect SWR because the SWR was fine with it just put together.

Worked 22 countries in 2 hours without really trying on 4 continents. Had DX call me (9J, YB) its usually the other way round! I intend to get the 17 and 20 metre antennas and hopefully I'll have more of the same performance.

73, Mark M5MDH
DG7JX Rating: 2003-09-15
Great value! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a set for 80, 40 and 20meters. Mounted them on the rooftop of our appartement building and they work great! Worked US eastcoast stations and RA9 and many Europeans of course. Being on shortwave only for a few days, this is not bad, hi...

On my BMW they reach a 1.1:1 SWR with a tri-mag mount. Only the set screws are rusting quickly. But for the money, they are fantastic.

It seemes, that the 20m antenna works best, followed by the 40m and the 80m whips.
KE7MU Rating: 2003-08-17
Experimenters Delight Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I used 4 of these to make a 2 ele beam on a 6' 8" wood boom. Put it up at 32 feet and was moderatly pleased with the results. My antenna modeling software indicated 6 dBi gain, so I was expecting great results. Final report is only 2 S-units better than my Butternut 6 vert. Which is fine with me, First two contacts were R3/UT7CR and ZL6LH and broke pile ups on both. Of course the performance has more to do with propagation than antenna design. With two of the antennas in a dipole configuration at 10 feet, I worked Slovenia on 5 watts. I could say great antenna but it was really just good propagation. So reporting all the DX I can work with the antenna is very subjective as I can work DX with 5 watts from a zepp antenna taped to the wall of my shack, not an indicator of antenna performace at all. I enjoy making my own antennas as much as using them so for me it is very inexpensive to try alot of things. It is not a full size beam but for $80 bucks it works very good.
KF6GOM Rating: 2003-08-14
Nice HF Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought the 20 Meter Stick and used a Mount
clamped to a metal Canopy in the bakyard and
its working Great. Contacts have improved using
my Ft-817 on 2.5 watts, tunes fantastic, will be buying the 40,10 stick next...well built to hold
up to weather elements...73 KF6GOM
M3DXC Rating: 2003-05-28
First Class Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I am limited to 10w RF with a UK Foundation License (M3***) and use Iron Horse antennas on 17 & 20m with excellent results (>30 countries on 17m SSB to date). I am very happy with the performance and build quality of these antennas.
Go out and buy one if you want a good quality HF mobile antenna that works.
KG6IRW Rating: 2003-05-27
Work fine: Rusting setscrews Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've used two 20M in a dipole configuration here along the California coast. The antennas have worked fine for my PSK31 work - low SWR, easily adjusted, etc.

The only complaint is that the set screws rust quickly. Outside of drilling them out, you will have to replace the entire top whip assembly.

If Iron Horse would fix that one problem, then I'd purchase the entire set.
KB9WQJ Rating: 2003-04-14
OK except for set screws Time Owned: more than 12 months.
They are good in that the whip can be slid down inside the fiberglass for storage. I scribe a little line on the whip so I can reproduce the tuned setting time after time. The downside is the 2 little hex set screws that hold the whip, they rust out completely unusable in no time. I would like to ask the previous reviewer where to find replacements in stainless steel as I would buy some to make these good antennas better. Iron Horse, are you reading this? Fix that one thing and you have a great product instead of an OK one.
N1LAF Rating: 2003-04-12
Works very well Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Easy to tune, easy to stow away by removing the top section, and sleeving the top end inside the fiberglass body, and store between the passenger seat and door. No tuners needed for 6 through 20 meters, SWR typically less than 1.5:1 across the entire band except 6M, where it is less than 2:1 across the entire band. I use the LDG RT-11 which will tune to 1:1 on 40M and 80M. And the price is right. I will recommend that once the antenna is tuned, seal the hex screw adjustment and antenna open area, since the hex screw will rust, or replace hex screw with stainless steel one.
W4TDX Rating: 2003-03-13
Very good, economical antennas Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought 4 of these antennas, one each for 40, 20, 17 and 10. They all have worked out great for me with the IC706MkIIG. I have a set of quick disconnects on them for ease of swapping bands. I particularly like the way the antenna can be broken down to 2 peices for storage without losing the tuning of the stinger.
K4MTN Rating: 2003-03-07
EXCELLENT VALUE Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Have been using antennas primarily on 10, 15 and 20mtrs with a frame mount. This past weekend during the ARRL Phone contest I worked all continents except Australia/ New Zealand. Within 2 hours, had worked several stations in Japan, Hawaii, many Europe, South America, Carribean and a few In Africa, all on 15 mtrs. I work mostly 10mtrs and find that the 10mtr antenna will also load up on 12mtrs. The units also have a low profile and blend in with a dark colored vehicle. Am very satisfied with this product!