| M0JFG |
Rating:  |
2020-12-17 | |
| Very Flexible |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I bought the mk3+3 option and so have spare 3/8" ports available for adding new whips. I have found that I can screw in 50 ohm mobile whips and they work with the antenna, often getting 1:1 SWR helped by having a really really good earth on the antenna which is 20" above the ground. As a result I have added an AMPro 80 to get 80m and a sandpiper 160m whip to get 160m and both seem to work.
So a really flexible antenna that can relatively easily be upgraded for new bands.
160m WSPR range seems to be 1000km in the night. 2000km in the day on 80m at 16:00 in the winter. |
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| MW1CFN |
Rating: |
2018-09-25 | |
| 80m, on a short stick? Yes! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I had seen this antenna but never used one until I operated GB2VK at the old Marconi site near Caernarfon in 2018.
I couldn't believe someone was trying to operate 80m on this antenna (and on top of a tower, without radials).
But, though it is clearly a compromise, it did pull in valuable 80m contacts when much of the other bands were dead at solar minimum. Without it, the logbook would have been much emptier. Matching was achieved with an internal ATU, which is pretty good.
Certainly worth getting if space/planning/effort are concerns. As usual, good radial systems help a lot.
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| ON4XA |
Rating: |
2015-04-24 | |
| great antenna for cheap price |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Hi all, it's now 1 week I have the original Sandpiper MV10 6+3 (150£-210€).
It resembles the Diamond CP6, smaller and finer, and accepts 500w instead of 200 of the CP6.
Removed from the package, each well disposed part, assembly can begin. The top will never held because there is play in the tightening. Ok, I go to the Bricoshop to go towards buying plastics joints to ensure. Back assembly continues. 1 hour later, everything is ready. I had put a telescopic 6m to put it. Telescopic closed, so to 2m from the ground. The MFJ measures seem promising. Ok, you go up to 6m. Disaster. SWR more than 3 everywhere.
What to do?
Is more than trying to ground level, as recommended in the user manual (but not always the opinion Eham). There miracle. At 50 cm from the ground with 60cm counterpoise in the ground SWR descended steeply. The antenna is plugged into the TS2000 and some contacts quickly, Russia and Greece. Not bad for a first try.
SWR value on 50cm of the ground SWR < 2.0 (automatic tuning 2.0 < SWR < 3.0) :
80m: 3.665-3.700 (3.625-3.700 with automatic tuning)
40m: 7.050 to 7.115 (7.000-7.150 with automatic tuning)
20m: 14.000-14.500 without tuner
17m: 17.680-18.400 without tuner
15m: 20.750-21.740 without tuner
11 / 10m: 27.350-28.260 (25.955-28.995 with automatic tuning)
6m: 44.000-46.000 (50.000-54.000 with automatic tuning)
Well, the 80m is virtually unusable. For 12m, choose either the 10 or 12m. There is indeed a "trick" given to use both bands;what I did, but here it has given the 10 and 11m are fully usable, but not the 12m. Not a big deal.
The 6m, to abandon tuner without even changing the length of the element ... SWR ok to 44MHz, but tunable between 50 and 54.
Results contacts yesterday Russia and Greece, 10 and 20m today several European contact, but where I see that little antenna anything is performing, J79MM (Dominican Republic) to 21,256. 1x called up in the pile-up and Dan replied by announcing a 59 + 10. He even took a few minutes to learn how antenna "miracle" I was working.
Obviously, this antenna does not compete with full size single-band beams:-))))
But as vertical as antenna holidays, portabel or activation, it really deserves attention.
I work, so I don't have time in the day to be active. But here my contacts with TS2000, 100w :
4X67TT Israel 15m
EW7EW Belarus 20m
A41SS Oman 10m
EK3GM Armenie 10m
LZ3LD Bulgaria 17m
PP5BS Brazil 10m
CU7AA Açores 15m
SV3GLL Greece 15m
NY0P USA 15m
I give a "4" because missing the plastic join to secure the upper part of antenna and because the 6m is not to use without tuner. 73 Xavier |
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| SV1HKD |
Rating: |
2011-09-12 | |
| MV6+3 |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have this antenna for 2 weeks now.
I bought it from RF-SIGNALS(GREECE).
I used MV6+3 in my 2nd qth (EGIO,near PATRAS) by Kenwood TS-480SAT.
There was a difficulty in assembling and coordination but with the help of MFJ analyzer tuner all its ok now.
The antenna is on the roof of 2 floors building near high voltage cables but with no problems rf or noise.
It is installed on a mast 3m above the roof with no radials.
1. on 80m: small bandwidth, around 40 khz(you should choose were you want to work).
2. on 40m: I tuned it to 7,150, so around 100 khz of bandwidth,but used the internal tuner of TS-480 i have from 7.035 - 7.200.
3. on 30m: all the band by internal tuner.
4. on 20m: all the band.
5. on 17m: all the band
6. on 15m: all the band
7. on 12m: +00 because I choose to use all the 10m band.
8. on 10m: all the band
9. on 6m: all the band
The antenna performs very well on 40m,20m, 17m and 15m,10m, i had the opportunity to try on Worked All Europe DX-Contest.Power 100w.
I have enough qso's with prefix JR,UP,4X,RA9,ZC,PR,HZ,ZS9,9K,VY2,YC,V55,A65,CR3,7Z,ST2 and EU.prefix.
On 80m i hear satisfactorily (for my conditions)EU stations.
Its a very good choise (and cheap)for apartment building conditions for unobtrusive installation without any problems and comments.It is'nt a top gun, because i cant have a top gun....
73 de sv1hkd
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| G1MSD |
Rating: |
2011-01-30 | |
| very good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
well since the last review , I have retired from the hut where i worked
and never got round to buying the extra bands for my MV10
I now have a summer home in gozo in the med and I have put my MV 10 on the roof which is about 45 foot high from the ground and
at the highest point on the island very and windy . the antenna is about 6 foot high on the roof just above the washing line and cables run down the wall to radio with 60 foot of coax the radios are ts 850sat and ic 7000 with atu,s
both tune very well with and without atu I now get stations from all over the world . I think that the price of this antenna is very good I have never had any problems and should the wind blow it away I would buy another tomorrow. I still have my shack back in the uk and still tx from there , but I can not wait to get to the island of gozo to tx.... G1MSD/9H3NW what is sandpiper going to give us next to improve on this for price |
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| G8FXC |
Rating: |
2011-01-06 | |
| Doesn't change the laws of physics, but does bend them a bit! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought mine as an eight-band version, figuring that there was no point in attempting to operate 160 or 80 on an antenna that is ten feet long. Construction is not bad and it went together easily. Tuning it up without an antenna analyser was a bit slow, but I managed to get a reasonable SWR on all bands from 40 to 6m without too much trouble.
My initial impressions were not great. I have a very small garden and was comparing it with an MFJ Mag Loop and a fairly long random wire, both in my loft space. The long wire is tuned with a remote auto-tuner. The Sandpiper was well down on both the other antennae on most bands and after a while I pretty much gave up on it and stuck with the mag loop.
In fairness, this was pretty much on sunspot minimum so, as the new cycle began to pick up, I decided to give it another try. This time I paid attention to the groundplane and earth system, putting in quite a lot of radials using thicker wire and trying to cut them more accurately. I also put in a long copper earth spike and bound it all together with thick braided wire. I revisited the tuning and got it dead centre on all bands, then flattened it out at the rig end with the built-in auto-tuner.
The result is an antenna that is useable. Even on 40m I have received some decent reports and on the higher bands where it is nearer full size, it performs quite well. The mag loop still out-performs it under most circumstances, but not by much and its narrow tuning makes it a pain to operate. Also, RF feedback has been a continuous problem for me with my loft-mounted antennae pumping out 100w just a few feet above the shack. The MV10 is far enough away that I can turn the wick up without breaking out in feedback.
It's not a magic wand and I certainly would not chose one if I had space for a full size antenna, but it gets me out on a wide range of bands without continuously having to retune. Actually, the combination of the Sandpiper and the mag loop is just about perfect and I'm making plans to move the loop outside on a short pole to allow me to operate on it at full power without feedback. With the sunspots beginning to pick up, I'm looking forward to some rewarding operating. |
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| PD2MZ |
Rating: |
2010-11-25 | |
| FUN |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Have this only one day now
Set up is easy and worked VE on 20 5/5
Antenna is only 60 cm above the ground and works fine on 40 and 20 meter .
its fun to work with a small vertical
Swr is good on all bands its cheap and it works
Nice antenna for portable or holyday /field or limited space |
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| G1MQQ |
Rating: |
2010-06-16 | |
| Good if you've no alternative |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is my second. I bought the first one to use when in my caravan and thought I'd try one as a base antenna.
Good considering size and price. My rig's ATU coped OK with the suggested settings,but because it is ground mounted, 2 feet or less, you really need to be in the clear as the resonators for all but the lowest frequency are only about 7ft above ground.If you mount it higher (Roof, or gable end for instance) then grounding issues complicate installation.
My homebrew 7m long doublet slung between my two chimney stacks and homebrew balun outperforms it on all bands except 80m and cost less than £5 to make.
If you live in a centrally heated bungalow on a housing estate with planning issues then it's worth a try. (Seriously)
All this said I know of nothing at this small size and price, which can be ground mounted needs no guys and only an earth spike or random length radials, which performs any better.
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| F4FXH |
Rating: |
2010-05-16 | |
| Good compromise when constraints: satisfied |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have this antenna for 1 year now, few months after I got my license.
As I live in a condominium, I have some constraints on what I can install.
The antenna is on the roof of the building (Ground + 6 floors).
It is installed on a short mast 2m above the roof. No radials.
I tuned it using a analyzer.
- on 80m: small bandwidth, around 40 khz
- on 40m: I tuned it from 7,050 to 7,150, so around 100 khz of bandwidth
- on 30m: all the band
- on 20m: all the band
- on 17m: all the band
- on 15m: all the band
- on 12m: SWR >=4 as I choose to use the 10m band
- on 10m: all the band
By all the band or bandwidth, I mean the antenna can be use with the internal tuner of my transceiver, so SWR<=3.
The antenna performs very well on 20m, 17m and 15m.
I made some QSO with all Europe, Africa (Gabon, Morocco), Madeira, Asiatic Russia, Canada, USA, Brazil, Japan.
The antenna is solid: it resisted to a very big storm last winter.
This antenna seems to be a good compromise when you have some problems with space. |
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| G4GCI |
Rating: |
2010-01-27 | |
| Excellent soltion to urban antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've had an MV10 (160-6m) for over 10 years. When I moved to a QTH with an 80ft garden I had worries about planning permission for masts and antennas etc. Also should I go for a wire antenna which would have to fit into that space? However I chose a short vertical the Sandpiper MV10. The principle is very sound. Although only 13ft 6in in height, it has a lower section (common to all bands) of about 6ft, but then it has an inductively loaded section for each band (except 6m), consisting of a loading coil and whip attached to a collar at the top of the lower section (and on 160m it fixes in the top). So unlike most short verticals that have the loading coil at the base (and therefore lose efficiency) the MV10 is effectively a mid or top loaded vertical, which maximises the power radiated from the short base section. I cut a radial for each band, doubling up on some bands by using 450 ohm ladder line (each wire cut for one band). On 80 and 40m I used a single radial (about 65ft) with a 40m trap. I mounted the antenna on a 17ft aluminium pole bolted to the side of the house, that swivelled down on a large bolt. I used the mast and a long buried earth wire as the radial for 160m. Although mounted at roof height the MV10, although it has all those spiky bits sticking out, could pass off for a fancy VHF FM antenna. No-one complained about it! With 100W I have found the antenna to give excellent results for a compact antenna. I have tried Windoms, magnetic loops, etc. but this has probably been the best compact antenna I've had so far. To my amazement I was even able to work into W3 on top band CW, of course when conditions were very good. Again when conditions were good I have worked as far as Japan on 80m CW. On 40m into the US on SSB, and as far as VK on CW on rare occasions. On the other bands from 20m to 10m the antenna is getting nearer to full size, so gives a good account of itself with DX, especially since it is mounted well above the ground - VK/ZL no problems when the bands are up. I didn't really try 6m as I didn't have this band for a long time and the VSWR was about 3:1 when I tried it later - I would have to adjust the whole antenna over again to get it to work properly on that band. Because the antenna is so compact it is easy to mount it high above the surroundings, and instead of using wire for a dipole, use it for radials instead. The bandwidth is very narrow on the lower bands, but with careful adjustment you can get it to where you want it. I found the tuning varied a little on 40m in wet weather (probably because of the trap). How to tune it - well it is a little fiddly and requires patience. On reflection you should adjust the base section for 6m first at ground level. Then you adjust the length of the whips for each band. Then raise the antenna to full height and note the tuning range using a bridge or VSWR on each band. Take the antenna down and adjust the whips accordingly again (ie. if the antenna is tuned too low on a particular band, decrease the whip length for that band). This needs alot of patience, but it does work. Like any antenna you need to maintain it, by taking it down every year and cleaning it, checking for damage and making any re-adjustments. Highly recommended for limited space, but mount it high. I think I would have got better results if I had cleared my roof level completely, but I didn't want it to be too conspicuous. I have moved QTH and was tempted by the V series which is similar in principle, but taller (and should give better results), however I have some tall trees so a wire antenna may be better here. |
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