| MM0XDG |
Rating:      |
2010-01-24 | |
| Impressed |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I'm a month or so into my Sandpiper experience and decided it was time to submit a first review for this antenna. I recently moved to this QTH (small garden, lots of restrictions.....you know the sort of scenario) from a QTH where I had acres of space, a Cobwebb up at 60 feet and a Double G5RV in the trees at 60 feet. In antenna terms, moving here really clipped my wings! When I moved here, I 'sneaked' the Cobwebb up at 30 feet, but the planners pushed a note through my door within a week. Down it came and I knew that I'd have to find a decent compromise. Hours of internet research and lots of word of mouth reccomendations later, I decided on the Sandpiper and ordered an MV6. It arrived a couple of days later and I assembled it and put it up after Christmas.
I have mine mounted 18 inches above the ground in one corner of the garden, with 32 radials (about 600 feet of wire)and bonded to a 4 foot long copper rod driven right into the ground. It was a breeze to tune all the bands with the MFJ 259 analyser and the thing went up without a hitch. I have SWR less than 1.2 to 1 across most of 20m, 15, and 10m . I have flat SWR on 40m and 80m but it does need a tuner to operate here because the bandwith is very narrow. One tiny twitch on the MFJ259 saw the SWR here rise into the red. But, hey, the antenna is so small on these bands that that's to be expected and an auto tuner will sort that out anyway.
I only run 100 watts maximum on all bands (so that I don't set my near neighbours' pacemakers racing!) and, on 20m, this antenna is very good indeed. I have been able to work into the USA and Canada without any bother. I've also worked right across Europe and European Russia on 20m QRP (using 5 watts). 15m and 10m have been quiet up here in Bonny Scotland recently so there's not really been much about to work. 40m is good, but I don't get the 59 reports on 40m that I get on 20m. I've worked inter-G on 80m and the antenna also hears pretty well on 160m, although I've not tried tuning up and transmitting there yet.
If, like me, you're restricted for space and, if you have nosey neighbours who like to grass people up to the local council, you'll not go far wrong with this one. Sandpiper's pricing structure is very reasonable, too, so if it's 'best bang for your buck' that you're after, I'd recommend this one without reservation.
73s de MM0XDG |
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| G4ICB |
Rating:      |
2009-11-19 | |
| Very impressed |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I bought my MV10 after reading the reviews on eham. It arrived well packed and the quality of materials and construction looked very good. Construction took some time to work out, the instruction sheets are somewhat vague, but with a bit of working out it all came together. I decided to ground mount it.
Results,well I was soon hearing and working stations I had never been able to before.
You do need a good ground system, I laid down about 140 sq ft of chicken wire and 30 radials of various lengths and buried the lot,it makes all the difference,you can't change the laws of physics I don't have a big garden but managed to fit it all in somehow An antenna analiser is also usefull for setting up the coils and rods.
I have worked a lot of DX since installing this antenna and am very pleased with the results.
Sandpiper do not make any fantastic claims for their products as some antenna manufacturers do
I have read what some of the gripes that others have written in their reviews, but I havn't experienced any problems,
If like me you don't have alot of space {and money) this antenna is ideal. |
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| G1HQK |
Rating:    |
2009-11-14 | |
| Sandpiper MV5+3 |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought mine with great expectations having read the reviews on the site. Very quick delivery from the guys at Sandpiper, had the antenna made and used in about 10 minutes.
From the start I was never very impressed with the build quality, the collar was not drilled properly, however a replacement was sent next day so fair play. I could not get the radials tuned anywhere near good enough to use without the auto atu, the main body of the antenna was very thin aluminium and the screw fittings holding the adjustable radials were loose.
Used it a couple of times /P and got some reasonable results but this was to be my main shack antenna and I did not feel confident that it would survive the east coast winds.
Sold it and have replaced it with a Diamond CP6 which is bigger and much more substantial in build quality, I guess you get what you pay for, disappointed. |
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| EC3TS |
Rating:    |
2009-10-07 | |
| MV6+3, rare antenna! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I have an G5RV not in the best conditions to work due to the limited space. I bougth the MV as my first vertical Hf antenna. At the beggining I can't work with it so good. I've changed the position, adjust the radials, counterpoise... but it works when it wants.... The strong signals are good received and are noiseless than the wire dipole. Extreme narrow! It seems to me that the V range should be better.
The instructions are very poor and outside UK it's difficuls to buy it. I've had to send some emails to WiMo to clarify the ring position and some else.
But it works! |
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| G0AYD |
Rating:      |
2009-07-29 | |
| fantastic antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Having searched for an antenna that would cover from 6 to 30 mtrs came across the sandpiper range,i read all the reviews and decided to buy the mv5 so ordered said antenna 24 hours later delivered to my qth..
first impression were Wow what a nicely constructed antenna,the instructions were simple to follow and 30 mins later was listening to hf,will conclude more tests as days progress.
great service great antenna ... |
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| G0KYX |
Rating:    |
2009-04-11 | |
| G0KYX..Looks good...easy to build |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Actually have the MV6+3. Quick delivery; easy to build..although instructions are brief, they are more than adequate. I set the radials roughly, and have very low SWR on 15 and 20, but can tune the others with IC-703 atu. However, SINCE I CAN ONLY LOFT MOUNT, so far it is somewhat deaf and just dosn't get out well. Even with 10watts on 20m. PSK31, my signal has not been strong enough to complete a QSO, so QRP might be a thing of the past! Chris at Sandpiper tells me to retune all the other radials, and I shall do so to see what improvement that makes when I don't have to use the atu. If this works, I will add a review. Does anyone else use it in a loft? |
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| 2E0JKD |
Rating:      |
2008-08-31 | |
| DEFIES THE CRITICS! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
ordered the MV10 off mark c/o SANDPIPER AERIALS at 14:30/aeriel was delivered 10.00 next day.was well wrapped.inspected the said antenna and read the limited instructions.drawings fairly helpful but it really does,nt require"EINSTEIN"to assemble the antenna.quality is well made out of alumnium.rubber wrapped inductors.mounted 18" above the gnd.followed the dimensions given and all SWR readings about 1:8...160 way out as is 12 mtrs.fiddled about with the radials in /out/in/out and got resonance to where i want the antenna radiating at the CW portions of the bands..10 of them 160/6 ! !..all now in resonance.160 far far too long so reduced that by 60cms.now ok on 1.845. 12 mtrs still got to sort out.worked for first time ever on top european stations .basically if i can hear them i normally can work them....only snag i found was the securing clamp for the whip was not closing and holding the allY tube..this is a minor glitch but will be asking mark to replace at SANDPIPER AERIALS..all in all a very satisfactory low profile ergonomically pleaseing workable antenna .
no EMC/RFI/TVI problems but i do have 20 feet chicken wire and 5 gnd radials so a very substantial earthing/ground system and an rf choke coax wound 21 feet!..low angle radiation works great for DX.heard 2 americans on 80mtrs 59.pile up and early morning so didnt want to wake the wife as she was sleeping but next time !!florida and south carolina.30 and 80 best bands but the noise floor is no where near as horrendous as it was on my INVERTED " L ".
very very pleased with the design/low profile/build quality/after sales service/and friendliness of SANDPIPER AERIALS.. well done CHRIS AND MARK!..would i buy another 1? if i needed to i would..but as this is well built i don,t think i will have to YET !....all in all a very happy customer..i have no commercial interest in SANDPIPER AERIALS by the way. just a ham giving his own experience of this MV10 to help other hams in deciding...thank you ..2e0jkd . |
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| M0EUK |
Rating:      |
2007-04-10 | |
| Extremely impressive! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Well, in common with several of the other reviewers of this tiny compact vertical, I have to say that I am so far very impressed. I have the MV6+3 version (all bands 80m - 6m). Construction appears solid, and although the assembly instructions were very limited, there was really very little that could go wrong - very simple to assemble in 5 minutes or so.
I have the aerial mounted at the suggested 18 inches above ground level, with 4 x quarter wave radials for each band buried beneath the garden beneath it. Tuning was extremely simple with the aid of an MFJ-269 antenna analyser. All bands tuned to < 1.7:1 SWR, most down to pretty much 1:1. As someone else noted, bandwidth on 80 and 40 is narrow, however these bands are certainly very usable across a wider range with the aid of the auto ATU in my TS870.
Performance-wise, the aerial is so far performing really well, considering how small it is. There's been no serious DX to speak of so far, however there's no shortage of contacts to all sides of Europe, and well into North America and North Africa.
In summary, whilst it ain't no king-size beam, for the low cost, and the size, this aerial is well worth a look if you need something compact, (about 12ft high in total). Highly recommended. |
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| M0PCB |
Rating:      |
2006-11-27 | |
| Very impressed |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Yet again Sandpiper impress me. Delivery took a little under 24 hours. Construction took me 5 minutes, took a bit longer than that to tune it (made easy with an antenna analyser).
I got the 40-6M version (including 30/17 and 12M), which is the MV5+3. I am already considering buying the 80M and 160M elements for it, the beauty being that the antenna is so versatile it can be up/downgraded at any time.
First chance I really got to try it out was CQWW CW 06, this weekend gone. I was amazed. 9 all time new DXCC, even worked HC8N on a new band. 8Q7DV on 40M. I was amazed for such a small antenna. Granted some of the DX I worked was weak signals, but they were hearing me first or second call, so I must ahve been radiating at least some power! ;-)
I must say I was also impressed at the simplicity of the design, and also it packs down small enough to be portable, not backpacking style portable, but definitely mini-dxpedition portable.
I would give it 10/5 if eHam would let me. I'm not affiliated with sandpiper at all, but I am a happy user of a number of their antennas, none of which have failed to impress me.
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|
| EB5ESX |
Rating:      |
2006-11-20 | |
| Very SOLID |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
We own a V Mk III with 10 until 80 bands.
It is really SOLID.
We have broken 2 Diamond CP-6 in this location becouse we have very high wids.
And .... yes !!! it runs better than the Diamond ... of course, it isn't a Cushcraft R8 , but it is only 3 meters high :-)
If you can't install anything longer and want a solid and ward antenna, this can be your choice. |
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