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Reviews For: VPA-System Teltad 144Mhz 9el DK7ZB design yagi

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : VPA-System Teltad 144Mhz 9el DK7ZB design yagi
Reviews: 1MSRP: 139 Euro shipping included
Description:
9el 144Mhz yagi DK7zb 28 Ohm design on 5m boom
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.teltad.pl
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
ON6AB Rating: 2021-05-02
Nicely crafted and affordable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Teltad is a Polish company which provides "VPA-Systems" antennas.
I ordered the VPA-DK7ZB2928500 which is the 9el 144Mhz DK7ZB 28 Ohm design on a 5m boom.
10 days after ordering, the antenna arrived very well packed on my doorstep.
During that time, Teltad keeps you very well informed about all production and delivery steps via email.
Note the shipping costs are only about half from those you will pay to send you a WY-209!
The yagi itself costs 113,33 Euro and I paid 21,79 Euro shipping costs from Poland to Belgium by GLS (plus a few Euros for Paypal payment).
After inspection, it was immediately clear this antenna was very carefully built. Nice elements, nice DE box, very nice soldering and lay-out of the 28 Ohm match, nice element end-caps which do not influence the antenna tuning and all stainless steel hardware except for the mast bracket.
The DE box has a transparent cover which comes very handy when you want to inspect the inside without breaking the seal. It is UV resistant as confirmed by Teltad and I have no reason to doubt it as it is made of polycarbonate which is known to have good UV specifications. It is equipped with a first class N-type connector which is oriented to the RE which optimizes the cabling.
The 28 to 50 Ohm match is made of RG179 and of course it is the power limiting factor of the antenna. However, it is confirmed by Teltad to handle the announced 1500W PEP. Looking at the RG179 cable specifications, it is possible (I hate the term PEP) but it sure will be on the limit. Anyhow, it is handling 500W FT8 without any problem.
The DE is 10mm alu tube and the elements are 8mm. That's thicker than for instance the WIMO WY series antennas and this does theoretically results in better bandwidth and a tiny bit higher gain.
The weight is announced to be 2.9kg but that turns out to be 3.5kg, no problem for most of us except for the ones (like me) with a limited weight tilt-over tower where every gram counts ;-)
The boom is a square 25mm 3-piece affair held together with small inner-tube inserts and 4 screws per insert. These screws hold in the threaded inner tubes. Since this is aluminum, care must be taken not to overtighten them. Best is to use some blue Loctite to secure the screws after the final tightening. In my case, since there is no reason to ever take the boom apart again, I added some stainless steel rivets in the bottom which makes the boom a very sturdy unit indeed. The boom is not supported and it does not need any support. It does not sag.
The mast to boom clamp system is direct, simple and sturdy.
After some measurements on the air with a nearby and stable beacon, the specs are very close indeed to the ones announced by DK7ZB for this design. Measured F/B is 29dB. 3dB beamwidth is 35 degrees. Good sidelobe suppression, better than 23dB everywhere. I cannot measure the gain but I expect it to be as advertised as well.
The measurements were done with a transverter / FLEX3000 combination. I mention this because FLEX radios have an almost "measuring instrument like" pan adapter able to read 1dB differences.
All in all, a very well built antenna, nicely finished, good design, nicely priced and swiftly delivered.