| KI5UXW |
Rating:  |
2024-04-04 | |
| One heck of an antenna! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After my Xiegu X5105 refused to work on the day after I had finally gotten it from Amazon, I decided to purchase an antenna (which is what I really needed but talked myself into getting a radio instead). I'm a ham who's in an HOA but that really doesn't mean anything to me as I don't have nosy neighbors (though my friends next door have made a few jokes about the various antennas I've set up). What really stops me from getting an antenna up is my ability to get something stuck in a tree. Even though I've got a beautiful elm and a number of oak trees, their branches make it difficult to get an antenna up. My 36' random wire was up for a good long while until I discovered that the ants had appropriated my infrastructure project for their own uses, thus the need for a new antenna. It also didn't help that, due to the nature of the longwire, the antenna had annoying directionality on 10m, which limited the stations that I could successfully work.
Going back to looking for an antenna, I did a lot of research (many thanks to all y'all on eHam who've written reviews over the years) and eventually settled on the Chameleon CHA MPAS Lite as it had the flexibility that I wanted (vertical and longwire for NVIS) and was built solid. I had some doubts as I have a lot of experience with verticals and the perils of radials but I figured that I could always use more copper wire to get extra radials. I also figured that I could configure the antenna to use the 60' wire as one radial and connect the side of the 50' run of coax that had the coax to the back of my TS-440S/AT so that I could have two radials, not just one.
Once it finally arrived, I set-up my antenna and actually spent more time bringing my radio, computer, battery, and power cables down from my room than setting up my antenna. I accidentally stumbled into CQ WPX and decided to get in on the action. On that evening, I operated 20m and 10m, and worked Hungary, Canada, a few states in the US, Hawaii (a few times), Australia, and Costa Rica, only responding to stations calling CQ. I was able to work about 80% of the folks I heard on the air, which considering my suburban setting in my backyard, "compromise"-ish antenna, and just my 80-100 watts from my TS-440S/AT (which only got the SWR down to 1.7:1 on 10m but tuned 20m with an easy 1:1) is pretty darn good! The next day, I worked Lithuania, another few US states, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Belarus, Finland, Poland, France, Hungary (again), Canada, and Germany on 10m!
Later that day (around midnight locally), I worked a few US states, Costa Rica, Colombia, Hawaii, and Barbados on 20m. The next day, I packed up my equipment and went down to northwestern San Antonio and operated from my uncle's house in the early afternoon (with complete set-up under 8 minutes) and worked Costa Rica, Brazil, another few US states, the Canary Islands, Colombia, Cuba, New Zealand, Brazil, and Canada on 10m!
This antenna is certainly a keeper and will remain my go-to for any and all field operations! My advice for a new owner is to use the coax as part of your radial system and to purchase the variant that can handle up to 500W SSB. It's certainly worth the $25 dollars extra.
So, all in all, I would strongly recommend this antenna for any and all hams! |
|
| WA4TW |
Rating: |
2023-11-16 | |
| This antenna has made me lazy. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This has become my go to antenna for POTA. I use either the vertical or the or TDL. Before I bought this antenna my go to was a home brew random wire endfed and that meant putting a string in a tree. Now if I take my time I’m on the air in less than 10 minutes making contacts from coast to coast and I have worked a lot of DX using the vertical. I have had my Chameleon MPAS lite for almost 2 years now using it at a minimum of once a week and it’s still going strong.
Build quality is great and you get what you pay for in this hobby. |
|
| K4CKR |
Rating: |
2023-11-15 | |
| The best choice for me |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
After a recent move, I found myself in a very restrictive HOA... not my choice necessarily, but it is what it is.
I began a search for an antenna that I could easily and quickly deploy, and just as easily and quickly take down, and, that wasn't easily noticable due to the HOA constraints. The CHA MPAS Lite fits the bill.
My setup is the collapsible whip, ground mounted, and I added 4 radials. It literally takes me less than 10 minutes to put up and take down.
As for performance, I could not ask for more. I have made both phone and CW contacts all over Europe from central coastal Florida, at 100 watts or less.
Even though this antenna is my base station, it is also perfect for portable setups like SOTA and POTA activations.
If you find yourself in a restrictive HOA, or you like the portable ham radio experience, I highly recommend this antenna. |
|
| WB6AGE |
Rating: |
2022-11-24 | |
| Great portable antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
All portable HF antennas are a compromise between performance, size, ease of setup, and weight. For me, the MPAS Lite fills a nitch almost perfectly.
It spends most it's time paired with my TX500 QRP rig. The combo is perfect for road trips where operations are from a rest stop, campground, or picnic spot. The ground spike is rugged and handles most soils. The whip is sturdy but wish it would collapse to the length of the ground spike for ease of packing.
One thing I would add immediately after purchase is a set of ground radials. They greatly improve the antennas performance across all bands. I have 4 radials about 25 feet long. They attach to the spike with a thumbscrew.
In almost 2 years of use there are zero problems. The ruggedness and high quality materials are worth the price.
|
|
| WB7VTY |
Rating: |
2021-09-10 | |
| Great, Flexible, Functional, Well Made antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I didnt see any other reviews for this antenna on EHAM, and it is significantly different than the MPAS or MPAS 2.0 so I added this as a new item. A number of years ago I got involved with SOTA (which is a blast) (mostly as a chaser) and have been on a quest for the ideal, portable, single antenna. For my application I have found it. Sometimes I like to string out a wire but other times the location is better suited to a vertical. I like to be able to get on all bands and not be restricted to only a few HF bands. I also dont like to fiddle with coil jumpers or links. I want to set up the antenna, and then sit down and operate and not have to fiddle with the antenna. (Ok, so Im lazy). I only operate QRP these days with my 817, 705, or PFR3B so the 100 watt PEP / 50 watts CW rating is more than enough. Im not a SOTA Mountain Goat and probably never will be, but I do enjoy portable operation very much and when I can find a summit suitable to my capability, thats my preference. This antenna is very well made. It sets up quickly. It works as described. I have used it in the configurations specified in the manual, as well as a couple others haha, along with an Elecraft T1 (by far my favorite autotuner) and a LDG Z11 Pro II and it will easily tune on every band from 160 through 6 meters as specified. SWR has always been less than 1.5:1 and most of the time closer to 1:1. Of course so does a dummy load so the question is how well does it work. Certainly it is a compromise on frequencies below 7 MHz, and especially in the vertical configuration. Conditions have not been great since I recently purchased this antenna but even so, I have been able to check into my usual evening HF net on 80 meters with both wire and vertical configurations. The wire config working significantly better of course on 80 meters. Distance to net control was roughly 75 miles I believe but I have been able to hear other checkins from neighboring states pretty well. I havent tried it on 160 yet. As far as the other bands are concerned I have found its performance to be more than acceptable, and it has amazed me in some cases. Here are some locations I have worked from SOTA activations from a couple of drive up summits here in Oregon using this antenna, the T1 and my ICOM 705 at 10 watts or less in the last few weeks; France, AZ, CA, CO, KS, NM, UT, NY, VA, NC, OR, WA. The vast majority of those were done with the vertical config on 20, 30, and 40 meters, including France, and eastern USA. Some may claim that the stations on the other end were doing the heavy lifting. Certainly true in some cases. However, a good deal of these contacts were summit to summit contacts here in the states where the other station was also QRP and using a portable antenna. SO, while this antenna is obviously a compromise in some ways, its a very good compromise that clearly works very well. It checks every single box on my list of what I wanted. I cant speak to its reliability as I havent had it long enough yet, but it is very well made and I dont expect anything will fall apart or fail any time soon as long as I dont do anything stupid to it. If there were anything to ding it on, and its not really a ding, its just what the antenna is - is that it is probably a little on the heavy side for a hard core minimalist backpacker. There are lighter weight options for sure. But for my style of portable operating, my desires for an antenna, overall performance, and the kind of hikes Im likely to go on as an old flabby guy - relatively easy sub 4 miles one way, this antenna cant be beat. I would add too, that I added my own additional home brew counterpoise wire (you can buy one from chameleon) and it is very easy to set this up as a wire antenna with that counterpoise such that it can be changed from wire to vertical config in about a minute if you want to do that. I have also used it with the base spike clamped to a park bench instead of stuck in the ground in both wire and vertical configs with the same success and tuning results. I could not be happier with this antenna and highly recommend it to anybody with a similar need. Its not the least expensive antenna, but this is a case where you get what you pay for. If you are sitting on the fence about buying one - do it. You will not regret it. Im happy to answer any questions. Just email me direct at wb7vty@gmail.com.
73
Joe
WB7VTY
|
|
